How South Asian Women Rallied for Kamala Harris

On July 23, almost 9,000 women joined a Zoom call organized by a grassroots effort called South Asian Women for Harris to unite in support of presidential candidate Kamala Harris. The conference call featured speakers including Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal and comedian Mindy Kaling, who spoke about their shared South Asian heritage. “Culturally, I was raised to keep my head down and not make a fuss, and that’s the opposite of what Kamala Harris did with her life and I love her for that,” Kaling said. “And because of that strength, she will become the next president.”

Harris, 59, who was born in Oakland, Calif., to an Indian mother and Jamaican father who immigrated to the U.S. in the 1960s during the civil rights movement, has long identified as black and South Asian. . If she is elected in November, she will make history by becoming the first woman, the first Black woman and the first South Asian American to hold the nation’s highest office.

During her time in politics, the vice president also frequently nods to her Indian roots. In his 2019 memoir, The truths we defendshe detailed his primarily Indian upbringing, writing that his mother and maternal grandparents “instilled in us pride in our South Asian roots.” At the same time, she wrote that her mother “understood very well that she was raising two black daughters” and was “determined to ensure that we became confident and proud black women.” Harris went on to study at the historically Black Howard University, where she joined a black sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha.

Harris’ biracial history became a prominent topic of discussion during her presidential campaign, especially after Republican nominee Donald Trump questioned whether she was “Indian or black” during an annual convention for black journalists on July 31.

Since then, reactions among the South Asian community have ranged from critical accusing Harris of pandering to the group for political gain for supporters who denounce Trump’s comments as a racist attack and to say that Harris shouldn’t have to choose between her Indian and Jamaican roots.

They also counter criticism that Harris has downplayed her Indian heritage in the past, pointing to examples in which she hosted the biggest White House Diwali celebration in 2022, or when she and Kaling prepared masala dosa, a South Indian staple, in 2019 viral video. On Instagram, TikTok and X, social media users adopted memes that pay homage to their roots. One publish says: “In Sanskrit, ‘Kamala’ = lotus. In America, Kamala = POTUS”, referring to her first name, which translates to the name of India’s national flower.

See more information: The Kamala Harris campaign is embracing memes

Harris’ nomination also comes at a time of greater South Asian representation in US politics. Currently, five Indian Americans, all Democrats, serve in Congress, including Representative Jayapal in Washington state. Among Republicans, Nikki Haley and Vivek Ramaswamy were two of the most prominent candidates in the 2024 Republican primaries, along with Usha Vance, wife of Ohio senator and Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance.

“American Indians want to be seen and heard in American politics,” says Sara Sadhwani, assistant professor of politics at Pomona College in California.

Over the past two decades, the Asian American population has more than doubled in the United States, according to census data, with Indian Americans now representing the largest Asian group in the country. States like Arizona, Georgia, Nevada and Michigan are home to large Native American communities, which experts to say have become a formidable force in deciding the fate of presidential elections, including Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election.

Despite 62% of Asian American voters identifying as Democrats, Biden lost significant support between 2020 and 2024 among Indian American voters and Asian American voters overall, according to Karthick Ramakrishnan, executive director and founder of AAPI Data. Still, this loss of support did not translate into an increase in support for Trump. In May, many Indian-American voters indicated that they did not know who they would vote for between Biden and Trump in the November election.

“These insights tell us it was more likely a reflection of frustration with Joe Biden or a lack of inspiration and enthusiasm among Asian American voters,” says Ramakrishnan. “My expectation is that with Harris in the spotlight, she can win back many of these voters, although perhaps not at the same levels that Obama enjoyed in 2008 and 2012.”

Sadhwani, whose research has found that nearly 60% of Indian-Americans say they would vote for an Indian-American running for office regardless of their party, says voting for Harris in November will likely “satisfy most Indians both their partisan preferences and their desire to see more Indians elected to public office.”

So far, the polls favor Harris. According to the latest Bloomberg News/Morning Consult survey released on July 30, Harris erased Donald Trump’s lead in swing states by riding a wave of enthusiasm among young, black and Hispanic voters. Another survey carried out by AAPI Data/AP-NORC found in May that more than half of South Asian Americans surveyed had a positive view of Harris, while one third search conducted in July found that 44% of Asian Americans had a favorable impression of Harris, compared to 34% of Trump. O Indian American Impact Fundan organization that supports Indian Americans in political office, also reported a 700% increase in voter registration in less than 72 hours – with the majority of them being voters under the age of 35 – since the website launched, desipresident.com.

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While the 2024 presidential race has seen legitimate Indian-American candidates from both parties, Sadhwani says the difference with Harris is that she “owns both identities.”

“In 2020, when Kamala Harris took the stage at the Democratic National Convention, she spoke of her Chithis [aunties]”, she continues. “These are cultural references that every Indian-American and many Asian-Americans could identify with.”

In South Asian culture and diaspora, “aunt” is an affectionate term, sometimes used as a caricature, to refer to an older woman. South Asian Women’s July 24 appeal for Harris — which collectively mobilized thousands of volunteers and donors and raised more than $250,000 — also paid tribute to the “aunties” for doing the heavy lifting. “This common thread that we all share, which is the aunty network, can make anything happen,” says Palak Sheth, founder of Post March Salon, who helped organize the conference call.

Organizers say they were inspired to bring people together on Zoom after seeing Win with Black Women host a similar call which was attended by 44,000 people and raised $1.5 million for Harris in just under three hours. For them, Harris’ training has the potential to bring together a large coalition of voters, reflecting the diverse, multicultural and multiracial America that exists today.

“We are at a moment in American history where there is a concerted effort to erase who we are and our identity as part of America,” says co-organizer Anurima Bhargava, founder and director of Anthem of Us.

“America has a very difficult time maintaining more than one intersection when it comes to race, gender or disability,” says Bhargava, referring to Trump’s recent remarks. , and that we are messy.”

For her, this means that “having a woman or a person of color in a boardroom is immediately suspicious or seen as DEI [diversity, equity, inclusion]so there’s a real question of who’s going to be in the room,” she continues.

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At the same time, Sheth adds that the group’s support for Harris goes beyond her racial identity. “She’s built her career around fighting injustice, which is a unique thing to do in our community and what I admire most,” she says.

With racial identity becoming a major point of discussion and debate ahead of the November elections, Ramakrishnan adds that Harris’ candidacy will also changed the conversation to highlight multiracial identities – one of the fastest growing demographic groups in the US. More than 33 million Americans identify as two or more races, a number that has grown by nearly 25 million people over the past decade. according to to the 2020 Census.

These conversations have a very real impact on lawyer Mansi Shah, former president of the South Asian Bar Association and another co-organizer of the South Asian Women for Harris Zoom call, and will be on her mind when she goes to the polls in November. .

“My daughter is adopted and biracial, but she is growing up in an Indian family,” says Shah. “This is her story to tell someday, but I want it to be in a country where she is accepted for who she is and can hold space for all of this.”