Vice President-elect of the United States, Kamala Harris, with her aunt (in white) (Archive)
Chennai:
Happy and excited: this is how Kamala Harris’s jubilant aunt, who lives in Chennai, felt moments after her niece’s first speech as Vice President-elect of the United States; a speech in which Ms. Harris paid tribute to “generations of women who fought and sacrificed for justice for all.”
“We always knew Kamala was going to win (but) I have yet to talk to her,” Dr. Sarala Gopalan told NDTV on Sunday, after four days of twists and turns in the vote count that confirmed that Joe Biden and her Ms. Harris had been elected as President and Vice President of the United States.
Dr. Gopalan, whom Ms. Harris affectionately referred to in Tamil as “chithi (aunt) “As she accepted the Democratic vice presidential nomination in August, she had a simple message for her niece:” You have always been a hard worker. Keep going”.
When asked what her sister and Ms. Harris’s mother, Shyamala Gopalan Harris, might have said on this proud day, Dr. Gopala said, “My sister made Kamala what it is today. It would have collapsed (from joy). I miss her. “
“My mom and dad would have been proud of their granddaughter too,” he added.
Ms. Harris’s extended family, including Uncle Balachandran, plan to attend the swearing-in ceremony in January. “Even when she became a senator (in January 2017), our family visited her,” Dr. Gopalan said.
US Vice President-elect Kamala Harris with her grandfather, PV Gopalan (file)
Gopalan, who offered 100 coconuts to a temple in Chennai’s Besant Nagar a few years ago (in fulfillment of vows after Harris won a Senate seat), also said he plans to travel to the family’s ancestral village, Thulasenthirapuram, to offer thanks to the family deity.
Earlier this week, amid the drama that accompanied the US elections, villagers held special prayers. The town is home to the ancestral residence of Ms. Harris’s maternal grandfather, the diplomat PV Gopalan, whom she has recognized as a great influence.
Today the villagers created a special rangoli to celebrate Mrs. Harris’s victory.
Ms. Harris will become the first woman, the first black woman, and the first woman of Indian descent to become Vice President of the United States.
In her acceptance speech, delivered early Sunday morning in India, she remembered her mother, an immigrant who came to California as a teenager, and recognized the contribution of women “who fought and sacrificed so much for equality and justice. for all”. “.
Most poignantly, she said, “While I may be the first woman in this office, I will not be the last.”
But this, Dr. Gopalan believes, will not be the end. She believes that Kamala Harris will break more barriers and, one day, become the first woman to be elected President of the United States.
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