Hey there! My name is Gianna Cacciato, and I’m a staff writer for The Northwood Omniscient. In this podcast, we’ll be covering Vice President-elect Kamala Harris and the racial and gender barriers she has broken with her nomination.
On Saturday Nov. 7, California Senator Kamala Ha rris became the Vice President-elect set to serve with President-elect Joe Biden. In doing so, Harris becomes the first Black, South Asian, biracial and female candidate to be the Vice President-elect.
Harris is familiar with firsts. Before she became a Senator, Harris was California’s first Black, South Asian, female Attorney General where she served two terms. When she was sworn into Congress, she became the first South Asian and the second African-American woman to be a Senator in the country and the first Black Senator in California.
Airryn Wharton, a Northwood sophomore, is optimistic about Harris and excited about the representation she provides.
“I feel great about Harris being the first female, South Asian and Black Vice President. I have a lot of hope and faith in her, but it especially means a lot to see someone who looks kinda similar to me in office. Obviously that’s not something we’ve really seen before and it’s not common, so I think having her as representation is gonna help uplift not only the black community, but women and minorities as a whole and help make everyone remember that it doesn’t matter your gender or the color of your skin, that you can literally do anything you put your mind to even if it feels like the whole world is working against you. I do think that Harris will be a good Vice President. She’s very intelligent, and I’m hoping that she helps contribute to bringing a big change to America because I definitely think that we need it. I feel very strongly about her, and I feel like she’s gonna stand her ground, which is a great thing, because I feel like women, especially in politics, are kinda seen as the black sheep and they’re kinda taken as a joke, but I think she’s gonna be a major leader and a great activist for women’s rights and making sure that our voices are being heard.”
Alexandria Sandhu, a Northwood sophomore, also appreciates the representation.
“As far as representation goes, I feel like this is so important, not only for me, but for every child in America right now because to see a woman in such a powerful position truly goes against all stereotypes and, on top of that, her being an HBCU [historically black colleges and universities] graduate as well as being South Asian and Black, she’s just breaking boundaries for so many groups of people in the US right now. And the representation to me feels really good because, as an Indian woman, it’s very refreshing to see someone that goes against stereotypes. Yes, she’s smart, but she’s not like a geeky side character like how Indians have always been portrayed in the media. And growing up I never really saw anyone who looked like me in positions of power in the US. And Kamala Harris is honestly just so important for young people everywhere. Like little kids, and even older people, to know that they can do it and they can make it in whatever field of study they want to, and that we are going to get more and more progressive as a society.”
In conjunction with Sandhu, Samantha Cohen, a junior at Northwood, is excited about Harris becoming an inspiration to a younger generation of women.
“Yeah, I’m very happy and it’s very inspiring to have a female vice president because, you know, having someone who I can relate to as woman being in that high position, just it’s amazing and I’m really happy because, you know, in the future if I have kids and I have a daughter or, for that matter, any little girls out there can see that a female is in that high position in our country and think ‘you know what? I can do that.’ I think it’s very great inspiration for young ladies, so I think it’s really amazing and I think she’s gonna do a great job.”
Reyvadee Godehn, a sophomore at Northwood, believes Harris’s election brings renewed hope to the country.
“I am extremely excited that Kamala Harris has become our first, not only female, Vice President, but our first Black and South Asian Vice President. This can really inspire people from across the world, from across the nation. All these minorities that had never had representation for government jobs or positions as powerful as this now have, sort of, a figure that they can say ‘Hey if she can do this, I can do this too,’ and I think that this is a great step in creating a more equal distribution of power within our nation so that minorities can really have an example and inspiration that will help them achieve all of their goals and all of their dreams. I do think that she brings a specific perspective to the White House– quite frankly, a perspective that hasn’t been seen before. As a woman and a woman of color, she first-hand has an experience of what a lot of minorities that are extremely disproportionately underrepresented in our nation go through every day, and hopefully, she can use her experiences to really drive her in making new policies and implementing laws that will hopefully help people across our nation.”
The optimism Godehn feels does not, however, negate her other, more critical opinions of Harris.
“I think that her political past is controversial, and I think that it should be controversial because there have been many situations where she has, I think, just had the wrong judgment and done things that have not helped our nation in any way, shape or form. But, she’s also done great things for our country, like standing up for the LGBTQ+ community and making strides towards marriage equality and prosecuting transnational gangs that trafficked drugs, firearms and humans.”
Godehn is referring to a petition Harris submitted as district attorney of San Francisco in 2008 to the 9th US circuit court of appeals in which she asked that same-sex marriage be allowed to resume in California while the Supreme Court was deliberating the constitutionality of Proposition 8, a voted-upon ban of same-sex marriages in the state of California.
As for the transnational gangs, in 2016, Harris announced the arrests of 52 gang members operating out of Riverside County in California, and the seizure of 67 firearms and various illegal drugs worth $1.6 million and $95,700 in cash.
“But I think, really importantly, just talking about how we have to hold politicians accountable for things like disproportionately jailing poor and POC [people of color] members of our communities like she has done in the past, and making sure that they do not continue to make the same mistakes and just make sure that they’re working on behalf of the American people and for all American people.”
Harris became a prosecutor in the 90’s and upheld and enforced laws that disproportionately incarcerated African-American men over the course of her 27-year career. Although Black people only make up six percent of California’s population, they make up 27 percent of the prison population. This has become a center of controversy among Black and POC voters as well as left-leaning voters, and a major source of criticism against Harris.
Cohen also takes issue with Harris’s past actions.
“I think she’s got some things to work on, her opinions on trans [transgender] matters and stuff like that, I’ve heard she’s have some run-ins with things like that, and some issues, but if she can work on that, I think she’s gonna be great.”
Harris has also been at the center of controversy regarding transgender members of the LGBTQ+ community. As of 2019, she had taken responsibility as the previous attorney general of California for legal briefs that sought to deny two transgender inmates from having gender reassignment surgery. Initially, Harris defended her actions stating that her personal beliefs differed from the case she was assigned, and that she had to defend the state on the matter.
Wharton agrees that it is important for Harris to be held responsible for her future actions.
“Now I know she doesn’t have the best past, but I’m hoping that she’s learned from her mistakes, and I think it’s very important that we hold her and Biden both accountable to make sure that America can have the change that we need.”
Sandhu expects Harris and the Biden administration to be transparent in their decisions.
“I think it’s really important for the voters who voted for Joe and Kamala and voters who did not and just Americans in general to hold both of them accountable to their campaign promises. Both Kamala and Joe have a really questionable past, but I do believe in character development and personal growth, and I think that she will honestly do great things for our country because it is so important to have a minority voice in power that can give light to what it’s like being a minority in America instead of just white men having all the say as it has been for centuries. But, I think as long as she’s held to her promises and held accountable, and people recognize that they are allowed to be happy for her… you shouldn’t idolize a political candidate, in my personal opinion, but I do think she’ll be a pretty good Vice president. But it’s one of those things where you just have to make sure you’re aware of what’s going on in the White House, and you’re aware that the people who you may or may not have voted for, depending on if you voted Republican, or if you just can’t vote, are being held to what they said they would do and not keeping secrets from the American people.”
Thanks for listening to this podcast on behalf of The Northwood Omniscient, we hope you learned something from it! If you enjoyed it, be on the lookout for more podcasts like this to come in the future!
Article and podcast by Gianna Cacciato. Graphic by Ethan Westmoreland.
