Kamala Harris has been a trailblazer throughout her career. An immigrant to the United States, the daughter of an Indian mother and a Jamaican father, she was the first woman to hold that position among her many prominent jobs. In California, he became San Francisco’s district attorney, state attorney general, and eventually senator. And 3.5 years ago in Washington, she became the first female vice president.

But will she succeed in breaking the following historic barriers: first woman and second non-white to occupy the White House?

In the multicultural, predominantly Democratic city of New York, other women of color don’t seem very comfortable with it.

“No, I don’t think Americans are ready for a woman president. Then there was Hillary Clinton [in 2016] Succeeded,” says Suraiya Rachman, for example, who identifies as Bangladeshi-American and rushes to work in the Asian neighborhood of Jackson Heights with a cup of matcha iced tea in hand.

It doesn’t help that Harris — unlike Clinton — isn’t white, she’s afraid. “Outside of New York, unfortunately, there’s a different reality: that it’s always hard for a woman of color.” For a Democratic win, Rachman, 41, is looking to another woman of color: Michelle Obama. “There’s something extraordinary about her. Her principles, her charisma, she’s really more to her than her last name. But Kamala, I don’t see anything special about that.

Unpredictable times

Aneri Trivedi also “doesn’t think our country is ready for this yet,” says a data analyst at the Jackson Heights metro station, whose entrance is hidden among kebab shops, exchange offices and phone shops. Trivedi was born in New York 28 years ago, the daughter of two immigrants from India, and thinks “Harris is nice to be half-Indian, but that doesn’t decide my vote.” I’ll vote for her anyway because it can’t be Trump.

Like many left-leaning Democrats, he’s not too keen on Harris’ past. For example, he notes the frequent progressive criticism that Harris, as a prosecutor, “imprisoned too many black people for very minor crimes.” I don’t like it at all.”

He also thinks the Democrats did the right thing by asking President Joe Biden to drop his campaign. “These are unpredictable times. If you can run a convicted felon, maybe run a woman of color.

Crooked proportions

Natasja Fraser doesn’t think Biden has the slightest chance of defeating Trump. “Kamala Harris is a woman and Americans don’t want to be led by a woman,” says the Caribbean-American, walking down Flatbush Avenue, a lively shopping street in Brooklyn’s New York borough’s Caribbean quarter.

“Then Kamala has African roots too,” enthuses the 48-year-old, who came to New York from Jamaica thirty years ago. “Americans always say they want change, but they’re not willing to change themselves.” Look at how they handled Biden, he says. “It should bring change after Trump. But people are impatient and now they want to go back to Trump.

He also thinks Trump will be even more motivated to win this election year. “He needs to be convicted now. He wants to stay out of prison. It’s another example of the inequalities America still has, according to him. “Convicted people aren’t allowed to vote, sometimes even when they’re free again. Why is a criminal allowed to be president?

Clinton shocked

Ash Kumar (22) is less pessimistic about Harris’ chances of winning in November. Either way, as she says in Jackson Heights, she has a better chance than Biden, a young Pakistani-American. “Inflation has gone up so much because of him, petrol has become so expensive. Biden raised more hopes when he didn’t deliver.

Personally he has no problem with Harris being a woman. “They’re already in power in other countries, and I think that’s going well.” If he wins the Democratic nomination, he thinks the battle is “50-50 again.”

Kumar himself still doesn’t know how to vote. “I will discuss this with my family.” He hails from neighboring India’s arch-rival Pakistan, where Harris’ mother was born. But that didn’t matter to Kumar. “I’m not the type to think like that.”

As the owner of Weekend makes clear, Laurie Kahn believes the country is ready for a woman, a women’s clothing store on Flatbush Ave., with its wide selection of pear-shaped jeans, brightly colored fishnet shirts and tight leggings. According to the Trinidadian, who has lived in the United States for 33 years, Democrats need to put the shock of Clinton’s loss behind them. “She doesn’t lose much because she’s a woman. But because she’s Hillary. Kamala is different and can tap into a whole new set of voters. Young people, too.”

He says Democrats should compare him not to Clinton, but to Barack Obama, the first black president in 2008, the son of a Kenyan father and a white mother from Kansas. At the time, many Democrats thought the country wouldn’t be ready for it, Khan recalled. “She has charm too. She can grow into this. We are already ready for her.

to share





Email the editor