Random Scribbles: Why I endorse Harris
I am an Indian Citizen and I have no vote in the US election. But still, I endorse Kamala Harris, the incumbent Vice-president of the US of A as my preferred candidate in the upcoming Presidential elections in November 2024.
If you want to know why I am thrilled about Kamala Harris, her maternal origins trace back to the city ( Chennai) and state ( Tamilnadu, India). Her ancestors speak the same language (Tamil) and belong to the same religion (Hindu). I know that she is a Christian, and married to a Jew. More so, calling upon such a link sounds naive, even stupid. If it were Michelle Obama, I would have written the same article, except the following paragraph.
Let us examine a few names that have hit the Presidential campaign recently. Usha Vance’s (aka Chilukuri) ancestors are from Vizag, India. The runner-up in the Republican nomination for the Presidency is Nikki Haley (aka Randhawa). The idea of Indian-origin women breaking the glass ceiling of the US presidential circuit, the highest power circuit of politics, is a significant achievement. I can add Vivek Ramaswamy — but this article is about Indian-origin women so I will leave him out.
I did not notice such a thing until Usha Vance appeared on stage. We all know that Indian-Americans excel in career, corporate, education, and per-capita earnings. They are probably one of the best examples of making the most of the opportunities in a country like the US — immigrants quietly blending into the society, making the cut, and making it big.
Everything is acceptable till it does not cut into the last glass ceiling — the US Presidency — the bastion and preserve of White-Christian-American Males. If a nearly 250-year-old democracy has not achieved something, it is having a woman as a president. Till Harris, the highest a woman has reached is the Secretary of State — Madeline Albright, Condoleezza Rice, and Hillary Clinton climbed that mountain.
Barack Obama ( I am a huge fan) broke the racial barrier to become the first black president. Hillary tried but could not. Harris became the first Vice-President, breaking the gender and racial barriers in the presidential circuit.
We all knew that Trump would go for a conservative choice — a Caucasian male as the Vice-Presidential candidate. But Usha Vance appeared on the horizon as a potential second lady, and the dignity with which Nikki Haley conducted the race against Trump, illustrates that color and gender as barriers are being breached even in the Republican political circles.
This brings us to the current bid by Kamala Harris to secure the Democratic Party nomination for President. Kamala Harris’ ascension will break the long-awaited barrier of gender and race. No wonder the first response from the Republican side is that Harris is the DEI candidate of the Democrats.
DEI is the much-needed evolution of our societies, mainly in the 21st century, from the hitherto patriarchial regimes including post-World War 2, democratic nations. One of the powerful arguments against DEI is that it sidesteps meritocracy against identity. If that was the case, why is the Presidency only filled with white-caucasian males?
Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump were facing off in 2016, during my last trip to the US. I could see the discourse of political advertisements, campaigns, and statements devolving into personal attacks. I am not going into the merit of the candidates — because it is intricately linked with the society, demography, history, and other dynamics, which I am not an expert to comment on.
As a visitor to the United States, I have realized that the country takes pride in its multi-ethnic, immigrant population. But what I saw on TV, especially from Trump, put me at odds with my understanding of the country — of course, I don’t mean to be stereotypical, but I started to understand that xenophobic verbiage had seeped into the American political diatribes.
“I wanted Americans to understand that words matter — that the hateful language they heard coming from their TVs did not reflect the true spirit of our country and that we could vote against it.”
― Michelle Obama, Becoming
To position itself as the world’s watchdog of democracy, yet under the constitutional right of free speech, words that came from the Presidential candidate. Of course, he has his followers to pander to, but from a distance, it was clear that the political fabric of the country was going to change forever — acerbic, hate-filled words hitting hard through the television speakers.
I would not deny that he may be stoking the emotions of an angry public, and their justified anger could be his votes. Such a demagoguery is not new, all one has to do is to walk through the annals of history, including the country in which I reside.
One of the best ways to read a man is how he treats a woman. However cloaked and cleaned, the past comes out of the woodwork in the form of recorded tapes and trials. Can I ask my son or daughter to understand the 45th President of the United States as a role model, including his questionable tryst with women?
“And then again, there was something painfully familiar in the menace and male jocularity of that tape. I can hurt you and get away with it. … Every woman I know recognized it. Every person who’s ever been made to feel ‘other’ recognized it. … Dominance, even the threat of it, is a form of dehumanization. It’s the ugliest kind of power.”
― Michelle Obama, Becoming
It is not hard to ignore the position of Donald Trump — born with a silver spoon and has grown in a position of privilege; bravado and assertive power, abusive and hard negotiation — the hallmark of successful men, and the glass ceiling put in place firmly by the patriarchy.
I understand the feelings nurtured behind the fingers nursing a half glass of scotch in a men’s bar somewhere in the Mid-West and West — their ideal world swamped by Hispanics from the South, the African-Americans within, and people queuing elsewhere through air and seaports.
The society envisioned by patriarchy dominating slaves and wives is chipped away through civil liberties, first by the abolishment of slavery, then by the Civil Rights movements of the 1960s and 70s. As the years have passed by, well into the 20th Century, the heart of the hardliners, both men who wield power as corporate honchos or politicians and women who operate in those circles, still claim a place of privilege — a tax-free business employing immigrants and a polity that denies the same.
“America is not a simple place. Its contradictions set me spinning. I’d found myself at Democratic fund-raisers held in vast Manhattan penthouses, sipping wine with wealthy women who would claim to be passionate about education and children’s issues and then lean in conspiratorially to tell me that their Wall Street husbands would never vote for anyone who even thought about raising their taxes.”
― Michelle Obama, Becoming
It is the same issue that manifests in different forms — poverty, lack of education and healthcare, color — all in the same boat. Now look at Donald Trump. Add this to his lack of respect for women, the law, and the Constitution — haven’t we seen these elsewhere before?
It is clear that the United States of America is at a crossroads, and in each election since 2016, we are inching closer to the pivoting point. This is where the choice of every vote counts. I may be stereotyping, but the US should be proud that a second-generation immigrant can reach the high office of the US Presidency.
The issue of identity is clear — the future is with a multi-racial, multi-lingual, inclusive society that Kamala Harris represents. She deserves the chance to represent the new era of Americans. For this reason, I endorse Kamala Harris.
~Ashok Subramanian © 2024
