Life, they say is not a bed of roses. The human life is replete with obstacles that threaten to derail individual goals and objectives. These limitations are even more prominent with “women in politics” considering the numerical strength of men in participation.
Now, let us throw in another variant, “person of colour” such that the combination of these variants who are arguably history’s most marginalised groups, would reveal the depth of these limitations.
However, the case is entirely different for Vice President elect, Kamala Devi Harris who is now the first female Vice President of the United States of America , first African American, first Asian American, first Caribbean American and the highest ranking female elected official in America’s history.
Harris was born in October 20, 1964 in Oakland, California. Her father, Donald J. Harris, a British Jamaican is a Stanford University Professor emeritus of Economics while her mother, Shyamala Gopalan, originally from Tamil Nadu in India is a biologist who made advances in breast cancer research.
One central theme about the Vice President-elect’s career trajectory of over two decades has always been about service to the people where she initiated a number of reforms in her various roles.
Her early beginning recorded successful reforms in felony and drug dealers’ conviction rates, marijuana offenses, creation of a hate crime unit, truancy initiative, criminal justice reform, environmental protection and violent crimes. She was able to do achieve all of these incredible feats during her different career posts.
The Vice President elect began her career as a Deputy District Attorney in Alameda County, California. In 1998, she was recruited by San Francisco District Attorney, Terrence Hallinan as an assistant district attorney. From there, she took on more elected roles first as the DistrictAttorney for San Francisco after emphasising the need to reduce the city’s gun violence and argued against accepting plea bargains in domestic violence cases.
Her impressive run led her to more elected post as Attorney General of California between 2011 – 2017. This was after she garnered support from a number off the city’s Senators and other prominent politicians like Nancy Pelosi, Diannne Feinstein, Antonio Villaraigosa amongst others. She defeated Alberto Torrico and Chris Kelly in the Primaries and the Los Angeles County District Attorney, Steve Cooley in the general election.
Having being a victim of racial discrimination during her childhood, she never let such abuse deter her from fulfilling her dreams. She truly epitomizes the exemplary lifestyle of breaking the metaphorical glass ceiling. Her tenacity and resourcefulness enabled her to rise among the rank in her career in public service which has now culminated in being the Vice President elect of her country which would take effect come January 20, 2021 when she will assume office alongside President elect, Joe Biden.
Harris’ story is nothing short of exemplary and a testament to the fact that obstacles and challenges should not be a stumbling block towards realising one’s dreams and goals. Who knows, she could also decide to run for the President in the future and record another incredible achievement!!!
