Viva Kamala Devi Harris – Again
GEORGE BRAINE
Note: This is an updated version of an article I wrote in 2020, when Ms. Harris was nominated as the running mate of Joe Biden.
Years ago, I was going through a supermarket checkout in Alabama when the cheerful cashier – a young Black woman – and I got into a conversation. Noticing that her name tag said CHANDRA, I asked her if she knew what it meant. She did not. When I told her it meant “moon” in my language, her face lit up with joy. “I can’t wait to get home to tell mum”, she said.
Years later, when I heard of Kamala Harris the Senator, I wondered at her first name, being informed she was Black. Did her parents name her Kamala because they liked how it sounded? Or was this another case of “Chandra”? But I came to know that Senator Harris’ mother was an Indian from Madras, and that explained Kamala.
But I did wonder why Harris did not talk about her Indian origins. Obviously, the Black aspect was more attractive to voters than the Indian heritage. But now that she is the Democratic Party’s presumptive nominee for the Presidency, her Indian heritage has received wider publicity and is certainly an asset.
Indian Americans are a formidable ethnic group in the USA. Nearly five million in number, with a median household income of US$123,700. (For whites, it’s $81,060.) Indian CEOs – 45 and counting – lead top American companies: Shantanu Narayen, Adobe; Sundar Pichai, Alphabet, the parent company of Google; Satya Narayana Nadella, Microsoft; Rajeev Suri, Inmarsat; Punit Renjen, Deloitte; Vasant Narasimhan, Novartis, just to name a few. Ajaypal Singh Banga, formerly of Mastercard, is now the President of World Bank. According to the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin, 80,000+ practicing physicians of Indian origin are in the USA.
These Indians are, literally and metaphorically, a gold mountain. Within a week of Harris becoming the presumptive nominee of the Democratic Party, $200 million in donations flowed into the Party campaign, although how much came from the Indian American community is not known.
Shayamalan Gopalan, Harris’ mother, left Madras at the age of 19 to study in the USA, and, after obtaining her PhD, became a cancer researcher. Harris’ sister, Maya, a prominent lawyer (she became Dean of a law school at 29), was Harris’ campaign manager in 2020.
Kamala Harris with her Indian relatives
My life has been entwined with Americana since my father bought a subscription to the Reader’s Digest when I was only 11. In those days, the USA was a beacon for the free world. Later, my graduate studies were in the USA, at no cost to me, and my career took off there.
I want the USA to do well. The debacles in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan, the racial inequalities, the rabid partisanships, the disrespect for science, and government corruption and incompetence has made the USA very different from the country I first saw in 1984. Most hurtful has been its fall from leadership among nations. So, I am glad that the Biden-Harris partnership brought a much-needed change. But more remains to be done.
Frankly, I have been disappointed with Vice President Harris’ performance. She appeared to be playing safe, sidestepping the most challenging task she was given – to fix the catastrophe at the Southern boarder, through which millions of asylum seekers entered the USA. Frivolous speeches did not add to her standing. But, with President Biden’s withdrawal, the contest is now between a confused old man and a vigorous, clear sighted younger woman. The Trump vs. Harris contest will also match a felon and a prosecutor (Ms. Harris was the Attorney General of California), and smart prosecutors win. And Trump’s choice for vice president, JD Vance, is turning out to be a disaster.
Ms. Harris’ presumptive nomination has been greeted with euphoria by most Democrats, and the challenge is to sustain that enthusiasm till election day. New groups – even “Karens for Harris”, “Swifties for Harris” and “White dudes for Harris”- have emerged. Democrats, long shrugging off the vile attacks of Trump and the Republicans with a holier-than-thou attitude, have begun to fight back, labeling Trump “weird” and Vance as “creepy”.
Interesting times ahead, indeed!
