Kamala Harris shared the inspiring story of her mother, who at a young age of 19, came to California from India, “with an unshakable dream to be the scientist who would cure breast cancer.”
“When she finished school, she was supposed to return home to a traditional arranged marriage, but as fate would have it, she met my father, Donald Harris, a student from Jamaica. They fell in love and got married, and that act of self-determination made my sister, Maya, and me,” Ms Harris added.
Maya Harris also recalled how their mother moved to America with a dream of a better life, encouraging daughters to be “the authors of our own stories.”
“Mommy’s journey, and the opportunity that she wanted for Kamala and me – that’s a distinctly American story,” she said.
She emphasised that if their late mother was here, she would openly say how proud she was of her daughter. “without missing a beat, she’d say, ‘That’s enough. You’ve got work to do,’” Maya said.
Dr. Shyamala Gopalan Harris, known for her significant contributions as a biomedical scientist, sadly left us in 2009. It was one year before her daughter, Kamala Harris, stepped into the political spotlight as the attorney general of California. Recently, Kamala Harris etched her name in the history books, becoming Vice President of the United States – the first woman, the first person of African descent, and the first Indian-American to achieve this feat.
