By Nelson A. King
While Caribbean American
United States Vice President-
Elect Kamala Harris created
history on Saturday by becoming
the first woman to be elected
to the second most powerful
position in the US, Harris seldom
mentions her Jamaicanborn
father, Dr. Donald Harris,
in her speeches.
Often times, Harris’ father is
relegated to a footnote, if at all,
in her speeches.
For example, in her victory
speech Saturday night in Delaware,
Harris lauded her late
Indian-born mother, with no
mention whatsoever about her
Jamaican father or her Jamaican
roots.
“We are so grateful to Joe
and Jill (US President-Elect Joe
Biden and his wife Jill) for welcoming
our family into theirs
on this incredible journey,”
said Harris before introducing
Biden. “And to the woman
most responsible for my presence
here today, my mother,
Shyamala 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,” Harris added. “But
she believed so deeply, and in
America, where a moment like
this is possible.
“And so, I am thinking about
her and about the generations
of women, Black women, Asian,
white, Latina, Native American
women who, throughout our
nation’s history, have paved the
way for this moment tonight,
women who fought and sacrificed
Caribbean Life, N 6 ovember 13-19, 2020
so much for equality
and liberty and justice for all,
including the Black women who
are often too often overlooked
but so often prove they are the
backbone of our democracy,”
she continued.
But Harris’s father is, clearly,
very relevant and is more than
a footnote: He is a distinguished
economics professor emeritus
at Stanford University in California.
According to the university’s
website, Dr. Harris, who was
born on Aug. 23, 1938, was
appointed emeritus professor in
1998.
“Donald Harris joined the
Stanford faculty in 1972, coming
from the University of Wisconsin
(Madison), where he had
been appointed tenured professor
three years after graduating
from the University of California
(Berkeley),” Stanford University
said.
“At Stanford, he was a leader
in developing the new program
in “Alternative Approaches to
Economic Analysis” as a field
of graduate study,” it added.
“For many years, he also taught
the popular undergraduate
course ‘Theory of Capitalist
Development.’”
Stanford University said Dr.
Harris’s research and publications
have centered on exploring
the analytical conception of the
process of capital accumulation
and its implications for a theory
of growth of the economy, “with
the aim of providing thereby
an explanation of the intrinsic
character of growth as a process
of uneven development.”
From this standpoint, the
university said Dr. Harris “has
Donald Harris, father of VP Elect Kamala Harris. youtube.com
sought to critically assess the
inherited traditions of economic
analysis, as well as contemporary
contributions, while
engaging in related empirical
and historical studies of various
countries’ experience.”
Stanford University said Dr.
Harris had travelled widely,
doing research, consulting, or
giving seminars and invited
lectures, in the Caribbean and
in Canada, England, Holland,
France, Italy, Brazil, Colombia,
Mexico, Costa Rica, Guatemala,
Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia,
India, Malaysia, Singapore,
Hong Kong and Thailand.
“Throughout his career, he
has had a continuing engagement
with work on the economy
of Jamaica, his native country,”
it said. “He served there,
at various times, as economic
consultant to the Government
of Jamaica and as economic
adviser to successive prime
ministers.”
Stanford University said Dr.
Harris took early retirement
from in 1998 “in order to pursue
more actively and practically
his long-standing interest,
which originally motivated him
to take up the study of economics,
in developing public policies
to promote economic growth
and advance social equity.”
VP-Elect Kamala Harris’ Jamaican
father much more than a footnote
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