Kamala Harris scripts history as she accepts Democratic Party's nomination for US VP
Washington DC: Kamala Harris, who scripted history in US politics as she became the first Indian-American and Black woman to get a major party's vice presidential nomination, has assailed President Donald Trump's "failure of leadership" that has cost "lives and livelihoods."
Introducing herself as the daughter of Indian and Jamaican immigrants at the virtual Democratic National Convention on Wednesday night, Harris, 55, fondly remembered her Chennai-born mother who she said taught her two daughters to "be conscious and compassionate about the struggles of all people" and to believe that "the fight for justice is a shared responsibility."
"My mother taught me that service to others gives life purpose and meaning. And oh, how I wish she were here tonight but I know she's looking down on me from above," she said in her acceptance speech.
Harris said probably her mother, Shyamala Gopalan Harris, could have never imagined that "I would be standing before you now speaking these words: I accept your nomination for Vice President of the United States of America."
"She raised us to be proud, strong Black women. And she raised us to know and be proud of our Indian heritage," Harris said, emphasising her links to India. "Family is my sister. Family is my best friend, my nieces and my godchildren. Family is my uncles, my aunts my chitthis," she said, referring to her relatives in Tamil Nadu.
Democratic Party's presidential candidate Joe Biden and Harris will challenge Trump and his Vice-President Mike Pence in the election on November 3.
Vowing to be the champion for the voiceless Americans who are struggling in the midst of an unprecedented Coronavirus outbreak and the resultant economic crisis, the Senator from California said Biden would end the raging pandemic and build an economy that does not leave anyone behind.
Harris said she and former vice president Biden share "a vision of our nation as a beloved community -- where all are welcome, no matter what we look like, where we come from, or who we love."
"Donald Trump's failure of leadership has cost lives and livelihoods," Harris said.
"We are a nation that is grieving - grieving the loss of life, the loss of jobs, a loss of certainty," she said.
The US is the worst-hit nation in the world due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Over 170,000 people have died and more than 5,530,000 have been infected by the disease. The US economy has been hit badly leading to growing unemployment in the world's biggest economy. She said that President Trump's policies have torn the nation apart as he forced the separation of families at the border, vilified immigrants, excoriated his political opponents and urged government officials to "dominate" peaceful demonstrators in the streets after the death of Black American George Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer.
Invoking the memory of Floyd's custodial death, Harris asked Americans to join her in combating racism and xenophobia.
