Four words that smashed glass ceiling
WITH a simple “So help me God”, Kamala Harris shattered ceilings that have held women down for so long.
US power had been held by men since George Washington until yesterday, when Ms Harris, 56, became America’s first female Vice-President.
Not only is she the country’s most powerful woman, but the first black and first south Asian person to hold the role.
The historic swearing-in was conducted by Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor – herself a history maker as the US highest court’s first Latina.
Hours before taking her oath, Ms Harris tweeted: “I’m here today because of the women who came before me.”
The tweet was accompanied by video footage during which she repeats her opening remarks after she and Mr Biden were projected as the US election winners in November.
She says: “To the woman most responsible for my presence here today: my mother, Shyamalan Gopalan Harris, who is always in our hearts.
“When she came here from India at the age of 19, she maybe didn’t quite imagine this moment.
“But she believed so deeply in an America, where a moment like this is possible.”
Before her swearing-in, Ms Harris said she would be thinking of her mother, who died of cancer in 2009.
The former California senator said: “I was raised by a mother who said to me all the time, ‘Kamala, you may be the first to do many things, make sure you’re not the last’. That’s how I feel about this moment.”
Watched by the US “second gentleman”, her husband Doug Emhoff, and her family, Ms Harris was sworn in on a bible owned by late Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, whom she had called one of her “heroes”.
Wearing purple for the ceremony in a nod to Shirley Chisholm, the first AfricanAmerican woman to run for president, Ms Harris chose an outfit by black designers Christopher John Rogers and Sergio Hudson.
Brave
It is expected Mr Biden will assign a significant portfolio to his deputy, which will allow her to shape policy that could become the foundations for her run at the White House in 2024.
During his inaugural address, Mr Biden said: “Here we stand, looking out on the great Mall where Dr King spoke of his dream.
“Here we stand, where 108 years ago at another inaugural, thousands of protesters tried to block brave women marching for the right to vote.
“And today we mark the swearing-in of the first woman in American history elected to national office, Vice-President Kamala Harris.
“Don’t tell me things can’t change.”