Kamala Harris is the new Democratic VP nominee - she’s multiracial as a half Black and half Indian woman! Can we be excited that someone who “looks like us” is up there in the political hierarchy, and perhaps we’re finally seeing the representation we need?
Our Indian American friends and families are celebrating. But young people are also left wondering if we can automatically “claim” Kamala just because she has Indian heritage. We hope to better contextualize and understand the nuances behind Kamala Harris’s half Black and half Indian identity.
In this episode, #FOTV’s Swathi Vudatala sits down with the first Asian American woman elected to the Ohio State Senate, Tina Maharath, and two recently college-graduated South Asian women involved in politics. Swathi enlists their help in processing Kamala's significance by dissecting caste, power, and anti-blackness in the South Asian community.
Lalitha Pamidigantam is a fresh graduate of the Ohio State University in public policy currently working for the Columbus Women’s Commission. Tanvi Kohli of the Washington University in St. Louis introduces her recent senior thesis on her Indian heritage and ancestry. They discuss Kamala's nuanced identity while answering the questions “Does representation even matter?” and “Is representation real activism?”