Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

West Bank Town Becomes ‘Big Prison’ as Israel Fences It In

3 hours ago

Trump Says He’s Willing to Let Migrant Farm Laborers Stay in US

4 hours ago

US Electric Vehicle Tax Breaks Will Expire on Sept. 30

22 hours ago

Eyeing Arctic Dominance, Trump Bill Earmarks $8.6 Billion for US Coast Guard Icebreakers

23 hours ago

Trump’s Sweeping Tax-Cut and Spending Bill Wins Congressional Approval

1 day ago

Americans Celebrate Their Independence With Record-Breaking Travel Numbers

1 day ago

US Supreme Court to Decide Legality of Transgender School Sports Bans

1 day ago

Nvidia Set to Become the World’s Most Valuable Company in History

1 day ago

Poll: 41% in US ‘Extremely Proud’ to Be American, Near Historic Low

1 day ago
Being Indian American Today: Kamala Harris as Vice President Is a Huge Step Forward in Our National Journey
gvw_calmatters
By CalMatters
Published 4 years ago on
January 16, 2021

Share

As we approach Jan, 20, Inauguration Day for president-elect Joe Biden and vice president-elect Kamala Harris, it’s the perfect time to consider what this means for the Indian diaspora across the U.S.

A drive for achievement and success is a quintessential Indian-American trait, implanted in our brains by parents who preach the benefits of education. While traditionally this was largely in medicine, engineering and related scientific and technical disciplines, it’s heartening to observe the next generation of Indian-American kids. They have broken loose in liberal arts and entertainment, and hopefully, are about to burst through in a big way on the political scene.

By Krishna Sudhir

Special to CalMatters

Many Indian Americans have made their mark after immigrating to this country. We have at least four Nobel Laureates, Hargobind Khurana in medicine (1968), Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar in physics (1983), Venky Ramakrishnan in chemistry (2009) and Abhijit Bannerjee in economics (2019). Several major U.S. corporations, namely Google (Sundar Pichai), Microsoft (Satya Nadella), MasterCard (Ajaypal Singh Banga), IBM (Arvind Krishna), Palo Alto Networks (Nikesh Arora), Adobe (Shantanu Narayen) and Wayfair (Niraj Shah) have Indian American CEOs.

Indian American film and television stars like Mindy Kaling, Aziz Ansari and Hasan Minhaj, and other artists of Indian American heritage have made a name for themselves on the U.S. landscape. Indian American children have collected championships at National Spelling Bees, and speech and debate tournaments. Just recently, a 15-year-old Indian American inventor and scientist, Gitanjali Rao, was named Time’s Kid of the Year.

Indian Americans have also had a huge impact in medicine in the U.S. It has been estimated that 1 in 7 American physicians is of Indian descent. Numerous Indian American physicians are currently involved in the frontline battle against COVID-19. So it comes as no surprise that Biden has appointed three of them to his COVID-19 task force, namely Dr. Vivek Murthy, former Surgeon General under Obama who will chair the task force, and Dr. Atul Gawande and Dr. Celine Gounder who are on the team.

When I arrived in the U.S. in the early ’90s, Bill Clinton and Al Gore were challenging the incumbent team of President George H.W. Bush and Vice President Dan Quayle. The Clinton-Gore duo went on to win that election. But Indian American voices seemed absent from political discourse, even as other immigrant communities were making gains.

Harris Is Part Indian, the Daughter of Shyamala Gopalan, Who Arrived in the U.S. From Chennai, India, When She Was 19

Fast forward several election cycles, to the final year of the Trump administration: Biden picked the first biracial woman of African American and Indian descent to be his running mate, and went on to decisively win the election by more than 7 million in the popular vote, and 306-232 in the Electoral College.

Harris is part Indian, the daughter of Shyamala Gopalan, who arrived in the U.S. from Chennai, India, when she was 19 as a student at UC Berkeley. She met Kamala’s father Donald Harris there; they married and had two daughters. Kamala entered politics early after her training in law, and worked her way up from district attorney in San Francisco to attorney general for California and then senator of California.

When she was selected as Biden’s running mate, many felt it was commendable that in a political sphere dominated by white men, a biracial woman had been picked for the job. All the racism and bigotry that persists as an undercurrent in our great nation notwithstanding, perhaps we do have the ability as a people to embrace change every now and then.

Over the years, Indian American politicians have appeared from time to time on the national scene, some more widely known than others. Dalip Singh Saund was the first Asian American and the first Indian American to be elected to the Congress, serving in the House of Representatives from 1957-1963. There is a current group in Congress, who call themselves the Samosa Caucus, that includes Premila Jayapal of Seattle, Raja Krishnamoorthy of Chicago, Ami Berra of Sacramento and Ro Khanna of Silicon Valley. But Harris’ rise to senator and then vice president-elect is a phenomenon in itself. And with the Senate evenly split between the two parties, her role in breaking the tie becomes crucial to the success of a Biden-Harris administration.

So, why does Kamala’s heritage matter? Aren’t we all Americans, and isn’t race immaterial? I wish it were, but the reality is that it is not. Politicians, the media and even our own employers categorize us by age, gender and ethnicity; that’s the reality of American life. So if the headlines stridently proclaim, “first Black, first Indian woman becomes vice president,” then I’m delighted to join the chorus of those who rejoice in this accomplishment as a step forward in our complex and fascinating national journey.

The author wrote this for CalMatters, a public interest journalism venture committed to explaining how California’s Capitol works and why it matters.

About the Author 

Dr. Krishna Sudhir is a cardiologist, working as a senior executive in the MedTech industry in Santa Clara, KrishnaSudhirAuthor@gmail.com. For more information visit www.krishnasudhir.com.

[activecampaign form=19]

RELATED TOPICS:

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

Trump to Sign Tax-Cut and Spending Bill in July 4 Ceremony

DON'T MISS

Madre Fire Spurs Evacuations Across 3 Counties, Tops as 2025’s Largest Wildfire in California

DON'T MISS

Clovis, Sanger, Madera, and Bass Lake Will Light the Sky With Fireworks Shows Tonight

DON'T MISS

Oil Dips Ahead of Expected OPEC+ Output Increase

DON'T MISS

613 Killed at Gaza Aid Distribution Sites, Near Humanitarian Covoys, Says UN

DON'T MISS

Fresno County Authorities Investigating Suspicious Death of Transient Man

DON'T MISS

West Bank Town Becomes ‘Big Prison’ as Israel Fences It In

DON'T MISS

Israeli Military Kills 20 in Gaza as Trump Awaits Hamas Reply to Truce Proposal

DON'T MISS

Valley Crime Stoppers’ Most Wanted Person of the Day: Rachelle Maria Blanco

DON'T MISS

Russia Pounds Kyiv With Largest Drone Attack, Hours After Trump-Putin Call

UP NEXT

Madre Fire Spurs Evacuations Across 3 Counties, Tops as 2025’s Largest Wildfire in California

UP NEXT

Clovis, Sanger, Madera, and Bass Lake Will Light the Sky With Fireworks Shows Tonight

UP NEXT

Oil Dips Ahead of Expected OPEC+ Output Increase

UP NEXT

613 Killed at Gaza Aid Distribution Sites, Near Humanitarian Covoys, Says UN

UP NEXT

Fresno County Authorities Investigating Suspicious Death of Transient Man

UP NEXT

West Bank Town Becomes ‘Big Prison’ as Israel Fences It In

UP NEXT

Israeli Military Kills 20 in Gaza as Trump Awaits Hamas Reply to Truce Proposal

UP NEXT

Valley Crime Stoppers’ Most Wanted Person of the Day: Rachelle Maria Blanco

UP NEXT

Russia Pounds Kyiv With Largest Drone Attack, Hours After Trump-Putin Call

UP NEXT

Boxer Chavez Jr Expected to Be Deported to Mexico to Serve Sentence, Mexican President Says

Oil Dips Ahead of Expected OPEC+ Output Increase

3 hours ago

613 Killed at Gaza Aid Distribution Sites, Near Humanitarian Covoys, Says UN

3 hours ago

Fresno County Authorities Investigating Suspicious Death of Transient Man

3 hours ago

West Bank Town Becomes ‘Big Prison’ as Israel Fences It In

3 hours ago

Israeli Military Kills 20 in Gaza as Trump Awaits Hamas Reply to Truce Proposal

3 hours ago

Valley Crime Stoppers’ Most Wanted Person of the Day: Rachelle Maria Blanco

3 hours ago

Russia Pounds Kyiv With Largest Drone Attack, Hours After Trump-Putin Call

3 hours ago

Boxer Chavez Jr Expected to Be Deported to Mexico to Serve Sentence, Mexican President Says

4 hours ago

Markets’ 90-Day Tariff Pause Rollercoaster Nears an Uncertain End

4 hours ago

Trump Says He’s Willing to Let Migrant Farm Laborers Stay in US

4 hours ago

Trump to Sign Tax-Cut and Spending Bill in July 4 Ceremony

President Donald Trump is scheduled to sign a massive package of tax and spending cuts into law at a ceremony at the White House on Friday, ...

2 hours ago

President Donald Trump speaks during a press conference in the Roosevelt Room at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., May 12, 2025. (Reuters File)
2 hours ago

Trump to Sign Tax-Cut and Spending Bill in July 4 Ceremony

The Madre Fire burning near New Cuyama has scorched 52,592 acres as of Friday, July 4, 2025, morning, making it California’s largest wildfire of the year, with only 10% containment and multiple evacuation zones in place. (CalFire)
2 hours ago

Madre Fire Spurs Evacuations Across 3 Counties, Tops as 2025’s Largest Wildfire in California

2 hours ago

Clovis, Sanger, Madera, and Bass Lake Will Light the Sky With Fireworks Shows Tonight

A pumpjack operates at the Vermilion Energy site in Trigueres, France, June 14, 2024. (Reuters File)
3 hours ago

Oil Dips Ahead of Expected OPEC+ Output Increase

Palestinians gather to collect what remains of relief supplies from the distribution center of the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, June 5, 2025. (Reuters File)
3 hours ago

613 Killed at Gaza Aid Distribution Sites, Near Humanitarian Covoys, Says UN

Billy Wayne Sinisgalli, a 54-year-old transient known locally as Wayne, was found dead along a rural Fresno road Wednesday in what authorities are investigating as a suspicious death. (Fresno County SO)
3 hours ago

Fresno County Authorities Investigating Suspicious Death of Transient Man

Israel Builds a Fence Around the West Bank
3 hours ago

West Bank Town Becomes ‘Big Prison’ as Israel Fences It In

A view of the site of Thursday's Israeli strike that damaged and destroyed residential buildings, at Shati (Beach) refugee camp, in Gaza City, July 4, 2025. (Reuters/Mahmoud Issa)
3 hours ago

Israeli Military Kills 20 in Gaza as Trump Awaits Hamas Reply to Truce Proposal

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend