Kamala's Way: on Principles & Values

Kamala Harris: Admires Hindu goddess Kali: warrior & mother figure

In the mid to late 1960's, both parents were involved in the civil rights movement. Harris tells of being wheeled to demonstrations in a stroller. On one occasion, as she was fussing, her mother asked what she wanted. "Fee-dom!" she is said to have answered.

In her first television interview as the candidate, Harris spoke of her admiration for the Hindu goddess Kali, a mythological warrior who protects the innocents by slaying evil. In a classic depiction, Kali holds the head of a slayed demon, has a necklace of several heads, and wears a skirt of bloody arms. Harris also noted that Kali is a mother figure.

Kamala Harris: Cut off in Senate questioning: Courage, Not Courtesy

As Harris's questions got increasingly testy, Chairman Richard Burr (R-NC), cut her off. Looking in her direction, Burr said, "Would the senator suspend? The chair is going to exercise its right to let the witness answer the question." Harris, incredulous, was not used to being told to stifle herself.

The exchange went viral immediately: old white senators had "shushed" Harris, the only black woman on the committee. As it exploded on twitter, the rancorous partisan bickering worsened between Democratic and Republican senators and between Democrats and the trump administration. Within hours, Harris and her staff had shrewdly exploited the incident by coming up with a meme: "Courage, not courtesy."