President Donald Trump, after taking a day to devise attacks on vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris, came up with birther theory to question her eligibility, based on an column published in Newsweek by a Chapman University professor who said that due to Harris’s parents being on student visas at the time of her birth, she may not be ‘American’ despite being born in the US. He also called her nasty for treating Joe Biden badly during the Democratic primary debates.
Harris’s nomination is truly a historic one—she is the first woman of colour in the US to have snitched the nomination. The move comes at a sensitive time for the US, as the country remains shaken up after anti-racism protests that were the result of an African-American died in police custody.
While India is exalted that a person of Indian origin might be a heartbeat away from the top job in the US, we ask Indian-American community organiser and activist Chand Nirankari, based in New York, to shed some light on what the nomination means for the coloured community in the US and what’s next.
Nirankari is the co-founder and Vice President of Youth Boxing for Change, a non-profit organisation which empowers under-resourced youth in New York through boxing, service, mentorship and leadership opportunities. She has experience of over 15 years of working with several non profit organisations, international movements and small businesses and helped them with digital communications, grassroots organising and youth engagement.
What does a woman of colour being nominated for this position mean for the country, especially after the anti-racism protests that have shaken up its society?
In terms of history and milestones, having a Woman of Colour as VP candidate is notable. Representation is important, but it is not liberation—diversity is not the same as justice.
While Harris positioned herself as a Progressive Democrat during her Presidential run, her record from her time as San Francisco’s District Attorney and California’s Attorney General is fraught with contradictions. While she did champion some progressive policies, she is also directly responsible for over-policing Black and Brown communities, resulting in a disproportionate number of people of colour being sent to jail for low-level crimes such as truancy and recreational marijuana possession. This has perpetuated our broken criminal justice system, which was already afflicted with massive amounts of racial disparity.
All that being said, she is far more qualified than the current President and Vice President—and overall the Biden/Harris platform is one that aligns more closely with my own values than any Republican ticket ever would. I will be supporting and voting for them this November, and it is important to do everything possible to get them elected. The current administration and Republican Members of Congress have damaged this country and this world immensely, perhaps beyond repair. A Biden/Harris administration is essential to try and repair as much of that damage as possible, and hopefully also to move our country forward.
What chances do you think the duo have of making it to the White House?
I will be honest—I am not optimistic about their chances. Polling has shown to be very inaccurate (especially in our last Presidential election), and between the current pandemic, voter suppression, and a lack of engagement by many progressive Americans, I am worried many voters will either be disenfranchised or stay home. Additionally, I don’t believe that our corporate profit-driven mainstream media does an effective job of educating the American public responsibly, or holding our elected officials accountable.
President Trump, is allegedly doing all he can to prevent Democrats from winning by interfering in the postal system right before elections—putting a crunch on their finances and appointing a new post master in chief—your thoughts?
This is one in a long list of dangerous, fascist-leaning actions by the current administration that are extremely worrying to me – the lack of action by Congress is also troubling. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, the Republican party has a history of using voter suppression tactics such as gerrymandering, limiting the number of polling places, and purging names from voter rolls to help them win elections. Destabilising the US Postal Service is yet another dangerous tactic that has the potential to threaten our democracy, and this is very troubling to me.
A lot of Indians are know to complain that Harris doesn’t acknowledge her Indian roots— at least not as much publicly— what do you have to say?
I would guess that most of the American public does not know that Kamala Harris is Indian and Black. She does not owe it to us to represent her Indian roots and Jamaican roots equally - this is a matter personal to her and how she identifies. It’s worth thinking about the idea that maybe the reason she identifies more strongly with her Black racial identity is in part due to the extreme anti-Blackness that pervades Indian communities, which may not have welcomed her as warmly throughout her life.
We know our Indian communities get very excited when we see fellow Desis achieving high positions in this country. Celebrating South Asians in positions of power can be an empowering thing for many South Asian Americans, but it's important to celebrate that for the right reasons: not as acceptance into white society so that we can join the oppressor class, but as a foothold from which to push for justice.