Kamala Devi Harris. Born from Jamaican and Indian roots, of grandparents who fought for independence and knowledge, parents who fought for their PhDs and political activism; An alumna of a top HBCU, a senator, attorney general, and believed to be an active advocate of minority, women’s, LGBT, education, and major prison reform with the knowledge, and power to actually make change.
Sounds like the resume of quite the modern day superwoman, huh?
While we indeed are always rooting for our own, and there is no argument to be had on why, we must learn to actually examine the person beyond the color of their skin and analyze the real political work of the brown body and the work they will put in for other brown bodies in the nation.
In other words: Just because a woman of color is running for the presidency, we should not blindly vote without doing the research.
Let us measure the stakes:
Mrs. Harris worked with Lateefah Simon from the Center for Young Women’s Development to educate and ultimately save young women at risk, using her law degree to help fight pimps from further brutalizing women and also working closely with child abuse and domestic violence cases.
Later, Harris offered a seemingly ground-breaking idea for the improvement of our criminal justice system. After a non violent first time offender (60% of new felony cases) pleaded guilty, they had the option to join a 12-18 month program of individual support, job training, community service and more. Upon completion, a judge would expunge the felony from their record, giving the second chance many members of our society deserve. This is where her concern for those in need and her passion to change our society brightly shine through.
Yet, great ideas and speech activism are not automatic reasons as to why someone should be the next POTUS.
The question is, who, and what is Kamala Harris the politician? For reals.
