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കമലാ ദേവി ഹാരിസ്: കുടുംബ ചിത്രങ്ങള്‍

Published on 11 August, 2020
കമലാ ദേവി ഹാരിസ്: കുടുംബ ചിത്രങ്ങള്‍

In her memoir, ‘The Truths We Hold: An American Journey,’ Harris vividly portrays her late mother Dr. Shyamala Gopalan, who was a cancer researcher, and describes what she inherited from her mother.

‘My mother understood very well that she was raising two black daughters. She knew that her adopted homeland would see Maya and me as black girls. She was determined to make sure we would grow into confident, proud black women.

In a country where she had no family, they (the black community) were her family – and she was theirs. From almost the moment she arrived from India, she chose and was welcomed to and enveloped in the black community. It was the foundation of her new American life.

My mother, grandparents, aunts and uncle instilled us with pride in our South Asian roots … We were raised with a strong awareness of and appreciation for Indian culture. All of my mother’s words of affection or frustration came out in her mother tongue (Tamil) – which seems fitting to me, since the purity of those emotions is what I associate with my mother most of all.

‘There is no title or honor on earth I’ll treasure more than to say I am Shyamala Gopalan Harris’s daughter. That is the truth I hold dearest of all.

‘It was really my mother who took charge of our upbringing. She was the one most responsible for shaping us into the women we would become.’

Harris credits her maternal grandmother for the crusading civic spirit that both her mother and she inherited.

Her mother also taught her that being a good person meant standing for something larger than yourself; that success is measured in part by what you help others achieve and accomplish.

Dr Shyamala Gopalan died in 2009  

LOOKING BACK TO 2004

Harris took charge as the District Attorney of San Francisco in 2004 winning a run off against the incumbent DA with a promise to be smart on crime. In her inaugural speech she thanked her mother. ‘One individual here deserves a special tribute. She is a woman who has given of herself unconditionally throughout my life. She is the most inspiring and courageous person I have ever known. Please help me honor Dr. Shyamala Harris, my mother,’ she told the crowd.

She also thanked her sister Maya Lakshmi Harris West and brother-in-law Tony West for their support.

Underscoring her commitment to always defend the rights of the people of San Francisco, Harris received the oath of office on the Bill of Rights.

As the District Attorney she did not seek death penalty.

‘As far as I'm concerned, the death penalty is morally wrong, and I'm not going to make an exception to that principle,’ she said.

When police officers questioned her stand, she replied, ‘I made a decision.’

Harris worked as a deputy district attorney in San Francisco and Alameda County before becoming the DA.

In 1998, the Daily Journal named her one of the top 20 young lawyers in California.

Dr. Shyamala Gopalan came to the US in the 1960s, when she was 19, for higher studies. She married Donald Harris, a Jamaican American, who later became a Stanford economics professor. Kamala was born in 1964 and her sister Maya two years later. The couple separated when Kamala was five.

കമലാ ദേവി ഹാരിസ്: കുടുംബ ചിത്രങ്ങള്‍കമലാ ദേവി ഹാരിസ്: കുടുംബ ചിത്രങ്ങള്‍കമലാ ദേവി ഹാരിസ്: കുടുംബ ചിത്രങ്ങള്‍കമലാ ദേവി ഹാരിസ്: കുടുംബ ചിത്രങ്ങള്‍കമലാ ദേവി ഹാരിസ്: കുടുംബ ചിത്രങ്ങള്‍
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