How Kamala Harris is Rewriting the American Story
On Wednesday, August 19, at 11 PM ET, Senator Kamala Harris stood on a stage in Wilmington to accept the Vice Presidential nomination, and to tell her story to thousands of Americans watching from screens across the country. “I am here tonight as a testament to generations before me,” Harris said. “Women and men who believed so fiercely in the promise of equality, liberty, and justice for all.” One of these women who Harris talked about was her mother: “Shyamala Gopalan Harris…[who] came here from India at age nineteen to pursue her dream of curing cancer.”
The official nomination of the Biden-Harris ticket is a landmark moment in American history. The daughter of two immigrants, Kamala Harris is the first woman of color to be nominated for the vice presidency by a major political party. If elected, she would also be the first Asian American person, Black person, or woman to hold the second highest office in the land.
Kamala Harris’ nomination, given her mixed heritage and Indian roots, reflects the growing importance of the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community in American politics. Currently the fastest-growing ethnic group in the United States, the size of the AAPI electorate in key districts means that they could be on the margin of victory in many battleground states this November. In addition, a 2016 poll found that almost half of AAPIs don’t think along partisan lines and could be open to persuasion by either party. In a community with historically low political engagement and voter turnout — less than half of eligible AAPIs voted in 2016 — Kamala Harris’ historic candidacy could have the potential to bring key voters to the polls for the first time.
On August 11, the day the Biden-Harris ticket was announced, Preet Bharara, the Indian-American former US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, tweeted: “The most excited person I talked to today was my mom. Because she cannot wait to vote for Vice President Kamala Devi Harris.”
This is a sentiment that could be echoed among many AAPI voters this November. In particular, South Asian American voters may be eager to vote for a candidate who looks like them and can speak to aspects of their shared experience — as long as Harris proves that she can be an effective voice for AAPIs on the national stage.
But perhaps more importantly, electing Kamala Harris could represent a strong rebuke to the conservative, nativist, and anti-immigrant ideal of ‘Americanness’ represented by Donald Trump and Mike Pence. For four years, this administration has been a mouthpiece for those who believe that whiteness is a core part of what it means to be American. Trump’s racist, Islamophobic “Muslim ban,” which has restricted immigration from eleven African and Middle Eastern countries to date, is just one example of this. In 2019, he slandered Congresswomen of color Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) and Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), telling them to “go back…[to] the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came.” And just recently, Trump attempted to use the coronavirus pandemic as an excuse to deport international students, many of whom are Asian or Pacific Islander.
In part, Trump’s rhetoric falls into a centuries-old stereotype — the so-called “perpetual foreigner” syndrome. Its devastating impact can be seen most recently in the spike of anti-east Asian American hate crimes in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, under the false assumption that East Asian-looking individuals were “spreading the virus” and “infecting Americans.” Instead of speaking out to protect Asian Americans, Trump’s use of racist terms such as “China Virus” or “Kung Flu” exacerbated this violence and hatred. Before the pandemic, Trump’s Islamophobic rhetoric, his administration’s “Muslim ban,” and his attempts to create a database to track Muslim Americans sparked a rise in violence against Muslim Americans (and South Asian Americans incorrectly assumed to be Muslim).
For AAPI politicians on both sides of the aisle, the question of how to publicly claim their Asian American heritages, given the looming danger of these racist tropes, is a difficult balancing act. Republicans like former Governor Nikki Haley of South Carolina and former Governor Bobby Jindal of Louisiana have largely attempted to distance themselves from their heritages, and have promoted policies harmful to low income Black and Brown communities.
Kamala Harris, on the other hand, presents a stark contrast to Haley and Jindal, and could be a trailblazing role model for AAPI youth on the national stage. When asked about Jindal and Haley in a 2009 interview with India Abroad, Harris answered: “I am proud to be who I am, I am proud of the influences that my family have had on my life, that my community had on my life, and similarly the influence of my mentors and colleagues and friends.”
Thus, after four years of a President who has repeatedly fanned the flames of xenophobia, Harris’ candidacy and her term as Vice President comes at a time more poignant than ever to many AAPIs. Kamala Harris’ candidacy could have a lasting impact on millions of AAPI youth looking to find their place in a 21th century America that, in many ways, rejects their claim to the country of their birth. For many young AAPIs, the Biden-Harris ticket represents the hope that one day, we will live in an America that looks more like us. An America in which we will be accepted as Americans, full stop.
The stories of young immigrants, the stories of their children and grandchildren, are the quintessential American story. We can hold the second highest office in the land, and one day, the very highest. We have a claim to this country, and we are here to stay.
The Young Politicasian is a project of the High School Democrats of America Asian American Pacific Islander Caucus. Follow us on Instagram @hsda_aapi, join the caucus, and apply to be a staff writer. The opinions expressed in The Young Politicasian do not necessarily reflect those of the AAPI Caucus or the High School Democrats of America.
