Thu | Mar 28, 2024

Kamala ‘a shining beacon for young women’

Published:Monday | November 9, 2020 | 12:14 AMLester Hinds/Gleaner Writer
Vice-President-elect Kamala Harris speaks Saturday in Wilmington, Delaware.
Vice-President-elect Kamala Harris speaks Saturday in Wilmington, Delaware.

As news spread Saturday that former vice-president Joe Biden and Senator Kamala Harris had emerged victorious in the United States presidential election, many expatriates have hailed the prospects of her Jamaican ancestry having favourable political consequences.

Joyce Perry, who is a Jamaican of Indian descent, noted that the victory by Senator Harris is a victory for women.

“It is a big victory for women of colour, African Americans, and women of Indian descent like myself. For young women like my daughter and granddaughter, who are Afro-Indian Jamaicans, Kamala Harris stands like a shining beacon for all young women to emulate,” said Perry.

Sunil Mitchell, a Jamaican who is also of Indian descent, said he was very happy for the victory, citing Harris’ Jamaican father and Indian mother.

“We needed a change in the direction of the country. In my 30 years of living in the United States, the last four years were the worst I have seen in the country,” he said of Donald Trump’s presidency.

Mitchell said that Harris’ Jamaican roots are one more notch on the flag of her homeland.

He said that Jamaicans everywhere should be proud of her achievement and believes that the relationship between Jamaica and the United States will benefit from that ethnic association.

Cornel Cooper said that the Biden-Harris victory has lifted a cloud from over the country, with Trump’s rhetoric and America First policies blamed for rankling global leaders and diminishing the US’s standing in the world.

“I am happy that they won. Hopefully, it will end the confusion, misinformation, and I hope that we will have a clear path forward. I am hopeful that they will tackle in a serious way the coronavirus so we can get back to some kind of normal life,” said Cooper.

COVID-19 has infected more than 10 million people in the US, with deaths surpassing 238,000.

Cooper said that he was especially happy for Harris’ election because having a person of Caribbean roots in such a position should help to strengthen Jamaica-US relations.

Dorret Aarons, who stood in line for eight hours to vote in Mount Vernon, welcomed the prospect of the Biden-Harris era.

“To have a black or Asian woman as vice-president is awesome. Recognising her Jamaican heritage, one can see where she gets her spunk,” said Aarons.

“I believe that the new administration will embark on policies that will benefit the Caribbean as a whole.”

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