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36 FOUR SEASONS BREEZE | MAY 2021 Welcome Madame Vice President! Kamala D. Harris – 49th Vice President of the United States of America In November 2020, Kamala Harris made history as the first woman, the first African American, and the first Asian American to become Vice President of the United States. Kamala Devi Harris was born Oct. 20, 1964 in Oakland, Calif. She was the first-born child to her Jamaican father and Indian mother. Her parents met while pursuing their doctorate degrees at UC Berkeley. Her father, Donald Harris, was a Professor of Economics (now Emeritus) at Stanford University and her mother Shyamala Gopalan, a Breast Cancer Researcher. Kamala lived with her mother and younger sister Maya after her parents divorced in 1971 when she was seven years old. Her mother made sure both of their cultures were embraced. Kamala attended a Black Baptist Church and a Hindu Temple. She also spent her summers in India visiting family and learning about her culture. Her grandfather, P.V. Gopalan, was a high-ranking government official in India and had a heavy influence on Kamala. Her experience and relationship with blackness came from being raised in the Black communities of Berkeley and Oakland. At 13, she became an activist by leading a successful demonstration at her apartment building to protest kids being unable to play on the lawn. Kamala attended Westmount High School in Canada before returning to the United States to attend Howard University in Washington, D.C. where she majored in Political Science and Economics. She is also a member of the Sorority Alpha Kappa Alpha. After Howard, she attended UC Hastings College of Law in San Francisco and became a lawyer. In 2003, she became California's first Black District Attorney in San Francisco. In 2010 she became Attorney General of California and in 2016, she became the first South Asian to become a US Senator of California. Today, as the 49th Vice President of the United States, Kamala is the highest-ranking woman elected official in U.S. history. Kamala married her Jewish husband, Douglas Emhoff, an entertainment lawyer in 2014. Her sister, Maya, officiated the wedding at a Santa Barbara Courthouse after a five-month engagement. Harris has no children and Emhoff has a grown son and daughter from a previous marriage. They reportedly met on a blind date set up by a close friend. Kamala has written three books: Superheroes are Everywhere, The Truths We Hold, and Smart on Crime. Her hobbies are cooking, reading, and collecting Chuck Taylor® (Converse) shoes. ~ Regina Thomas, infotoaacc@gmail.com African American Cultural Club Kamala's parents: mother Shyamala Gopalan, father Donald Harris, and maternal grandfather P.V. Gopalan Kamala Harris (back row left) in an undated family photo. Next to her, from left, are her grandmother Rajam Gopalan, grandfather P.V. Gopalan and sister, Maya Harris. With them are Maya's daughter, Meena, left, and Harris' cousin Sharada Balachandran Orihuela. (Courtesy of Sharada Balachandran Orihuela)

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