Vice President-elect Kamala Harris (opens in new tab) talked about how having two immigrant parents (opens in new tab) has affected her political values. In particular, she spoke about her mother, Shyamala Gopalan (opens in new tab). Shyamala was a Tamil Indian-American, a leading cancer researcher and activist, who passed away in 2009 from colon cancer. From the Sanskrit names Shyamala gave her and her sister Maya (to connect heritage and identity) to Kamala's focus on immigration and equal rights, Shyamala had and continues to have a profound impact on her high-flying daughter. [As the first black female vice president, Karama made history and became a symbol of victory and hope for our country. Her mother would have been supremely proud: she knew very well that she was raising two black daughters," she wrote in her 2018 autobiography, The Truths We Hold. (Open in new tab) "She knew that her adopted hometown would see Maya and me as black girls." "She was determined to make sure that we would grow into confident black women."

They grew up to be confident women: former district attorney and state attorney general Kamala is bringing that same courage and conviction to the White House.

It's easy to see where Kamala gets her fearlessness. Like her daughter, Shamara was a high achiever and a career pursuer with conviction: after graduating from the University of Delhi, Shamara earned a PhD in nutrition and endocrinology from the University of California, Berkeley. After graduating from the University of Delhi, Shamara earned her PhD in Nutrition and Endocrinology from the University of California, Berkeley, and began her career as a breast cancer researcher, later working at the University of Illinois and the University of Wisconsin, eventually becoming a member of the Special Committee on Breast Cancer. In addition to inspiring Kamala through her service, she was also a civil rights activist.

Through her activism, Shamara met the father of her future child, Donald J. Harris (opens in new tab); the two met at an off-campus meeting in 1962, where Donald discussed the similarities between his native Jamaica and the United States. He recalled her in The New York Times (opens in new tab) as "a looker who stood out from everyone else in the group, male or female."

She passed this activism on to her daughter. Matt Sedensky wrote in an Associated Press article last year (opens in new tab):

As much as mother and daughter shared, Gopalan Harris believed the world would see them differently. According to those who knew Gopalan Harris, she was dismayed by racial inequality in America and understood that her daughters would be seen as black despite their mixed race, so she surrounded them with black role models and immersed them in black culture.

Gopalan told SF Weekly (open in new tab) that she had no intention of staying in America past her college years, but that changed when she met Donald. 'I came here to study at the University of California, Berkeley. I didn't come here to stay. It's an old story: I fell in love with a man, we got married, and soon we had a child."

The family lived in California until Kamala's mother took a research position in Canada (Kamala was a student who was part of the state's historic bash). At that point, Kamala's parents were divorced (Shamala was the family's primary caretaker).

Shamara's brother revealed to the New York Times that she did not want to leave Donald. He said, "She was quite reluctant to separate, but she was already used to it and didn't want to talk to Don after that." When you love someone, love turns into a very painful bitterness and you don't want to talk about it."

Kamala does not frequently post on social media (opens in new tab) about her father, who criticized one of Kamala's joke-like comments during the campaign. Kamala's connection to her mother is much simpler and seems to be full of joy and inspiration.

According to Shamara's obituary (opens in new tab), "She made significant contributions to the field of hormones and breast cancer, publishing her research in countless journals and receiving numerous honors." Her discoveries sparked many advances in breast biology and the role of progesterone and its cellular receptors in cancer. She was also well known as a mentor, especially to students of color. Now her daughter can build on that great foundation.

Shamara's life and subsequent illness had a profound impact on Kamala. In an article in the New York Times (open in new tab), Kamala describes the grief she felt about her mother's death and how witnessing her mother's suffering led to her understanding of medicine. She writes, "This was a time when it was still legal for insurance companies to deny coverage because of preexisting conditions. I remember thanking God that she had Medicare."

"As I continue my fight for a better healthcare system, I do so in her name," she added.

Kamala continues to post about her mother on social media to this day, even directly naming Shamara as the inspiration for her presidential run last year. As a matter of fact, according to Kamala, her mother was her first campaign staffer and supported her daughter that much.

On July 10, 2019, Kamala posted this. 'My sister Maya and I were raised by a strong mother. She taught us to not only dream, but to do. She taught us to believe in our power to right what is wrong". And she was the kind of parent who, when you came home dissatisfied with something, would say, 'Well, what are you going to do about it? ' So I decided to run for president." She added a sweetly nostalgic photo of her mother and sister.

And as part of a cultural survey by E. News (opens in new tab), she listed her mother as her favorite superhero. She also calls her mother "the reason for everything." In her memoir and in a New York Times article, she explains. "There is no title or honor in the world that I value more than the fact that I am the daughter of Shyamala Gopalan Harris. That is the truth I hold most dear."

In her speech at the 2020 Democratic National Convention (opens in new tab), Kamala spoke of how her mother had a profound impact on her life. She taught us to put family at the center of our world, but she also pushed us to see the world beyond ourselves. She taught us to be aware of and compassionate about the struggles of all people. She taught us to believe that public service is a noble cause and that fighting for justice is a shared responsibility."

No doubt, Kamala will use the lessons and wisdom she learned from her mother in the past to work with Biden to build a better future for Americans across the country.