FAMOUS FRIDAY: Kamala Harris

As a general rule, we here at Project RACE try to avoid Famous Friday stories on people we’ve featured before. But when we do, it’s because they deserve it! I last wrote about Kamala Harris nearly three years ago. My article began like this:

“Most of the world was expecting November 8, 2016 to mark the election of the first female president of the United States.  It did not. Many believe, however, that it was the day when America met the woman who could shatter that glass ceiling”… perhaps as early as 2020.”

And here we are! In three short years, Kamala Harris has gone from California’s Attorney General, to California’s new Junior Senator-Elect, to a top five candidate for President of the United States. On January 21, 2019, Harris announced her candidacy for President in the 2020 election, tying a record set by Bernie Sanders in 2016 for the most donations raised in the day following announcement. Since interring the race, Harris, who was both the second black woman and the first Indian-American ever elected to the Senate, has really stood out in a very crowded democratic field. To date, Harris, the multiracial daughter of an Indian-American immigrant mother and a Jamaican-American father, has raised $35.5 million overall in this campaign, from more than 850,000 individual contributions, including over $11 million in the third quarter of the year. She is a strong debater and has performed very well on the debate stage. Her support rose by between 6 to 9 points in polls following the first Democratic debate.

Since becoming a Senator, she has supported single-payer healthcare, federal legalization of cannabis, support for sanctuary cities, the DREAM Act, and lowering taxes for the working and middle classes while raising taxes on corporations and the wealthiest Americans.

Just this past week she had another big honor when Maya Rudolph played her in a very popular satire skit on Saturday Night Live. Showing she is not afraid to poke fun at herself, Harris, who has over 3 million followers on Twitter, responded playfully to Rudolph’s depiction of her as the coolest candidate in the race in a tweet saying, “That girl being played by @MayaRudolph on @nbcsnl? That girl was me.”

Harris is married to California attorney Douglas Emhoff, who is Jewish and is stepmother to Cole and Ella, Emhoff’s two children from a previous marriage. Her background embodies the racially blended society that is increasingly common across the United States. She calls herself simply “an American,” and said she has been fully comfortable with her identity from an early age.

“We need to work to ensure the leaders reflect the people they are supposed to represent,” she said. “And until we achieve that full representation, I think we should understand we are falling short of the ideals of this country.”

President Harris would be the second multiracial president, after Barack Obama, and certainly a step in that direction!

 

– Karson Baldwin, President Project RACE Teens

Photo Source: Dailyentertainmentnews.com