Tuesday night was a moment Harini Krishnan will cherish all her life. The co-national director of South Asians for Harris, who is a also California delegate is at the ongoing Democratic National Convention in Chicago. Being part of the roll call for California was surreal, she wrote in a Facebook post. She got to sit with “some of the vice president’s closest supporters and leaders who have stood with her from the beginning on the convention floor, and stand with Gov. Gavin Newsom as we proclaimed our support for the Joyful Warrior.”
Krishnan has been standing with Harris for a long time, as a lead volunteer and organizer, and as a friend. In a recent interview with American Kahani, she described Harris as “tough, brilliant and thoughtful,” and the first woman in so many roles. “The Kamala Harris I know is a champion for marginalized communities; someone who has increased her standing on the global stage at the time when our fundamental rights are on the assault;” and the person who is “bringing all of us together.”
Like Krishnan, several Indian Americans and South Asian Americans are attending the historic convention, either as lawmakers, delegates, or guests. Sumathi Madhure told the Los Angeles Times that it’s “just beyond imagination,” to think that “somebody who looks like her, somebody of South Asian descent, will be, perhaps, the president, be the most powerful person in the world.” Madhure is the co-chair of AAPI New Hampshire Democrats and a Board member of the Nashua Democrats Executive Committee and is attending the convention as a New Hampshire delegate. “It doesn’t matter which color and which race you are; you still have to prove you are capable and worthy of the job,” she told the publication. “To me, Kamala has proven she is capable and she can handle this job. But she needs to keep proving it.”
Ever since President Joe Biden stepped down from his re-election bid and endorsed Harris, there has been a historic showing of solidarity for Harris from the Indian American community which makes up just over 1% of the U.S. There has been tremendous interest among Indian Americans and South Asian Americans of all ages to work in their communities to ramp up get-out-the-vote efforts. On July 24, over 9,0000 South Asian women joined a Zoom call to mobilize support for Harris. The event, billed as “South Asian Women for Harris,” raised more than $250,000 for the Harris campaign. The chat window of Zoom was off the hook with women supporting and encouraging each other, and sharing resources and and ways in which attendees could get involved in the campaign. population.
"I think [Vice President Harris] is due for a promotion. If you were in the hall last night, there were tens of thousands of people who agreed boisterously with that sentiment."https://t.co/Ca3c3vWdZs
North Carolina State Sen. Jay Chaudhuri has been posting his “reflections” of the DNC on Facebook. Before heading to the convention, he spoke to South Asian American delegates along with Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi, Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul, and Illinois State Senator Ram Villivalam at the Kalapriya Center for Performing Arts in Chicago. And it was there that he was introduced to the Kamala Harris rakhi. Attending the convention as a delegate for the first time, he said the energy and buzz inside the United Center is like “attending a rock concert,” with “some delegates and attendees who certainly dress the part,” he wrote.
Lot of discussion w convention goers about what music is best for this convention. I’m 100 percent in on playing James Brown every night and every hour. The house band just played “Living in America” and that should be the unofficial #DNCConvention2024 song.
The opening night was like “witnessing history,” Chaudhuri wrote. From Congressman Jamie Raskin’s speech to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who “connected her path-breaking candidacy to Vice President Harris,” and President Joe Biden’s speech. “The convention hall was filled with ‘We love Joe!’ signs,” he wrote, noting that Biden’s “best moment came from reciting the lines from the song ‘American Anthem.’” — “The work and prayers of centuries have brought us this day. What shall our legacy be? What will our children say? Let me know in my heart when my days are through. America, America, I gave my best to you.”
Chaudhuri described the second day at the convention as “magical.” Former First Lady Michelle Obama “reminded us about the importance of her mother who taught her “the meaning of hard work and humility and decency.” She then “linked it to Kamala Harris’ immigrant Indian mother Shyamala Gopalan Harris,” he wrote. “Even though our mothers grew up an ocean apart, they shared the same belief in the promise of this country,” he quoted Clinton as saying. “I, too, was raised by an Indian immigrant mother. And, I, too, know she taught me about the importance of believing in the promise of America,” he concluded.
Many at the convention found Harris’ candidacy to be a perfect way to show how America is a melting pot and a blending of various ethnicities. “To try to put everyone into one specific box, saying that they can’t have demographics and values that fit other identities, that just doesn’t make any sense,” Bianca Shah, 24, told the LA Times. “There is so much blending of races and ethnicities in our country,” the Maryland resident said.
