Kamala Harris, the daughter of immigrants who is seeking to become the country’s first black and South Asian president, plans to tell the nation on Thursday: “I come from a middle-class background” and vows to be a passionate advocate for American unity as president.
“I will be a president who unites us around our highest goals,” she will say in a speech prepared for her speech. “A president who leads – and listens. Who is realistic. Who is practical. And who has common sense.”
The Vice President will accept the Democratic nomination for President with a speech that will be partly very personal and partly strongly partisan.
In her speech she wants to tell the strange country she comes from.
“America, the path that has brought me here in the last few weeks was undoubtedly unexpected. But unusual journeys are no stranger to me,” says Harris.
“My mother, Shyamala Harris, had one herself. I miss her every day – especially now. And I know she’s looking down tonight and smiling.”
She then turns to politics, promising to hit back at the insults and accusations of Republican candidate Donald Trump while offering a hopeful, inclusive vision for the country.
“In many ways, Donald Trump is an untrustworthy man. But the consequences of Donald Trump returning to the White House are extremely serious,” Harris will say.
“Think of the power he will have – especially after the United States Supreme Court just ruled that he is immune from criminal prosecution.”
“With this election, our nation has a precious, fleeting opportunity to put the bitterness, cynicism and divisive struggles of the past behind us. A chance to forge a new path forward. Not as members of a party or faction, but as Americans,” she says.
Roots in the middle class
Harris, 59, was born in Oakland. She is the daughter of Shyamala Gopalan, an Indian immigrant who was a cancer researcher, and Donald Harris, an economics professor at Stanford University who came to this country from Jamaica.
The couple divorced when Kamala was young and was largely raised by her mother.
“My mother was 19 when she traveled around the world alone. She traveled from India to California with the unwavering dream of becoming the scientist who would cure breast cancer,” says Harris.
She remembers her childhood when her mother rented a small apartment for the family in the East Bay.
“In the Bay, you either live in the mountains or on the flatlands. We lived on the flatlands – a beautiful working-class neighborhood with firefighters, nurses and construction workers who all took pride in maintaining their lawns,” Harris recalls.
She talks about her best friend Wanda.
“She was sad at school. And there were times when she didn’t want to go home,” says Harris.
“So one day I asked her if everything was OK. And she confided in me that she had been sexually abused by her stepfather. And I immediately told her that she had to come to us. And she did.”
“That’s one of the reasons I became a prosecutor. To protect people like Wanda.”
Harris’ vision
After introducing herself, Harris’ speech focuses on her vision – and some tough political statements.
“With this election, our nation has a precious, fleeting opportunity to leave behind the bitterness, cynicism and divisive struggles of the past. A chance to forge a new path forward,” she says, perhaps attempting to coin a term that would take its place alongside other Democratic plans like the New Deal and the Great Society.
She promises to address the needs of the middle class, saying that building the middle class will be “a critical goal of my presidency. This is a personal issue for me. The middle class is my home.”
Then Harris gets grandiose. “Wherever I go – in everyone I meet – I see a nation ready to move forward. Ready for the next step in the incredible journey that is America.”
