The Truths We Hold - An American Journey by Kamala Harris

 

Having made history by being elected the first woman (!) of color (!!) as the Vice President of the United States, I thought that I should learn a bit more about Ms. Harris, other than that she's the woman who made Brett Kavanaugh cry! Written as she was preparing to run for president, this is as much of an introduction to the woman as it is a stump speech, but it is a good one.

Her Jamacan father and East Indian mother were both brilliant students when they met in California and were deeply involved in the civil rights movement of the 60's. Kamala's passion for justice was instilled in her early and although her parents split up, her mother remained vitally involved in equal rights as she did in science. Music was also a big part of the family, with her father diggin' hip jazz - Monk, Coltrane, etc. - and her mom singing along to Aretha Franklin and the Edwin Hawkins singers! Harris even admits an early crush on Tito Jackson of the Jackson 5!

With so many friends and family in the civil rights movement, it is inevitable that they would sometimes need lawyers and there were some in their circle of friends that everyone looked up to and sought their advice and Kamal decided that is what she wanted to be, as well. From there she worked her way up until she became a senator, always working - per her own autobiography, so you have to take everything with a grain of salt, although her record is public - for the rights of others, be it the LGBTQ community, women's rights, immigrant's rights or the many other injustices in this country. She glosses over/ignores some of her more controversial portions of her life, which might have been a good idea to tackle, but maybe she doesn't have answers for some of those questions. As with any politician, or any person period, she is not perfect, nor do I agree with her on everything, but she does appear to have her heart in the right place and I believe that she will do what she can in her capacity as VP to help those in need, as she seems to have tried to do throughout her career.

The book is very well written - Kamala is obviously quite intelligent - but also pretty depressing. The amount of work that Biden and Harris have in front of them is staggering, especially considering the amount of sabotage that Trump is doing to hinder their administration, and the repugs have already said that they will do everything they can to block any meaningful work, but at least we will have an administration working for America again, instead of a traitor-in-chief. Best of luck to them!