Kamala Harris’ nomination and identity

Senator Kamala Harris has accepted the nomination to become vice president of the United States. There is a great enthusiasm in the media and public for picking a Black woman for the first time by any major political party for this high office. Kamala Harris’s mother Dr. Shyamala Gopalan migrated to the United States in late ’50s from the Southern Indian state of Tamilnadu. I also hail from the Southern Indian state of Telangana that borders the state of Tamilnadu. People in southern India are generally darker in their skin complexion than the people of northern India. Kamala’s father Dr. Donald Harris, like her mother, was also an immigrant from Jamaica. Kamala’s parents divorced when she was only 7-years-old, and she was raised by her Indian mother with strong Indian values. Senator Harris dearly remembered her deceased mother during the acceptance speech, but there was no mention of her living father who is an emeritus professor of economics at Stanford University. As a child growing up, Kamala visited many-many times to India and maintains close ties with her mother’s side family in India. So, what is the real identity of Senator Harris? Is it African-American, Indian-American, or does it depend on the occasion and audience? I rather identify her as a proud American in the spirit of the great American Constitution that does not discriminate based on race, religion, gender, and ethnicity.

Ghanshyam D. Heda

Columbus

The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.