2020 by the Young Diplomats Society

Kamala Harris
A Career of Firsts
When Kamala Harris stepped onto stage in
Wilmington, Delaware as Vice President-Elect, millions
in the United States and around the world waited with
bated breath. Amid a campaign that had seen over
250,000 Americans die from COVID-19, and protests
erupt over racial violence, many had become numb to
the possibility of change. But as Harris began to
speak, reflecting on the historic nature of her election,
the anxieties of Democratic voters gradually began to
dissipate. They had sent the first woman, Black woman
and Asian American woman to the White House, and
rea rmed that for all its flaws, the US was still a
country of hope, possibility and progress.
For many politicians, such expectations would be an
immense burden. However, for Harris, it has come to
define her storied political rise. Born in Oakland,
California to Indian and Jamaican immigrants, her
biracial identity has become the identifying feature of
her professional career. After attending the HBCU
Howard University and the University of California
Hastings College of Law, Harris pursued a career in
the public service, inspired by her parents’ activism
during the civil rights movement. Recruited to the
Alameda County district attorney’s o ce, she cracked
down on and reformed law enforcement’s approach to
teenage prostitution. This presaged her successful run
for San Francisco district attorney, where she became
the first Black woman to hold the o ce. In 2010, she
narrowly became the first woman of colour elected as
Attorney General of California. During her tenure, she
was lauded for creating Open Justice, an online
platform that publicised criminal justice data and
helped improve police accountability.
Having then been rumoured as a potential Supreme
Court nominee of President Barack Obama, Harris
instead became a US Senator for California in 2016; a
position wherein her sharp, incisive questioning
continues to earn widespread acclaim.
Nevertheless, Harris has also experienced sustained
criticism for her prosecutorial record, particularly
among progressive Democrats. She was previously
found to have withheld information about a police
laboratory technician compromising evidence,
resulting in the dismissal of 600 legal cases. As
California’s Attorney General, Harris criminalised
habitual truancy; a move that disproportionately
affected Black and Latino children. Moreover, she
appealed a Federal Judge’s decision that deemed the
death penalty unconstitutional, opposed a bill
mandating her o ce investigate police shootings and
refused to support state-wide standards for police
bodycam usage. Harris also has a questionable record
of pursuing wrongful conviction cases.
Activist and voter backlash to these decisions,
together with staff squabbles and diminishing
campaign contributions, are what eventually grounded
her 2020 presidential run. This was despite initial
promise, when she challenged Joe Biden on his
previous opposition to busing. Nonetheless, Biden’s
selection of Harris as his running mate, was proof that
her star, while hurt, had certainly not been
extinguished. Many now view her as the presumptive
frontrunner for the 2024 Democratic Party
nomination, given the unlikelihood of Biden seeking a
second term. If that were to happen, Harris would
again make history. After a career of shattering glass
ceilings, it would be foolish to bet against her.
SANJAY BALAKUMAR