Review of Kamala Harris’ autobiographical book “The truths we hold: an American journey”
Memoirs and auto-biographies have always been my least favorite genre. Way too often they come across as being written with intention and purpose to substantiate the preferred narrative of one’s present self by engaging in an elaborate exercise of re-thinking and re-interpreting personal life path and past experiences. Re-interpreting one’s life to serve the narrator’s present-day objectives or for their preferred preservation of memory just doesn’t match my taste. Having said that, I find the genre gratifyingly appropriate for political candidates preparing to run for the office. Memoirs crafted as a statement of one’s credo and political manifesto for the forthcoming campaign, spiced with illustrative episodes of intimate narratives that consolidate the grounding of a candidate’s political vision are just what I need to perceive a candidate as more human and relatable.
In 2018, while preparing to run for the US presidency, then Senator Kamala Harris published her autobiography, probably without suspecting she would become the first female, the first black, the first Asian Vice President of the USA. Kamala Harris used the genre to tell the reader/voter exactly what she/he/they needed to know: this book is an elaborate statement of policy positioning with minimum necessary details about her private life. In terms of positioning, she grounds every political view and policy stand in individual human stories. These people are not just some universal humans reduced to a symbolic value. They are real people with a first and last name with whom the reader can relate to. Their stories appeared to have informed Kamala’s policy positions. The same way she enjoyed crocheting as a child, she skillfully threaded the knit to connect policies with real people’s lives. Her political truths stemmed from people’s voices she had chosen to amplify. Through the struggle of Kris and Sandy, Kamala takes us on a journey of LGBTIQ rights pursuit all the way through the US Supreme Court just to get us to cathartically hear their “Wedding bells” in a ceremony officiated by Kamala herself. Sergio is a hard-working Dreamer who studied at University of California, volunteered in a community programme and lived in a constant fear of deportation to a country he had no memory of. Morena, a refugee from El Salvador, separated from her two sons at the US border, hadn’t been able to get in touch with them for six weeks at the time when she met Kamala at the immigration detention center. It is reasonable to assume that righting these wrongs may be some of Kamala’s first priorities as an incoming Vice President.
Kamala used the opportunity to also document where she stood on certain historic events that took place while she acted as people’s representative in the US Senate. Something that stood out for me is Kamala’s praise for the sexual assault survivor’s courage to speak out her truth in front of the camera eyes despite all odds and pressures. From her public prosecutor experience, Kamala knows that revictimization, secondary victimization and stigma on survivors are real. Kamala understands the impossible task of keeping survivors safe, especially once they spoke out. The whole system is conceptualized in a way to discredit survivors’ stories in order to maintain the status quo of a patriarchy unshattered. Kamala did not hesitate to express her solidarity with the survivor and stand on the right side of justice.
Human stories permeate the book. Kamala didn’t deprive us of her own humanity. Her fear of losing her mother and the pain in grappling with the harshness of that departure was so vividly depicted that it evoked emotions of my own intimate losses. Her humanity is relatable, palpable and real. She also covered her political campaign homework on personal matters: she introduced us to her family ties and community roots, told us the story of people she loves and who love her. Thus, she reassured readers to be reliable in terms of her emotional stability and maturity. As a woman, she knows that she had to deal with the question “children?”. She told a beautiful story about her profound connections with Cole and Ella and the partnership and solidarity built with their mother Kerstin. Being myself a woman who didn’t give birth, while reading the book, I wished that Kamala wasn’t compelled to tell us about her “Momala” role. I wished she was able to tell us, instead, the story of negotiating power dynamics in her intimate relationship. I wished I’d read a first-hand testimony on the price a woman had to pay for choosing pursuit of justice and a bettering the world, which she’s been doing boldly and fiercely.
Women still cannot have it all, but with the promise of Kamala in the Office, a woman who is standing on the shoulders of the women who preceded her and trailblazing for those who will succeed her (she promised she won’t be the last!), I am confident we are getting closer to changing that.
