Many recent articles about newly-elected Vice President Kamala Harris open with a recital of her many firsts. She typically directs attention away from herself, to the activists who came before her. They blazed the trail that she followed as the first woman of color and child of immigrants to become Vice President of the United States of America.
On inauguration day, she posted a video online honoring those activists. The audio contained highlights from her November 7 acceptance speech repeating the term “I stand on their shoulders.” During the speech, her predecessors not only came first, but were showcased foremost.
Her own political history is complicated. Her presence in the role of Vice President is a display of representation that is appealing to many, and she has proudly labeled herself a “progressive prosecutor.” But during the campaign, people noted her record didn’t bear out these progressive ideals.
In an article in The New York Times titled “Kamala Harris Was Not a ‘Progressive Prosecutor’” law professor Lara Bazelon describes some of these discrepancies. Harris has been criticized for her involvement in allegedly wrongful convictions and overzealous policing, as well as her voting record on issues like drug policy and use of police body cameras. Most of these issues disproportionately affect minority populations.
Just a few weeks ago, the libertarian magazine Reason called out The Washington Post for attempting to “memory-hole” Harris when The Post edited her tasteless banter out of an interview conducted in 2019, while she was on the campaign trail for her presidential bid. In the interview, she is depicted mockingly imitating an inmate begging for food and water, while comparing her strenuous campaign to imprisonment.
As a student who is familiar with the semi-delirium of overwork and sleeplessness, I can be forgiving of the bizarre statements. But they were made on the record, and the effort to scrub them from her history is a prime example of a spirit of inauthenticity that she sometimes displays. The tactful omission of problematic stances she has held in the past feeds this image.
It isn’t just her negative track record that is overlooked when we put all our focus on her historic significance. Many of Kamala Harris’ admirable achievements and credentials – those things that construct her unique self – are being flattened into the identities of Person of Color, First-Generation American, and Female.
There is profound value in the positive experience that a young person may have when they can see themselves in a prominent figure. The flood of #MyVPLooksLikeMe posts on Twitter feels like the digital equivalent to the sagging of The White House.
It is easily followed by the assumption that just because a politician looks like you, means they are going to support issues important to you. This is something that politicians can take advantage of. Issues of institutionalized racism, classism, and sexism are not adequately confronted by her symbolic presence, no matter how potent.
With the election of President Biden and Vice President Harris, we have reached the end of the relentless horrors of the Trump administration. It would seem that the outrage parade is finally over, and the nation can begin to unpack our collective trauma. The eagerness to make meaningful change is embodied in Harris’s current political reputation. It feels like we can, at long last, unclench and operate with hope.
We may feel the temptation to disengage from political discourse, to stop checking our Twitter feeds with dread. But we have a responsibility to stay engaged, and no longer settle for the acrimonious lip-service of the status-quo. The intensity of amorality in former president Donald Trump – and isn’t that former just such a sweet word – did serve, at the very least, to harshly illuminate the dysfunction that is corroding some parts of the American government. It was so extreme, you simply couldn’t look away. The fatigue is real and now, the relief is incredible.
Yet the push for minority representation and material change is ongoing. If we stop to catch our breath, how hard will it be to recall the will, in this awful age of COVID and chaos, to turn our attention back to the painful truths brought to light over the last four years? This is not to say that celebration is undue, but it could be conveniently exaggerated to draw attention away from the many dysfunctions that are not going away with Trump. These flaws are embedded in our institutions.
Ultimately, the question remains to be seen as to whether Kamala Harris will act according to her recently adopted public image, or according to her previously established personal beliefs. Of course, there is a third possibility: people can change. Perhaps the extremity of the Trump era may have some positive outcome, if, when confronted with the embodiment of harm and hatred, it may have changed the way some politicians see themselves. If this can cause those on the fence to question conservative-leaning political stances, that is truly something worth celebrating.
