If you want to fall in love with Kamala Harris, read her 2018 book “The Truths We Hold: An American Journey”. I recommend the Audible version read by the author in her own warm voice.
In the preface, she tells about election night 2016 when she was about to be elected Senator and Donald Trump was about to be elected President. Her 9-year-old godson came to her in tears saying “Auntie Kamala, that man can’t win. He’s not going to win is he?”
And Auntie Kamala said to him “You know how sometimes superheroes are facing a big challenge because a villain is coming for them? What do they do when that happens?”
“They fight back,” he said.
“So that’s what we’re going to do.” Auntie Kamala said.
In her book, she tells about becoming prosecutor “Kamala Harris for the People” out of an earnest desire to be
“…there for the victims. Both the victims of crimes committed and the victims of a broken criminal justice system.”
Not content to just lock up those convicted and forget them, District Attorney
Harris led her office to create the Back on Track program to give those who had served their sentences a path to successful re-entry to society.
When a series of mothers of young, Black or Latino men who had been murdered and whose cases were unsolved came to the office of District Attorney Kamala Harris for help in getting justice for their sons, Kamala helped. She summoned a very surprised squad of homicide detectives and got them busy. As a result, the backlog of unsolved homicides was reduced by 25 percent.
On that special Valentine’s Day week in 2004 when Mayor Gavin Newsom inaugurated same-sex marriage in San Francisco, there was a huge line of happy couples waiting. A city official came to District Attorney Harris saying “Kamala, come and help us. We need more people to perform the marriages.” Kamala quickly got sworn in and helped.
When students were defrauded by the for-profit Corinthian Colleges, California Attorney General Kamala Harris helped. Not only did her office win relief for them, but she made sure that her office created a website to help the students walk through the complex process of accessing that relief.
When homeowners were victimized by predatory banks and lost their homes in the 2008 financial mess, Attorney General Harris fought back. She knew from her own growing up experiences what homeownership means to a family. She boldly rejected the banks’ initial far-too-small offer. She demanded and got much more.
And it was Vice President Kamala Harris who helped the environment by casting the tie breaking vote for the Inflation Reduction Act, which has been called the most ambitious effort yet to curb climate change.
Now, in 2024, with our very American democracy on the line, a nation can look to our fighting superhero Vice President for help. She has received support across the political spectrum—from Liz Cheney to AOC. Some would like her to be more progressive and some would like her to be less so. But given the arithmetic of our system with the Electoral College and our first-past-the-post voting method, I can only say “Help us, Kamala Harris. You’re our only hope.”