Maya Harris: Who is Kamala’s younger sister and why do people call her the next ‘Bobby Kennedy’?

Kamala Harris has formed a strong team behind her during her various political movements, whether it is her presidential campaign or when Joe Biden is elected as his vice president.

One prominent member of that team was Ms Harris’ younger sister, Maya Harris, who is called “Bobby Kennedy” – and refers to the late politician’s relationship with brother John F Kennedy before he even became a political force.

The younger Ms Harris, 52, served as her sister’s campaign chair in the 2020 presidential election.

Virtually every tap of Harris’s presidential campaign was touched upon by the younger Ms Harris – from soliciting donors to recruiting a variety of staff to even drafting policy initiatives that would lead the campaign.

“I think most people who know Maya will tell you that they are one of the smartest people they know,” Kamala Harris told Politico earlier. ‘The fact that she volunteered to work on this campaign at such a high level and that she’s exactly who she’s always been – she’s working around the clock and she’s probably the hardest, if not one of the hard working people on the campaign – I feel very blessed. ”

The two sisters have been close for a long time, according to the memoir of older Ms Harris’ 2019, The truths we hold.

Their mother, Shyamala Gopalan, a breast cancer researcher, emigrated from India in 1960 to pursue a doctorate in endocrinology from the University of California, Berkeley. While in school, she met the mother of sisters Donald Harris, a Jamaican-born student who emigrated from his country in 1961 to study economics at university.

The couple divorced when the sisters were young. Their upbringing was described in “matriarchal” The truths we hold, with her mother raising her for the most part. ‘Shyamala and the girls’ was what the trio became known for, wrote the elderly woman Harris.

“We forged a bond that will not be broken,” Ms Harris said The Washington Post rather about her younger sister. “When I think about it, all the happy moments in our lives, all the challenging moments, all the moments of transition, we have always been together.”

The younger Ms Harris graduated from Stanford Law School in 1992 and participated in the world of business law, while also teaching law. At age 29, she took over Lincoln Law School and became one of the nation’s youngest law school deans ever.

She then followed in the footsteps of her mother, who was a civil rights activist, and served as a senior associate in the civil rights group PolicyLink, the executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California (the largest ACLU attack in the country), and the Vice President for Democracy, Rights, and Justice at the Ford Foundation.

Decades of Ms Harris’s younger career were spent advocating for reform of criminal justice and educational money for all.

Working in politics is not just next to her sister came in various campaigns. The younger Ms Harris got her taste in national politics by working as one of three senior policy advisers for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign for the 2016 election.

Although in the public eye with the support of her politically prominent sister, there are aspects of the life of the younger woman Harris that have kept her relatively private.

She was diagnosed with Lupus when she was in college, an autoimmune disease that occurs when the body’s own immune system attacks its tissues and organs.

This diagnosis was not revealed until earlier this year when interest grew about the drug hydroxychloroquine, a prescription medication often used by Lupus sufferers. Experts believed that the drug could also relieve symptoms related to the coronavirus, although research has since proven otherwise. Donald Trump even promoted the drug to a large extent during his presentations for coronavirus, and it led to a shortage of the medication.

“Trump has even said that people should take preventive hydroxychloroquine,” Mr Harris wrote in a personal essay with The Atlantic Ocean.

Talking about the drug during a recent briefing, he asked again and again, ‘What do you need to get rid of? ‘But for a president to accidentally invite Americans to self-medicate is harmful and potentially deadly. And if supply shortages continue, those of us whose welfare depends on drugs will have plenty to lose. ”

Ms Harris also has a younger daughter, with whom she became pregnant in her high school seniors, another detail of her life that she keeps private.

Her daughter, Meena, influenced Mrs. Harris to earn her bachelor’s degree at home while attending the University of California, Berkeley, so that she could raise the child. Meena also introduced Ms. Harris to her now-husband, Tony West, at the age of four when she was involved with him in a game of concealment at Stanford Law School.

“It’s a family week that Meena knew we should be together long before we did,” Ms Harris said Stanford Attorney.

Now the younger Mrs Harris is enjoying her sister’s achievements by taking part in Mr Biden’s ticket for the 2020 presidential election. And based on their relationship, it is likely that the couple will continue to work on policy for years to come. and campaign initiatives.

“On that day when a little girl from Oaktown became the first black woman to be a vice-presidential candidate for an important party … So incredibly proud of you, say,” the younger Mrs. Harris wrote in response to ‘ the announcement of the President.