Kamala – The Historical Herstory!

Kamala Harris, at 56, scripted history by becoming the first-ever woman Vice President of the United States, sworn on 20th January 2021. Along with the first female vice president, she is also the first Black and first South Asian American to serve the United States as vice president.
Harris, on recalling her late mother Shyamala Gopalan, a cancer researcher and civil rights activist from India, said that she is thankful to her mother for giving her great values. She also credited her mother for always exhibiting faith in her and reminding her that, ‘Though we may be the first, we should not be the last.’
Kamala Harris has always carried values and lessons from her mother with her throughout her career from serving as the first woman district attorney of San Francisco to the first woman attorney general of California and the first coloured women to represent California in the United States Senate.
“My mother, Shyamala Gopalan arrived in the US from India. She raised me and my sister with the thought that though we may be the first, we should not be the last.” She said this at the Presidential inaugural committee’s official Asian American inaugural hall, hosted virtually.

“My story is the story of millions of Americans.” “Your continued faith in me has brought me to this moment,” she voiced.
Harris remarked that when she accepted the nomination to be the Vice-President, she did so fully committed to realising the vision of a strong, more united America, that provides an opportunity for all. A vision shared by President Joe Biden and on that, they will work. She
believes that there is nothing that cannot be accomplished if done together.
Just before Harris was sworn in as US vice president, she published a moving video on Twitter as a tribute to the women “who came before her” and her mother who moved to the US from India to pursue the big American dream.
“I’m here today because of the women who came before me. And to the woman most responsible for my presence here today – my mother, Shyamala Gopalan Harris, who is always in our hearts,” She conveyed.
“When she came here from India at the age of 19, maybe she didn’t quite imagine this moment. But she believed so deeply in an America where a moment like this is possible. So, I’m thinking about her and about the generations of women -Black women. Asian, White, Latina, and Native American women throughout our nation’s history who have paved the way for this moment tonight,” she added.
“Women who fought and sacrificed so much for equality, liberty, and justice for all, including the Black women, who are too often verlooked, but so often prove that they are the backbone of our democracy,” she quoted.
During Obama time, she was popularly labelled as ‘Female Obama.’ She left her own presidential dream because of the lake of financial resources. Kamala Harris is married to Douglas Emhoff, a lawyer. According to her, her two step-children, Ella and Cole are her endless source of love and pure joy.

Author : Purva Kumbhani, Gujarat