Kamala Harris, In Her Biggest Speech Yet, Remembers “Trailblazer” Mother

Demoratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris started her speech at the party’s big national convention with a special mention to her Indian-origin mother, Dr Shyamala Gopalan Harris. Not just that, Kamala’s sister Maya Harris shared their family’s story with the convention audience.

Kamala Harris said that her mother was 19 when she crossed the seven seas alone, traveling from India to California “with an unshakable dream to be the scientist who would cure breast cancer.”

“I miss her every day, and especially right now – and I know she’s looking down, smiling,” Ms Harris said.

“When she finished school, she was supposed to return home to a traditional arranged marriage, but as fate would have it, she met my father, Donald Harris, a student from Jamaica. They fell in love and got married, and that act of self-determination made my sister, Maya, and me,” Ms Harris added.

Also Read: Kamala Harris Credits Mother For Motivating Her Political Career

Kamala’s sister, Maya Harris recalled how their mother moved to the US from India to pursue a better life and encouraged her daughters to be “the authors of our own stories.”

“Mommy’s journey, and the opportunity that she wanted for Kamala and me – that’s a distinctly American story,” she said.

She also mentioned that if their late mother was here, she would say how proud she was of her daughter. Then, “without missing a beat, she’d say, ‘That’s enough. You’ve got work to do.'”

Also Read: “Her Words Guided Me Pushing Me To Action”: Kamala Harris On Mother

Dr Shyamala Gopalan Harris, a biomedical scientist died in 2009, a year before Kamala Harris was elected as California’s attorney general.

Kamala Harris made the history by becoming the first woman, the first Black person and the first Indian-American to become US Vice President.