Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris graces the cover of Vogue, speaking candidly about inclusion and her priority to gain control of the coronavirus pandemic.
Nov. 7, Harris took the stage alongside President-Elect Joe Biden to give their victory speeches. Her presence was as illuminating as her glowing white suffragette pantsuit. Harris addressed millions of Americans, connecting her election to an overall win in the fight for women’s rights.
“It was very important for me to speak to the moment,” She tells Vogue. “And the moment includes understanding that there is a great responsibility that comes with being the first.”
“I always say this: I may be the first to do many things-make sure I am not the last.” That night Harris thought of her family, particularly her nieces. She wondered what the world would look like to them now. “I was thinking of my baby nieces, who will only know one world where a woman is vice president of the United States, a woman of color, a Black woman, a woman with parents who were born outside of the United States.”
That every emotional night led Harris to think of the sacrifices her mother made for her to succeed. Her mother, Shyamala Gopalan was an Indian immigrant and breast cancer researcher. Gopalan passed away 12 years ago.
“I thought about what her life meant,” Harris adds.
After the historic congressional wins in the Georgia State runoffs, the democrats’ control of Congress and the White House.
Harris is not taking a moment for granted, the incoming VP is already planning her priorities in office. Her goal is to reunite America by tackling the coronavirus pandemic.
“The first line of approach has to be to get control of this pandemic,” she tells the magazine.
“What we want is to get everyone vaccinated, and we intend to make sure that they are free vaccinations,” She explains. “We think about the first 100 days in terms of what we need to do to support mayors and governors and local officials around their distribution and their public health systems. When we get control of this pandemic, that’s going to be a critical factor in being able to reopen our economy.”
Her concerns extend from children missing weeks of school to the trauma front line workers are experiencing. She even speaks to the way that this pandemic is disproportionately affecting minorities. “You look at our Black and Latino and Native American Populations, and you see that all the [health and economic] disparities before the pandemic have been highlights and exacerbated.”
As the first woman of color to serve as Vice President, Harris is adamant that she “will always speak [the] truth.”
“always give him (Joe Biden) my opinion,” she continues. “Which will be based on fact and knowledge and life experience.” By doing this, Harris hopes to help Biden understand the impact of his decisions.
President-Elect Joe Biden and Vice Presidential-elect Kamala Harris will be sworn in at the inauguration ceremony, Wed. Jan. 20th.