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As district attorney in 2005, Harris launched the "Back on Track" initiative to reduce recidivism among first-time drug-trafficking defendants. The program, as reported by Marie Claire, lasts 12-18 months and provides participants with a personal responsibility plan (PRP).
Her mother was keen to raise her as a strong Black woman, and Harris' biracial upbringing means that she embodies and can engage with many American identities. People see the aspirational immigrant story in her. She, however, has always simply seen herself as "American."
Kamala Harris was born in Oakland, California, to a Jamaican economist and professor, and an Indian biologist who moved to the US and became one of the country’s most respected cancer researchers. Her parents divorced when she was five, and she and her sister were primarily raised by her mother.
In 2014, Harris married lawyer Doug Emhoff and became stepmother to his two children, who decided to call her "Momala" instead of stepmom, as Harris explained in an article for Elle. This only helped shape her as a representative of the modern American "blended" family.
Harris also helped create an LGBTQ hate crimes unit while she was district attorney of San Francisco. Later, as California’s attorney general, she battled the "panic defense," a legal strategy in which perpetrator can claim that anti-LGBTQ violence or murder is justified due to the victim's alleged sexual advances.
In 2010, she became the first woman and the first Black person elected to serve as California's attorney general, the top lawyer and law enforcement official in America's most populous state. Four years later, she was re-elected.
Her experience on the debate team at Howard University has proven to help her to this day. One fabulous example is when Donald Trump Jr tweeted, "Why is @KamalaHarris the only person that laughs at her jokes... always way to [sic] long and way too hard?" She responded, "You wouldn't know a joke if one raised you."
In 2016, Harris was elected to the Senate, becoming California’s first Black senator and the country’s first South Asian-American senator.
The PRP consists of setting goals around employment, parenting, and education, instead of serving jail time. It helps ex-convicts reintegrate into society, thereby shutting the revolving door of the criminal justice system.
Some publications view her as the most liberal of all senators, others call her a moderate, and then there are those that call her a radical. People can't quite seem to place her politics.
As San Francisco district attorney in 2004, Harris made the difficult decision not to seek the death penalty for a man who had shot an officer. Progressive, right? But in 2014, as state attorney general, she confusingly defended California’s death penalty system in court, Elle reports. Harris now maintains that she has always been opposed to the death penalty.
Especially in 2020, Harris spoke about police reform, called for the arrests of the officers who killed Breonna Taylor, and she talked frequently about the need to dismantle systemic racism. But, still, her stance dangerously wavers between reforming and defunding the police.
In 2015, as state attorney general, Harris was proudly a part of the reason California became the first statewide agency to adopt body cameras for officers. The state also launched the first implicit bias program in the country.
In 2014, federal judges ordered that all non-violent second-strike offenders be eligible for parole after serving half their sentence, since California prisons were dangerously overcrowded, the LA Times reports. The state, however, scandalously argued against this order.
Harris has a long record of immigration work, from starting a job training program in San Francisco for ex-convicts that allowed undocumented immigrants to participate, to creating state-wide legislation that would protect immigrants from deportation.
Also in 2015, Harris reportedly did not support the independent investigation of incidents of deadly police force in California. It was also revealed not all officers were required to wear body cameras–only those working under Harris were.
Most of those prisoners were working as groundskeepers, janitors, kitchen staff, and helping the state battle wildfires for less than US$2 a day. Harris' lawyers argued against their release to keep their cheap labor force. Harris later told BuzzFeed that she was "shocked" to read about their defense in the news.
Many immigrants and their descendants experience this micro-aggression, and Harris experienced it brutally and publicly with white politicians making fun of her name during her presidential campaign. Though it’s terrible, Harris' experience created a long overdue conversation around the topic.
In 2010, Harris was opposed to the use of recreational marijuana, though supported medical marijuana. By 2018, however, she changed her tune and started supporting legalizing marijuana at the national level, co-signing Senator Corey Booker's Marijuana Justice Act.
In 2011, Harris backed marriage equality again by petitioning to the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals to repeal Proposition 8, the 2008 measure that banned same-sex marriage.
In 2015, Harris fought to block gender-affirming medical care for a trans woman in prison, to the LGBTQ community's disappointment. In 2019, she explained that legal briefs in her office were often written without her consultation and that her job obligated her to defend the state. She did, however, take full responsibility.
Harris backed FOSTA/SESTA, a 2018 package of bills that aimed to curb human trafficking by shutting down sites commonly used by adult entertainment workers like Backpage and Craigslist. But many workers, especially transgender ones, found it devastating to wipe out the critical screening tools they used to keep themselves safe.
In 2004, as San Francisco district attorney, Harris spent Valentine’s Day officiating same-sex marriages. In the pool of Democratic candidates for the 2020 election, she certainly boasted the earliest on-record support for marriage equality, 19th News reports.
Despite her increasingly progressive view of marijuana, critics are quick to point out that her San Francisco office oversaw over 1,900 cannabis convictions.
These days, Harris says she supports decriminalizing s e x work, but stands by her decision to shut down the site Backpage, as it was profiting from ads trafficking children, she claims.
Harris has been steady with her beliefs on supporting the working class during the pandemic, stricter gun control, Medicare for All, women's reproductive rights, the Green New Deal, equal pay, and more.
"The bottom line is the buck stops with me and I take full responsibility for what my office did," Harris said in 2019. "There are cases … where there were folks that made a decision in my office and they had not consulted me and I wish they had."
It’s that Kamala Harris is not perfect, but she represents the potential to change.
Sources: (BBC) (Marie Claire) (ELLE) (19th News) (Vox)
See also: The US government has already planned for the worst
She told The Root in an interview that she’s against exploitation, "but when you're talking about consenting adults, we should consider that we can't criminalize consensual behavior."
She started her career in the Alameda County District Attorney's Office and later became district attorney (the top prosecutor) for San Francisco in 2003, which lasted until 2011. Her career as a prosecutor is what paved her way to becoming a politician.
Kamala Harris has already made history as the first-ever female and Black or South Asian American vice president of the United States. Now, she stands poised to potentially break another barrier by becoming the first woman president. Her journey serves as an inspiration for young girls, giving them hope for a future where a woman of color could lead the nation.
Click through the gallery to explore Harris' most defining moments, from her groundbreaking achievements to the challenges she's faced along the way.
Kamala Harris celebrates another year of breaking barriers
The VP and presidential hopeful celebrates her 60th birthday on October 20
CELEBRITY Politics
Kamala Harris has already made history as the first-ever female and Black or South Asian American vice president of the United States. Now, she stands poised to potentially break another barrier by becoming the first woman president. Her journey serves as an inspiration for young girls, giving them hope for a future where a woman of color could lead the nation.
Click through the gallery to explore Harris' most defining moments, from her groundbreaking achievements to the challenges she's faced along the way.