By Dr. Carmen Schaye, NWPC Vice President of Diversity
On January 20, 2021, Vice President Kamala Harris was sworn into office. Harris’s significant success marked breaking one of the highest “Glass Ceilings”, taking place on the Centennial of the 19th Amendment which gave women the right to vote. This is an extraordinary fete as Biden and Harris won the 2021 election over the most repressive misogynist incumbent President in modern history.
The ceremony reflected the true gender and racial diversity of the United States. Kamala is the living embodiment of America’s gender, ethnic, racial, and religious diversity. As Vice President, she turns the page on the popular notion that the summit of leadership is exclusively reserved for white men. Biden and Harris have continued to create the most diverse cabinet in U.S. History, representing gender, racial, ethnic and LGBTQ representation in the United States. Biden’s first 100 days claim to fulfill the campaign promises which, addressing the needs of the diverse underserved. This includes a new coronavirus bailout package, economic relief, immigration, etc. He has ordered a national mask mandate and hopes to increase the dosages of COVID vaccines. These are of extreme importance, as communities of color have been significantly impacted by the strains of COVID-19.
Kamala Devi Harris was born October 20, 1964, in Oakland, California. Her father, from Jamaica, taught economics at Stanford. Her mother, an Indian emigré, was a biologist specializing in breast cancer research. Growing up in “The Flatlands” area of west Berkley, Harris was “bussed” to Thousand Oaks Elementary school, as part of Berkley’s desegregation program. As a youth Harris attended both an African American church as well as the nearby Hindu Temple, and this multi-ethnic, multi-faith aspect of her background is an important part of her political persona. Harris has spoken of how influential the progressive views of her maternal grandfather, P V Gopalan (a career civil servant in India and Zambia) were in her formative years.
Harris attended Howard University in Washington DC, chairing the Economics Society and interning in the mailroom of California Senator Alan Cranston. She graduated in 1986, before returning to her native California for law-school. In 1990 she was hired as a Deputy DA in Alameda County. Since then, she has become a breakout star in the Democratic party, going from Assistant San Francisco DA to Vice-President in just nine years.
Biden and Harris face the challenge of reuniting and healing a country that historians say is the most divided since the American Civil War. It will take years of political finesse to purge someone as polarizing as Trump from the American memory. The aftermath of the Trump era is likened to a type of Cold War. As we have seen before, “It Takes a Woman” to be able to bring people together. Harris is that woman, and we know that as Vice President she will be successful in the reunification of our country.
We stand at a moment of optimism for women in politics. First, there are more women in the highest levels of government. We have welcomed 118 women in the House and 26 in the Senate. This is representative of a massive increase in female participation, from local government all the way, to the very top. Women are now a demographic that candidates cannot afford to ignore.
Kamala Harris inspires confidence in women. She embodies strength, ambition, and leadership. She will initiate the country’s new direction which will summon a nation to do the work of history and reflects the “strength of our democracy”. Congratulations Kamala on your excellence.
© Dr. Carmen Estrada Schaye
