My Mother Was A Brown Woman With An Accent, She Taught Me To Be Fearless: Kamala Harris In DNC Speech

US Vice President Kamala Harris spoke proudly of her immigrant background and brown heritage on Thursday as she accepted her party’s nomination at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

Delivering the most important speech of her career ahead of the November election, she laid out her personal story as a child of a single working mother, and her career as a prosecutor, saying she has the background and experience to serve the country in contrast to Donald Trump who she said only works for himself and “his billionaire friends.”

During her speech, Kamala Harris spoke warmly of her mother, Shyamala Gopalan Harris, who moved to the United States from India in 1958 to pursue a cure for breast cancer. Shyamala fell in love, married, and had two daughters, naming her eldest Kamala. “My mother taught Maya and me to never complain about injustice, but do something about it. She also taught us to never do anything half-assed,” she said.

Although Shyamala, who passed away from colon cancer in 2009, never saw her daughter become California’s attorney general, a US senator, or the vice president, Harris credited her mother as the driving force behind her journey. At the Democratic convention, Harris honoured Shyamala’s legacy as the inspiration behind her accomplishments.

“Fellow Americans I love my country with all my heart, I see a nation everywhere I go the incredible journey called America that inspired the world. Nothing is out of reach, an America where we care for one another and recognise that we have so much more in common than separates us that none of us have to fail to succeed,” she said.

Attacking the Republican party led by Donald Trump, she added, “Our opponents are denigrating everyday about what’s wrong in America. My mother always said you never tell them who you are but you show them who you are. America show them who we are—Freedom, compassion, dignity and endless opportunities. We are the greatest democracy in the history of this world.”

Promising that she will be a president who unites the people of the country, Harris said that the upcoming presidential election is a chance to chart a new way forward, not as members of any one party or faction, but as Americans. Harris, 59, is the first-ever Indian-American and Black woman to be nominated as the presidential candidate of the either Democratic or Republican parties.

“With this election, our nation has a precious, fleeting opportunity to move past the bitterness, cynicism, and divisive battles of the past. A chance to chart a new way forward. Not as members of any one party or faction, but as Americans,” Harris said in the speech.

“I know there are people of various political views watching tonight. And I want you to know: I promise to be a president for all Americans…,’ she said.  “I will be a president who unites us around our highest aspirations. A president who leads — and listens. Who is realistic. Practical. And has common sense. And always fights for the American people,” Harris said.