NRI Kamala Harris

Kamala Harris elected for first time to US Senate

Indian American elected for first time to US Senate

New York, Nov 9, 2016:

Kamala Harris made history on Tuesday, becoming the first Indian American elected to the US Senate.

She defeated her fellow-Democrat Loretta Sanchez in California to also become the first Indian American woman elected to Congress.

"Winning of Kamala Harris is another feather on the cap for the Indian American community," Thomas Abraham, Chairman, Global Organization of People of Indian Origin, told IANS.

"Winning Senatorial seat combined with several congressional victories has made the community somewhat reach its goal of political involvement," he added.

This will also help the US and India to come closer as a global partner in trade, investment, education, science and technology, military cooperation and fighting terrorism.

Senators are elected by the entire electorate in their states.

A victory is significant because California is the most populous state in the nation with 18 million voters.

Harris, 52, who traces her family roots to Chennai, is a lawyer by profession and was twice elected Attorney General in 2010 and 2014.

Harris has a dual identity: She is also counted as an African American as her father is a Jamaican of African descent and she follows the Baptist faith.

She would become the second American woman of African descent elected to the Senate and she joins two other African Americans in the Senate.

After her parents divorced, Harris was raised by her mother Shyamals Gopalan, a cancer specialist from Chennai, giving her equal claim to Indian heritage.

She is married to fellow lawyer Douglas Emhoff.

Harris succeeds Democrat Barbara Boxer, a Democrat who is retiring.

The first Indian elected to Congress is Dalip Singh Saund, who won from California in 1956....IANS

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US envoy congratulates Kamala Harris

New Delhi, Nov 9 (IANS) US Ambassador to India Richard Verma on Wednesday extended special congratulations to Kamala Harris, the first Indian American elected to the US Senate.

"We offer special congratulations to Indian-American senator Kamala Harris, who was elected," Verma said.

Harris was elected from California to the Senate defeating fellow-Democrat Loretta Sanchez.

"I can tell you we have come a long way from when I was working in the House of Representatives as an intern in 1987, when you could count on one hand the people of South-Asian descent who were working in the Capitol Hill," said Verma, who is an American of Indian origin.

Harris, 52, who traces her family roots to Chennai, is a lawyer by profession and was twice elected Attorney General in 2010 and 2014.

Harris has a dual identity: She is also counted as an African American as her father is a Jamaican of African descent and she follows the Baptist faith.

On Wednesday, US elected Donald Trump as its 45th president.

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NRI Kamala Harris elected as Attorney General of California

Nov. 03, 2010

She is the first woman to hold the office of Attorney General in California. She was endorsed by US President Obama and got campaign help from President Obama in the closing weeks of the campaign.

Biography

Kamala D. Harris, 46, is a veteran prosecutor who has dedicated her outstanding legal talents to prosecuting violent crime, combating the sexual exploitation of children and working creatively to improve the quality of life in our communities.

A former Deputy District Attorney in San Francisco and Alameda County, Kamala has thirteen years of courtroom experience. She currently serves as a San Francisco Deputy City Attorney, where she is Chief of the Community and Neighborhood Division.

Kamala was born in Oakland and raised in Berkeley. Her parents, both professors, were active in the Civil Rights Movement and instilled in Kamala a strong commitment to justice and public service. That commitment led Kamala to Howard University, America’s oldest black university, and then to Hastings College of the Law. She graduated in 1990.

As Deputy District Attorney in Alameda County from 1990 to 1998, Kamala prosecuted hundreds of serious and violent felonies, including homicide, rape and child sexual assault cases. Before Louise Renne recruited her to join the City Attorney’s office in August, 2000, Kamala was the Managing Attorney of the Career Criminal Unit of the San Francisco District Attorney’s office.

Throughout her career, Kamala has made youth and children a priority. She was one of the few prosecutors in California to stand up against Proposition 21, which has forced more young people unnecessarily into prison. Currently, she is spearheading a public-private task force that is pushing San Francisco to confront the growing problem of teen-age prostitution.

Among her many community activities, Kamala is Co-Chair of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights; President of the Board of Directors of Partners Ending Domestic Abuse; elected member of the Board of Directors of the San Francisco Bar Association; and founder of an SF Museum of Modern Art mentoring program which has served hundreds of young people from the inner city.

Kamala has been recognized many times for the excellence of her work. For her work on behalf of youth, Kamala received an award from Crime Victims United. In 1998, she was named by the Daily Journal as one of the top 20 young lawyers in the State of California. Most recently, she earned an award from the County Counsel Association of California for her work granting gay couples equal rights in child adoption cases.

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BY Surinder Singh:

• Mother's name: Shyamala Gopalan.
• Her father's name: Donald Harris.
• Sister : Maya
• Baptist religion

Kamala Harris wa born in Oakland and raised in Berkeley is the daughter of prominent breast cancer specialist Dr. Shyamala Gopalan, a Tamilian who move to US in 1960 and Donald Harris, a Jamaican, professor of economics at Stanford University.

• Kamala Harris an Indian American attorney has been voted as San Francisco District Attorney.
• She would assume the office from January 8, 2004 and would be the first Indian American district attorney in the state history. Hallinan, who was first elected as the city´s top prosecutor in 1995, will be out of public office for the first time in 15 years.
• Her parents separated when Kamala was five, but she and her sister Maya Lakshmi, were brought up jointly and imbibed Indian, American and Caribbean traditions.
• Both her parents were active in the civil rights movement, an influence that apparently led Kamala to Howard University, America's oldest black university, and then to Hastings College of the Law. Her sister is also an attorney.

Kamala went to Howard University, America’s oldest black university, and then to Hastings College of the Law where she graduated in 1990.

• A former Deputy District Attorney in San Francisco and Alameda County, Kamala has thirteen years of courtroom experience.
• She currently serves as a San Francisco Deputy City Attorney, where she is Chief of the Community and Neighborhood Division.
• She was a career prosecutor and was twice elected as district attorney of San Francisco. She was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2016, becoming only the second African-American woman to make the achievement.

Kamala Harris, San Francisco Deputy City Attorney
(Mother Indian & Jamaican father)

December 10, 2003

Challenger Kamala Harris beat incumbent Terence Hallinan to become San Francisco's new district attorney.

With 100% of precincts reporting, Harris had 56% of the vote, compared to Hallinan's 44%.

Harris acknowledges that her job is a tough one. She sees some of the most disadvantaged people in The City -- children who are victims of abuse, rape, incest.

"I've dealt with many child assault cases, in which these children were runaways because their fathers, uncles, mothers' boyfriends sexually abused them," says Harris. "And many of these kids develop post-traumatic stress disorder and many of these victims find ways to self-medicate, to dull the trauma and pain."

Harris has looked within her own family to find the inspiration and passion that drives her to fight for womens' and childrens' rights. The daughter of a South Asian mother and a Jamaican father, Harris was brought up in an environment full of support and surprise.

"My mother is the original feminist," Harris says. "Which is quite fascinating since she is South Asian."In the 1940s, Harris' grandmother drove around in a VW bug in India with a bullhorn telling village women to get birth control.

"I mean, when I heard that, that blew my mind," says Harris laughing. "Even though my grandma had an arranged marriage when she was 12, she and my grandfather were very open-minded people."

The women in Harris' family aren't necessarily rebels, but rather very independent women who are true to themselves, according to Harris."My mother fell in love with my father, a black man, and she didn't have an arranged marriage, which my grandparents at first weren't too happy with," she says. "Then she divorced my father when I was 7 years old and my sister, Maya Lakshmi, was 5."

Harris grew up in Berkeley and attended Thousand Oaks Elementary School. Her classmate in the first, second and third grades was San Francisco Supervisor Aaron Peskin.

Harris says she's blessed with having been exposed to Asian, black and American cultures as a child. She remembers going to a Buddhist temple at the crack of dawn, only to attend service at a Baptist church later in the morning.

"I grew up with a strong Indian culture, and I was raised in a black community," she says. "All my friends were black and we got together and cooked Indian food and painted henna on our hands, and I never felt uncomfortable with my cultural background."

Harris attended high school in Montreal, received her undergraduate degree at Howard University and law degree at Hastings Law School. She worked for Hallinan for two years after he recruited her from the Alameda District Attorney's Office. Two years ago, former city attorney Louise Renne asked Harris to join her office, and Harris has been there ever since.

Still early in the race, Harris has garnered big name endorsements from Mayor Willie Brown, Supervisors Peskin, Fiona Ma and Sophie Maxwell and Assemblymen Leland Yee and Mark Leno.

"I'm running because San Francisco deserves a first class D.A.'s office," Harris says. "We deserve better. In Terence Hallinan's mind, he believes he's done a good job, but why not have the best office? I'm not looking to run against him, to run against his office, but I'm looking to improve the office."