In The News

The Race For Vice President

Kamala Harris has been chosen as Joe Biden’s Running Mate for the 2020 Election

Article By Alexis Murray

In The News

United States Senator of California, Kamala Harris, was selected as the vice president of the Democratic party by running mate Joe Biden. After many differences between the two and vast research amongst Biden’s campaign advisers and selection committee, Harris was the best running mate to be vice president. She is the first vice president candidate on a major political party ticket that has graduated from an Historically black college or university (HBCU). Harris is not new to making history. She was the first black woman elected as district attorney in the state of California, First Black woman and Indian-American woman to run for vice president on a major political party, and the first Indian-American senator. When Kamala entered Howard University from Oakland, CA in 1982, she knew her future was bright. As a child, her mother instilled in her the principles of activism and the tenacity of getting the job done. Kamala states her mother said, “Don’t just sit around and complain about things. Do something.” This statement has clearly stuck with Kamala as she went to pursue duties on campus such as freshman representative of the Liberal Arts Council (her first elected office position) and the debate team. She has also participated in many protests at Howard, such as the sit-in at Howard during her freshman year in 1983, protests for apartheid in D.C. and many others that have dealt with fighting for what’s right—while pursuing a degree in political science and economics.

After receiving her law degree at UC Hastings, she became a deputy district attorney where she was noticed for her gogetter attitude and powerful personality. Although her parents, especially her mother, were not too fond of her being a prosecutor, Kamala felt like it was the perfect job for her. In her memoir, “The Truth We Hold: An American Journey”, that was released in early January 2019, stated her mother believed that the United States has “A deep and dark history of people using their power of the prosecutor as an instrument of injustice.” She then began as an assistant attorney working under former district attorney of San Francisco, Terence Hallinan. There she took on crimes that consists of robbery, sexual assault, burglary and homicide. In 2004, she began her role as district attorney of San Francisco that lasted seven years. In these years, she produced many programs such as the hate crimes unit focusing on LGBT youth in schools and her reform efforts include banning the death penalty and tackling truancy by issuing citation against parents who have let their children miss a vast amount of days in school.

With all the programs and initiatives that she implemented, they have always not been in full pursuit or less about the help of others and wrongly convicted of crimes. That is why her career as a prosecutor has been questioned many times. During her campaign for presidency, on the Second Democratic Debate Night, she was questioned by Rep. Tulsi Gabbard about her failure to help citizens off of death row and how people of color were arrested for misdemeanor marijuana charges. Gabbard stated, “Senator Harris said she’s proud of her record as a prosecutor and she will be a prosecutor president but I’m deeply concerned about this record. There are too many examples to cite but she put over 1,500 people in jail for marijuana violations and then laughed about it when she was asked if she has ever smoked marijuana. She blocked evidence that would have freed an innocent man from death row until the courts forced her to do so. She also kept people beyond their sentences to be used as cheap labor for the state of California.”

After her roles of district attorney and attorney general of California, she ran for the democratic senate seat in 2016 and won succeeding Barbara Boxer. In her 2016 senate campaign, Harris had somewhat changed her prosecuting ways by calling for social justice reform and immigration that helped her sweep the democratic vote.

On January 21, 2019, Kamala announced her campaign as a presidential candidate in the 2020 election. With strong support from citizens, Kamala raised 1.5 million dollars from 38,000 people that averaged a 37-dollar donation from each supporter right after her announcement. The support in the beginning was not the same throughout her campaign. Later that year in December, she announced her campaign suspension because of the lack of funds and support at the polls. Harris stated, “I’ve taken stock from every angle, and over the last few days have come to one of the hardest decisions of my life. My campaign for presidency simply doesn’t have the financial resources we need to continue. I’m not a billionaire. I can’t fund my own campaign. And as the campaign has gone on, it’s becoming harder and harder to raise the money we need to compete.”