By Anika Lippke ‘24, Commentary Writer

Former Senator and Vice President-elect Kamala Devi Harris has made history time and time again. Born to a Jamaican father and an Indian mother, Harris was the first Indian and second African American woman ever elected to the United States Senate. With the election of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris this November, Harris became the first woman and person of color elected Vice President.

Harris is well-equipped to fill this position. As District Attorney of San Francisco, Attorney General and a United States Senator of California, Harris worked to combat sexual abuse, gang violence, drug trafficking, and laws banning same-sex marriage. Her rejection of Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriage, and her novel Smart on Crime, analyzing criminals’ likelihood of committing multiple crimes, are demonstrative of her work and dedication to these fields. 

 As an outspoken advocate for human rights, Harris is a candidate who has shown that she can represent and empathize with minority groups in the United States. As a woman of color and a daughter of two immigrants, she understands the struggles that various marginalized groups of American citizens have endured. 

As the half-Indian daughter of two immigrants, I appreciate Biden’s choice of Vice President Harris. I look forward to the work that she will be doing to improve human rights in the United States, and I am excited that women and people of color will have representation at such a high level in the federal government.  With Harris as Vice President, American children will grow up with a vice president who is a woman of color. Hopefully, many of us will come to view Harris as a role model, as already, many children my age have. 

Harris’s election will help pave the way for people of color, women, members of the LGBTQIA+ community, and all minority groups to run for important lawmaking seats within the U.S. Her position builds on the progress made by her contemporaries Hillary Clinton, the Democratic Presidential nominee from 2016, and Pete Buttigieg, an openly gay former mayor from Indiana who ran for president during the 2020 election. 

Biden-Harris is by no circumstances a perfect team, nor one that is nationally adored.  However, no presidential candidate will go without their baggage, or manage to garner the support of every single United States citizen. Moreover, with the current pandemic and climate crisis, and the state of the country following Donald J. Trump’s presidency, Biden-Harris are the team most suited to helping our country recover and continue to grow. 

The President-elect and Vice President-elect have already proven their efficiency and ability to provide quick change to the country. On November 9th, Biden announced plans to rework the coronavirus task force and has announced the team members of his task force, and Harris has been inspiring U.S. citizens as a woman of color and as a role model in the position of vice president. This dwarfs the work of our current president, who has chosen to deny the coronavirus pandemic and belittle people of color and women on a daily basis.