What will the person who is called ‘Kamala Harris for the people’, ‘Queen of the borders’, ‘Kamala Is Brat’, ‘Kamala is a cop’ bring to the world?
Kamala Harris has many bright features that make her a unique personality. She was the first woman, the first African-American and the first Asian to serve as Vice President of the United States. Harris was also the first woman to serve as the District Attorney of San Francisco and the first African American and South Asian to become the Attorney General of California. Her background and career achievements are an inspiration not only to black Americans, but also to Asian voters, a rapidly growing ethnic group in the US that both Democrats and Republicans are trying to woo.
By the way, Kamala’s telling surname ‘Harris’ means ‘hard worker’ in Arabic. In a sense, her life can be considered a success story. And in such stories, even the smallest details are important: a happy or traumatic childhood, the status and attitude of parents and others, the stories of friends and family who inspired her to choose a profession, and the lucky accidents that got her to where she is today. Perhaps the story of Cinderella, which demonstrates the importance of effort and inner qualities for success, is always more interesting than the story of a person who was born with a golden spoon in his or her mouth.
We all come from childhood
Kamala’s exotic appearance reveals her multinational background. Her mother, Shayamala Gopalan, was a breast cancer researcher, and her father, Donald Harris, became an economist and professor emeritus at Stanford University. Kamala herself studied at Howard University in Washington, D.C., and Hastings College of the University of California.
When Kamala entered elementary school, she and other black students were transferred to a school in a more affluent area of North Berkeley as part of a desegregation programme called bussing. At the time, the school was 95% white, and after the desegregation programme, 40% of the population was black. It can be assumed that it is because of this experience that she is currently concerned about the problems of emigration, xenophobia and racial inequality.
It was in high school that Harris realised that she wanted to become a prosecutor and work to protect women and children after her best school friend shared her experience of sexual abuse in her family.
The girl was strongly influenced by her maternal grandfather, a former Indian official whose progressive views on democracy and women’s rights made a deep impression on her. Harris still keeps in touch with her relatives in India and her paternal relatives in Jamaica.
Kamala’s successful career as a prosecutor
Kamala’s choice of profession has already been described above. She decided to become a public prosecutor and defend the vulnerable after a friend of hers shared her experience of sexual abuse in her family. Harris is a graduate of Howard University and Hastings College of the University of California. She began her career as a deputy district attorney (1990-1998), specialising in child sexual abuse, homicide and robbery cases.
In 1998, Kamala became the Managing Prosecutor of the Criminal Division in the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office and then the Chief of the San Francisco City Attorney’s Family and Children’s Division. In 2004, she became the first female district attorney in San Francisco, where she achieved a significant increase in the conviction rate, and six years later she became California’s Attorney General.
In this position, Harris successfully fought real estate fraud, securing billions of dollars in compensation for defrauded Californians. In particular, Harris played a key role in the investigation and settlement of the national mortgage scandal, which involved bank misconduct during the financial crisis. She secured $20 billion in compensation for defrauded Californians.
The public prosecutor initiated numerous lawsuits against major banks, including JPMorgan Chase, for their role in fraudulent mortgage practices. This has resulted in significant financial compensation for victims.
She has also worked extensively on consumer protection, particularly in cases involving fraud with credit cards and other financial products. This has helped to recover millions of dollars for defrauded consumers.
The ambiguity of Harris’s career as a public prosecutor
However, Kamala Harris’ prosecutorial career was controversial. She held the highest position in California’s law enforcement agencies, but she caused discontent among police officers because Harris refused to seek the death penalty for the killer of police officer Isaac Espinoza in 2004. The chief state prosecutor was criticised for not fighting corruption in law enforcement. For example, in 2010, Harris did not support an investigation into corruption in the San Francisco Police Department, which caused public outrage.
She introduced the ‘Back on Track’ programme, which provided juvenile offenders with the opportunity to avoid imprisonment through training and employment. The idea of this programme can probably be compared to the approach of the famous educator A.S. Makarenko in his colonies. He also provided education and employment opportunities, a chance for a better future through skills development and social integration of children who had committed offences. This programme received both praise and criticism from the public.
Interestingly, Harris introduced a system of heavy fines and possible jail time for parents whose children are frequently absent from school, which disproportionately affected African Americans and Latinos. In 2014, she mocked the idea of legalising marijuana, but supported it in 2019 when she ran for president.
In 2015, Kamala announced her intention to run for senator and received the support of Joe Biden and Barack Obama. In 2016, she became the first senator of colour from California. In 2017, she became the second black woman in history to be elected to the US Senate. Even then, she began to oppose Trump, but initially supported Bernie Sanders’ idea of universal healthcare. In 2019, she entered the race for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination, where Biden was one of her opponents.
What Harris is remembered for as a senator
In 2016, Kamala became a senator from California. Harris gained national fame for her pointed questions to Trump administration officials during Senate hearings. Her interrogations were so effective that she was recognised by her colleagues. For example, during the hearings, she repeatedly asked difficult and direct questions that forced officials to give clear answers or admit their incompetence.
For example, during a hearing in 2017 when Jeff Sessions was Attorney General, Harris repeatedly interrupted him to demand clear answers to her questions about contacts with Russian officials. Her persistence made Sessions look uncomfortable and was admired by her colleagues.
During Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination hearing, Harris asked him a series of questions about his position on abortion rights. Her questions were so precise that Kavanaugh looked confused and unable to give clear answers.
William Barr was the US Attorney General during the Trump administration. In 2019, he participated in Senate hearings on Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Kamala Harris, as a senator, asked him questions about whether he had received instructions from the White House regarding this investigation. Her questions were so pointed that Barr looked embarrassed and could not give a clear answer.
‘Kamala Harris for the people’
In January 2019, the former prosecutor, now a senator, launched a Democratic presidential campaign under the slogan ‘Kamala Harris for the People’, but later withdrew her candidacy due to lack of funds. Joseph Biden won the election, and Harris became vice president.
In 2020, Kamala demonstrated her determination and confidence, which helped her win the sympathy of many voters. To the question: ‘What is your assessment of the Trump administration’s economic policy?’ the then senator answered categorically: “The Trump administration has failed on economic policy. They cut taxes for the rich, leaving the middle class without support. Joe Biden and I plan to invest in infrastructure, education and healthcare to create jobs and support American families.”
And here is her answer to the question: ‘How do you plan to combat racial inequality in the United States?’ – ‘Joe Biden and I plan to reform the criminal justice system, invest in education and healthcare for all communities, and support small businesses, especially those owned by minorities. We will fight for equality for all Americans.’
… In the next article, we will add touches to the portrait of this bright personality, recalling her intra-party disputes with Biden, her fight for reproductive freedoms and migration policy as Vice President, why Harris was dubbed the ‘Queen of Borders’ and ‘Kamala Is Brat’. We will recall why Biden chose Harris as his successor when he left the US presidency, and, of course, we will emphasise Harris’s position on the war in Ukraine.
Tetyana Morarash
