First Chamber Member Kamala Harris has long been vocal in describing the immense influence her mother, Shyamala Gopalan, has on her own trajectory and outlook. Since she was announced on the Democratic ticket last week, details about the senator’s background – including her mother’s story – have resonated with many immigrant communities.
While on the campaign trail for her presidency, for example, Harris revealed how Gopalan, a breast cancer researcher who died in 2009, remained reluctant, despite the fact that she was often diminished in the eyes of others because of her status as immigrant.
‘My mother, who raised me and my sister, was a proud woman. She was a brown woman. She was a woman with a heavy accent, “said Harris. ‘She was a woman who was often overlooked by people when she was not taken seriously. Or adopting things of her intelligence because of her accent. Well, every time my mom proved them wrong. ”
Experts say this reflects the misconceptions that immigrants, including those of Asian descent, are always opposed to, and the reasons needed to decimate such assumptions.
“It’s easier to overlook immigrants of color, including Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, because of stereotypes that they may not be as well educated as whites or know enough of American culture to be effective in their jobs,” “said Pawan Dhingra, a sociologist and a professor of American studies at Amherst College, told NBC Asian America.
Gopalan’s story has been described as inspiring because it took an unusual path for an immigrant from her background at the time. At age 19, she left India to pursue a doctorate in nutrition and endocrinology from the University of California, Berkeley. While she was at Berkeley, she would be involved in the civil rights movement, and meet Harris’ father, Donald J. Harris, who would later divorce her, during a protest. Gopalan, who earned her doctorate at the age of 25, went on to become a breast cancer researcher, making significant interventions in the field. Their findings lead, in part, to a better understanding of progesterone and hormonal responsiveness in breast tissue, leading to much progress in the subject. Her research also landed her a position on the President’s Special Commission on Breast Cancer.
On top of her work, Gopalan also juggled her two daughters for the most part only after their divorce. Harris thought in a video with actress Mindy Kaling that her mother would prepare in the morning for a week and prepare freshly baked cookies for her children to eat when she got home from school.
Yet despite her achievements, as Harris remarked, her mother would continue to confront misunderstandings that she had intellect because of her brown skin and heavily accented English. And Gopalan’s experience is symptomatic of how Americans have traditionally viewed immigrants. Research, published in 2009 in the Journal of Extension, on the ability to speak English and its consequences shows that accents may be a more acceptable form of discrimination in the country with the attribute of unconsciousness often attributed to those who speak with a heavy accent. The paper points out that a number of cases, including Xieng v. Peoples National Bank, for an employer in higher appeal have been brought about discrimination on the grounds of language or accent.
Dhingra added that for Asian women, their accents are often interpreted as “third world” as a symbol of less education.
“This was especially the case when Gopalan was younger, when the image of India was even more bound by so-called National Geographic precedents than today,” he said.
Jennifer Lee, a professor of sociology at Columbia University, notes that Asian Americans, especially those with accents, are seen as “forever foreign” and less socially gifted. These partial views, noted the scholar, produce tangible effects on the workplace and the labor market. They found that Asian immigrants armed with advanced degrees and professional work experience from their countries of origin often find that they are unable to translate their professional status into the American labor market.
A report by the Center for Labor Markets and Policy at Drexel University found that immigrants with foreign college degrees were significantly more likely to malpractice, meaning their education required 36 percent and the training required for the job. In comparison, about 18 percent of their opposition to American degrees was mal-committed.
“As a result, they work in jobs that are far below their skill and education level, resulting in status inconsistency between their pre- and post-migration status,” Lee said. “But beyond this, some loss and waste for the American labor market that does not benefit from the talent and experience that high-skilled Asian immigrants can offer.”
Even seeing an Asian name on a job application can trigger employer benefits. A joint study by the University of Toronto and Ryerson University in Canada found that names like “Xuiying Zhang” and “Samir Sharma” were 20 percent more likely to get callbacks from big organizations compared to those with Anglo-sounding names like ” Greg Johnson “and ‘Emily Brown.’ While a master’s degree increased the chances of the Asian named applicant, people with Anglo-sounding names remained even better with just an undergraduate degree.
As Dhingra puts it, Asians “often have to go the extra mile to prove their credentials and capabilities relative to whites.”
Harris noted, however, that Gopalan refused to buy into such false notions of her character.
“Because of who my mother was and what she believed, she was able to dream possible and worked to make it possible,” the senator said while on the campaign trail. “The fact that my mother never asked anyone for permission to tell her what was possible is the reason, within one generation, I stand here as a serious candidate for the United States.”
Dhigra said Gopalan’s story resonated, as did so many others in the face of damaging stereotypes.
“The conversation did not end with how Gopalan was treated, but with how she proved others wrong, that she spoke with her accent and made her case,” he said.
He added that if Asian Americans have achieved economics, it is not only because of their high education, but because they have fought to be seen with respect.
‘It is impossible to refer to immigrants in general or even Asian Americans as all resistance. But immigrants are accustomed to setting up many barriers to claim their various achievements, ”he said.
Lee notes that as the daughter of immigrants raised by a “strong, proud, and principled immigrant mother who was often judged by her foreign status, acting accent, race, and gender,” her mother saw her story reflected in the characterization of Harris by Gopalan. Although, like Gopalan, her mother was able to prove others wrong, Lee said she acknowledges that disarmament shrinkage not only rests on individuals, but “is embedded in our history and our institutions.”
“Because of this, tackling bias is much more than an individual,” she said.
