A small dose of Kamala cool

As we write this article, millions of people who plan to vote for Kamala Harris for President of the United States are attending a convention in Chicago this week to learn more about her. A few million who vote against her are watching to figure out why she’s so big.

Kamala’s near-messianic reception among many voters in a short period of time has been amazing, and for opponents perhaps a little baffling. But in many ways, she was made for these unlikely moments.

Her personal story is an inspiring one, regardless of your political affiliation, and in some ways parallels another iconic Democrat – Barack Hussein Obama. Both are mixed-race, middle-class children raised by plucky single mothers. Both are uniquely photogenic, with names and backgrounds considered exotic in US presidential politics. Both are historic figures – he the first non-white president, she the first non-white female vice president.

And both seem to possess that elusive, enviable, maddeningly organic quality best described as “cool.” These are all attractive qualities of our political leaders, whether we want to admit it or not.

Shyamala Gopalan, Harris’s six-foot-tall mother, was born in India, came to America at age 19, earned a doctorate in nutrition and endocrinology, marched in the civil rights protests of the 1960s, and dedicated her career to breast cancer research while raising two daughters primarily on her own. It’s a pretty compelling story.

Her father, Donald, a Jamaican-born economist and retired Stanford University professor, isn’t exactly a wanderer, but by most accounts her mother — who died of cancer in her 70s — had the biggest impact on her life.

It seems the current Democratic nominee represents different things to different people. She emerged as an outspoken champion against government intrusion into women’s bodies at a crucial time for the issue. Others see a leader who can be seen as a strong ally of nations like Ukraine and Israel as they fight to maintain their sovereignty and our global security. Others see a candidate committed to lifting people up while her Republican opponent tries to bring people down.

Harris stood out to me among the crowded 2020 field of Democratic presidential candidates primarily for her law and order experience as San Francisco’s district attorney and California’s attorney general. In these roles, she prosecuted criminals and gang members. She made headlines by winning a $25 billion settlement from mortgage lenders for the state of California.

But what impressed me the most are three of the most controversial aspects of her time as prosecutor.

In 2004, just months after Harris was elected DA, a 29-year-old San Francisco police officer named Isaac Espinoza was killed by a 21-year-old suspect with an AK-47 . Harris, who opposes the death penalty, did not seek the death penalty when she prosecuted the case, despite loud voices calling for her to do so.

I personally am not opposed to the death penalty when appropriate (Charles Manson comes to mind), although I would feel pretty bad if DNA evidence proved that an executed inmate was found to be innocent after all. If you’re going to do it, make damn sure you get the right guy.

At Espinoza’s funeral, with Harris seated in the pew, Sen. Dianne Feinstein received a standing ovation from hundreds of police officers, calling for the death penalty in a clear rebuke of the prosecutor. (Feinstein later opposed capital punishment.) But while I disagree with her on this issue, I appreciate how Harris stuck to her principles and didn’t allow herself to get caught up in the emotions of the moment.

Harris could have taken the more politically expedient, crowd-pleasing route of seeking the death penalty, but he didn’t. Even Gary Delagnes, who as head of the San Francisco police union at the time butted heads with Harris on the issue, expressed respect for her stance to CNN a few years ago.

“It would have been very easy for her to say, ‘Hey, I’m against the death penalty, but this guy killed a cop and I’m going to change my mind about it,'” he said. “There’s something to be said for her staying consistent.”

Harris also, as DA, implemented a program where non-violent, first-time offenders were given job training, community service and required to work or register at school. Instead, their records were expunged. According to The Marshall Project, the recidivism rate among successful applicants was 10 percent, as opposed to over 50 percent for the rest of the state. This is a classic case of out-the-box thinking, especially on the part of a criminal prosecutor – fighting crime by deterring potential future criminals.

Harris followed a similar truancy strategy, trying to weed out potential criminals in their early stages of development. She did so by issuing citations to parents of at-risk students who missed more than 50 days of school. Only seven parents were prosecuted in three years, none leading to prison. But as a result, absenteeism in San Francisco elementary schools dropped 23 percent.

Think about it. If the kids are at school, they are off the street. They are more likely to finish high school, less likely to pursue a life of crime. Or they become victims themselves. Harris has been criticized by some for this approach, but has taken aggressive steps to ensure the safety of the children and her community.

Harris has been the subject of many memes recently and embraces this “jolly warrior” image. At rallies across the country, she appears to be effortlessly cool and approachable. But opponents would be wise not to underestimate the toughness beneath the laughter.

D. Allan Kerr is a former dockworker, former journalist and US Navy veteran living in Kittery, Maine.

This article originally appeared on the Portsmouth Herald: Kerr: A little dose of Kamala cool