2 weeks Ago By Romona Goomansingh
Over the past few weeks, amid an historical political period, North Americans gained a closer glimpse of Vice-President Kamala Harris — now the Democratic nominee for U.S. president.
Read this article for free: Already have an account? To continue reading, please subscribe: * Over the past few weeks, amid an historical political period, North Americans gained a closer glimpse of Vice-President Kamala Harris — now the Democratic nominee for U.S. president.
Read unlimited articles for free today: Already have an account? Over the past few weeks, amid an historical political period, North Americans gained a closer glimpse of Vice-President Kamala Harris — now the Democratic nominee for U.S. president.
Harris worked as a courtroom prosecutor in San Francisco, was elected as District Attorney of San Francisco, Attorney General of California as well as a U.S. Senator from California.
She initially pursued the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination before President Joe Biden chose her as his running mate. Harris is the daughter of a Jamaican father, who was an economics professor, and an Indian mother, who was a cancer researcher. Both parents immigrated to the U.
S. in the 1960s where they earned their doctoral degrees at the University of California at Berkeley. If victorious on Nov.
5, Harris will be the first woman and first Asian-American to occupy the White House as president. While Harris’s credentials and background have garnered much attention, her first name stands out. Unfamiliar in North American culture, it piques curiosity.
In Sanskrit, the name Kamala means lotus flower, which signifies divinity, purity and strength. The name Kamala is another name for the Hindu Goddess Lakshmi — the goddess of wealth and prosperity and the embodiment of beauty and grace. Goddess Lakshmi is always depicted standing gracefully and radiantly on a lotus flower.
The goddess symbolizes not only material wealth, but also spiritual enrichment through generosity, compassion, wisdom, positivity and being at peace. Since the start of Harris’s presidential campaign, her first name has been repeatedly mispronounced by her Republican contenders. The numerous times that her first name is pronounced correctly, by the media, (it should sound like a combination of comma and la) questions the intent to repeatedly mispronounce Harris’s first name.
Harris’s first name was also mocked during the 2020 U.S. election campaign.
In a 2020 interview with magazine, Harris summed up the ridiculing of her name: “I think that the name that your parents give you, whoever you are, meaning whatever your gender or race or background or language your grandmother speaks, is a very special thing...
it is a gift that is an incredible, familial gift. The family gives the child a name and so I come at it from that: not about myself, but for everyone..
.Respect the names that people are given and use those names with respect..
.it’s about respect for all that comes with a name.” Monday mornings The latest local business news and a lookahead to the coming week.
On the campaign trail, Harris speaks of a vision of fairness, opportunities and dignity for all. She is choosing to invest in a political currency of democracy and push back against a politics of identity. “We are not going back.
They’re not taking us back. Our fight for the future is also a fight for freedom,” Harris has said. Harris’s run for the highest-ranking office in U.
S. reaches far beyond her name being on the presidential ballot. When people see a candidate vying for this top job with a non-mainstream name such as Kamala, or like Barack Obama, they can see anything is possible.
Harris is breaking down barriers of exclusion and thrusting open the doors of opportunity for the younger generation, women and people of diversity. This moment is being met with unprecedented enthusiasm. According to Democrat officials, the Harris campaign has raised more than US$540 million and recorded nearly 200,000 volunteer shifts.
Generation Z and women are among the large numbers of donors and volunteers. Harris’s bid for the White House has sent a message of hope for all and hope for the future. This clear message is, irrelevant of who you are, what you look like and where you come from, you can achieve anything and reach the highest heights.
Harris, in reference to her mother, sums it all up. “My mother had a saying: Kamala, you may be the first to do many things, but make sure you’re not the last.” Romona Goomansingh, PhD is an educator, freelance writer and author in Winnipeg.
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