6 Things Kamala Harris Shared About Her Race

When Kamala Harris was sworn in as Vice President of the United States on January 20, 2021, it was a first.

Not only did she become the first woman ever to hold the nation’s second-highest office, but as the child of Jamaican and Indian immigrants, she was also the first Black and the first South Asian American to do so.

Of course, being first is nothing new for the 59-year-old, whose resume is filled with groundbreaking accomplishments. In 2004, Harris became the first Black woman to serve as San Francisco’s district attorney, and in 2010, she became the first Black woman elected as California’s attorney general.

She does not shy away from discussing her racial and cultural identity.

Kamala Harris is proud of her South Asian roots

“My mother, grandparents, aunts and uncle instilled in us pride in our South Asian roots,” Harris wrote in her 2019 autobiography, “The Truths We Hold: An American Journey.”

Harris’ mother, Shyamala Gopalan, gave both Harris and her sister, Maya, Sanskrit names to express her pride.

“Our classic Indian names spoke to our heritage, and we were raised with a strong awareness and appreciation of Indian culture,” the passage continued. “All of my mother’s words of endearment or frustration came in her native tongue — which seems fitting, since the purity of those emotions is what I most associate with my mother.”

She is also a proud, confident black woman

“My mother understood very well that she was raising two black daughters,” Harris explained in her book, adding that her mother, who died in 2009, “knew that her adopted homeland would see Maya and me as black girls, and she was determined to make sure we grew up to be confident, proud black women.”

She has addressed racist attacks on her heritage

During a 2019 appearance on “The Breakfast Club,” co-host Charlamagne tha God asked Harris about claims that she was “not African American” simply because her parents were immigrants.

“I was born in Oakland and raised in the United States, except for the years I was in high school in Montreal, Canada,” Harris responded. “And look, this is the same thing they did with Barack (Obama). This is not new to us. And so I think we know what they’re trying to do.”

As for being black, she said it plainly: “I am black and I am proud to be black. I was born black. I will die black and I am not going to make excuses for anyone because they don’t understand.”

As a child she was taken in and excluded because of her race

“I grew up going to a black Baptist church and a Hindu temple,” Harris said in a 2015 interview with the Los Angeles Times.

Although she felt accepted in those religious homes as a child, she was not always welcome in the homes of her neighbors.

“The neighbors’ kids weren’t allowed to play with us because we were black,” Harris said of life in her father Donald Harris’ Palo Alto neighborhood.

She attended an HBCU to immerse herself in ‘black culture’

In the 1980s, Harris attended Howard University in Washington, D.C. She found that the experience of attending historically black colleges and universities was particularly important for feeling connected to community.

In 2019, she told The Washington Post: “When you’re at an HBCU, especially one with the size and history of Howard University — and also in the context of being in D.C., which has always been known as ‘Chocolate City’ — it’s just about understanding that there’s a whole world of people out there who are just like you. It’s not just that there are a few of us who might find each other.”

Her ambitions are rooted in her heritage

Harris’s mother and father divorced when she was 7 years old. From that point on, she lived with her mother and felt inspired to follow her mother’s example in life.

“She was a brown woman. She was a woman with a heavy accent. She was a woman who, often, people overlooked or didn’t take seriously or assumed things about her intelligence because of her accent,” Harris said of her mother during her 2020 presidential campaign.

“Now, every time, my mother proved them wrong. And because of who my mother was and what she believed, what she could dream was possible, and she worked to make it possible. The fact that my mother never asked anyone for permission to tell her what was possible is why I see her — within a generation — as a serious candidate for president of the United States.”

This article was originally published on TODAY.com