Why Was Kamala Harris Publicly Criticised By Her Father? Know 15 Interesting Facts About The US Vice President-Elect

Know 15 interesting facts about US Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris who has taken over social media as an icon of female empowerment being the first female VP of America.

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New Delhi: The news of Senator Kamala Harris becoming the Vice President-Elect of the United States of America has been celebrated all over as she has shattered the glass ceiling in several ways being the first woman, the first woman of colour and first person of Indian-Jamaican heritage to become the US VP.  The Vice President-Elect is being cheered for her recent statements, the latest one to be lauded is her address on Saturday after Joe Biden's presidential term was confirmed earlier. She said, "While I may be the first, I won’t be the last".

While I may be the first, I won’t be the last. pic.twitter.com/R5CousWtdx

— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) November 8, 2020

So with this renewed interest in the former senator's life and work, here are 10 interesting facts about her:

1. India Connection The fact that Harris is Jamaican-Indian is well known. Her mother being Indian, Harris as a young girl came to India often. She is said to be especially inspired by her grandfather who was a government official and had taken part in the Indian independence struggle, and her grandmother who was an activist teaching impoverished women in remote areas about birth control.
2. Raised As Hindu & Christian As a child, she used to visit both the Black Baptist church and a Hindu temple as a part of her upbringing as both being Indian and Black. She further credits her mother for making her and her sister - strong and independent women.
3. Higher Education Kamala Harris graduated from Howard University which is a historically Black college in Washington, D.C. She did her majors in political science and economics.
4. Loves For Cooking She has a fondness for cooking and is herself a great cook. Although, her go-to dinner is a simple roast chicken. She is also very familiar with Indian food especially south Indian food thanks to her mother. During her campaign, a video of her with actress Mindy Kaling went viral where both of them were seen sharing their experiences with food having an Indian origin and Hariss was seen giving the actress a few tips and suggestions as well.
5. Morning Routine According to reports, she wakes up around 6 a.m. and then exercises for half an hour. For breakfast, she likes having a bowl of Raisin Bran with almond milk and tea with honey and lemon before going to work.
6. Favourite Books As per a report by politico.com, her books include Native Son by Richard Wright, The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan, Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison, and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis.
7. Early Career After passing the bar in 1990, she worked as an assistant district attorney in Oakland's Alameda County prosecutor’s office and her focus at that point was on sex crimes. Her family is said to initially not be on board with her decision as prosecutors carried a bad reputation which is what she wanted to change by becoming one.
8. Focus On Teenage Prostitution In San Francisco District Attorney’s office, she worked towards dealing with the menace of teenage prostitution in the city and while changing the law enforcement’s approach in seeing these crimes for victimising girls rather than as criminals selling sex.
9. District Attorney Ahead of being the first woman VP, she had become the first Black woman in California to be elected as the district attorney after winning with 56.5 percent vote.
10. Friendship With Obama  She and Obama go way back to his run for Senate in 2004. She was the first prominent official from California to endorse his 2008 presidential run.
11. Transparency In Law Enforcement A major reform that Harris is credited with as attorney general is creating 'Open Justice' a web portal that made criminal justice data available to people online. This was a successful attempt to instill a sense of police accountability as it clearly stated the information on the number of deaths and injuries arrested individuals.
12. Publically Criticised By Her Father At one point she was publically criticised by her father for suggestively pointing to her Jamaican roots when asked why she supports the legalization of marijuana. He announced that he and his immediate family "categorically dissociate ourselves from this travesty" as the statement reduced Jamaicans to the "fraudulent stereotype of a pot-smoking joy seeker".
13. Wikipedia Page Edited 408 Times In a span of three weeks in June, her Wikipedia page was edited a crazy 408 times. These changes were made mostly made by one person to deal with the controversial information on her page which included some of her debated decisions made as a law enforcement official. It was way more than any other candidate on the shortlist.
14. Presidential Campaign Harris was also among the democrats competing to be the face of the party as its presidential candidate however she had to end her campaign in December 2019 after considering issues on its financial sustainability and low poll numbers. During this period she faced accusations of mistreating her staff and letting her sister Maya have too much influence.
15. Delayed Endorsement For Biden Her endorsement for Biden as the Democratic nominee for the presidency was delayed until March 8 - at a point when there was no female candidate in the race nor was there any other competition left to take over Biden.