As women today, we rejoice in a victory. And as Black women, we celebrate what our textbooks have only depicted – Black women as slaves or a small paragraph in a chapter for the Civil Rights Movement. But will highlight the moment a Black woman was voted into an executive office. In a country where we’re expected to fail, moments when we rise and surpass doubts are the reasons why we continue to fight for representation.
On November 7th, Kamala Harris took the stage to accept the momentous win for the Biden/Harris Presidential campaign, adding that “Black women are overlooked, but have proven time again that they are the backbone of democracy.” As she steps into the Vice President role as the first woman, Black woman, South-Asian woman and daughter of immigrants, she embodies the American dream for all in more ways than one.
Who Is Kamala Harris
As an alumna of Historically Black College and University (HBCU) Howard University class of 1986, University of California’s Hastings College of the Law class of 1989 and a proud member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc., Kamala Harris embarked on a rise through the California legal system, emerging as state attorney general in 2010. Following the November 2016 elections, Harris became just the second African American woman and the first South Asian American to win a seat in the U.S. Senate.
In 2017, Kamala D. Harris was sworn in as a United States Senator for California, the second African-American woman and first South Asian-American senator in history. She serves on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, the Select Committee on Intelligence, the Committee on the Judiciary, and the Committee on the Budget.
Kamala has spent her life fighting injustice. It’s a passion that was first inspired by her mother, Shyamala, an Indian-American immigrant, activist, and breast cancer researcher.
Growing up in Oakland, Kamala was influenced to pursue a career in law because of the impact the adults in her life had on the community during the Civil Rights movement. Through the example of courageous leaders like Thurgood Marshall, Constance Baker Motley, and Charles Hamilton Houston, Kamala learned what was required to stand up to the powerful and resolved to spend her life advocating for those who could not defend themselves.
She declared her candidacy for the 2020 U.S. presidential election on Martin Luther King Jr. Day 2019, but dropped out of the race before the end of the year. In August 2020, Joe Biden announced Harris as vice presidential running mate.
Not only did the Biden/Harris ticket make history, but it broke glass ceilings of expectations. In a country that wasn’t built for us, but by us, Americans today can feel a renewed sense of faith and hope for the future. The overwhelming response of jubilation in the streets and the outpouring tears of happiness is the 2020 win that Americans needed.
