“While I may be the first woman in this office, I won’t be the last. Because every little girl watching tonight sees that this is a country of possibilities. And to the children of our country, regardless of your gender, our country has sent you a clear message: Dream with ambition, lead with conviction, and see yourself in a way that others might not see you, simply because they’ve never seen it before.”
Three years back, citizens of the United States of America were willing to swear a xenophobic, discriminatory, racist and misogynist porker into office over a woman. With the tables having turned in 2020, one particular individual representing both women and people of color grabs the spotlight. She is Kamala Harris.
Her history
Kamala Devi Harris, born on October 20, 1964 in Oakland, California, comes from Asian and Caribbean descents. Her mother Shyamala G. Harris and her father Donald J. Harris come from India and Jamaica respectively. Harris’ mother, a successful biomedical scientist in the 50s (a time when it was not fun being a woman) and a single mother, continues to be her source of inspiration. Her parents were both very active in the Civil Rights Movement, and that helped shape the values which today embody Harris.
Her political journey
Harris studied in Howard University (1986) and the University of California, Hastings (1989). Fighting tremendous adversity from the male-run institution, she assumed the District Attorney’s (DA) office as the first female DA of San Francisco in 2003 and then became California’s first non-white Attorney General in 2010, getting elected into the US senate in 2017. Despite being asked about her candidacy by popular figures like Ellen DeGeneres in The Ellen Show in 2017, Harris made no official announcements till December 2018 about her 2020 candidacy. She only confirmed her running for President on January 21 of the next year.
In June 2019’s Democratic Debate, Harris unforgivably attacked Joe Biden for his “race-integration busing” policies, and demanded accountability for the implications it had on students of color. The entire world watched in awe as Harris moved on from her run for office to be the running mate of none other than Biden in August 12 2020.
Controversial Kamala
Harris’ time in politics has not been spotless. Many of her decisions as a senator have been up for scrutiny.
Death Penalty
Harris has been vocal about her stance against the death penalty. According to her, in a criminal justice system already rigged against African-Americans, there is never enough evidence to prove them innocent. While jailing is necessary, death penalties are not. Her position stirred up controversy with the murder of undercover police officer Isaac Espinoza. The charismatic police officer had turned down transferring opportunities to safer parts of town, dedicating himself to making San Francisco’s Bayview area a better place. Harris didn’t send David Hill, the killer, to death row, causing an uproar all over San Francisco nearly costing her the run for Attorney General.
Harris has stood against the death penalty everywhere, apart from in court.
In 2014, one Ernest Dewayne Johnson, convicted of murder and rape, had been awaiting death row when U.S. District Court Judge Cormac J. Carney overturned Jones’ sentence. Harris appealed to overturn the sentence again, which went through. According to specialists, this could have been the sentence that eliminated the death penalty from California.
Police Bias Training
Harris is the first senator to talk about law enforcement’s racial biases before they can be set out to the field. She started a program training new officers to recognize their biases, hoping that members of disenfranchised or colored communities would not be mistreated. In 2015, she had body cameras installed on policemen on duty. However, the ruling was not made compulsory making it as good as non-existent. Contrarily, she blocked a bill allowing investigations into police shootings. When asked directly about it by CNN, she simply avoided the question.
Anti-truancy hullabaloo
As DA, in 2010 Harris threatened to prosecute parents for their children’s school absences going as far as sending letters to every family in California. It got the parents anxious. This policy meant that children’s irrational and spontaneous decisions could be enough to convict their parents.
Students skipping school were mostly children of color, who were busy earning for the family or whose parents were unable to afford school fees. Ironically, if Harris followed through with her claims, the jails would be filled with black citizens.
Harris’ words had serious implications as underprivileged parents were victimized and shamed for their inability to institutionally educate their children. Harris told Pod Save America in 2017, “I have now heard stories where in some jurisdictions DAs have criminalized the parents, and I regret that has happened.”
Back on Track
As DA, Harris stood for rehabilitating convicted criminals. Believing in second chances and acknowledging the cracks in the system, she started the “Back on Track” program, meant to reintegrate known felons into society.
However, she supposedly withheld support for investigations into wrongful convictions and supported bills which would make it harder for convicts to gather evidence in their defense.
There have been multiple accounts of the Harris administration forcing the wrongfully convicted to remain in jail, who have been later proven innocent.
Progressive or not?
Specialists have found it difficult generalizing Harris’ views and the policies that she supports. Upon being elected into the US Senate in 2017, Harris vouched to be a progressive senator. She started by campaigning for decriminalizing marijuana. It only went so far when years later she authored an article against the decriminalization of marijuana at state level.
She was vocal against the cash bail system, claiming that this system is biased towards the wealthy. She was vocal for defunding the police after the murder of George Floyd by former law enforcement officer Derek Chauvin. Her stance felt questionable given the Presidency candidate she had been running with.
More than meets the eye?
As Trevor Noah puts it, “According to [some people], [Harris] is crazier than the most socialist person in the world, and according to others, [Harris] is not progressive enough.”
Controversies aside, the woman approaching the Vice President’s office is undoubtedly very deserving of her position. When talking about Harris, seeing her as any other Vice President with a controversial past, and not as a Vice President who got the spot due to her sex remains imperative. Only then can we truly assess her arguments behind bills and policies she supports. It goes without saying, Harris is an inspiration for women and for people of color. Perhaps, people are not yet ready for a female President, but accepting a female Vice President is the first step.