1. Young childhood flashbacks
Both her parents got deeply involved in the 1960s protests, and she confesses that her experience with the civil rights movement was from a stroller’s perspective because she was always present at rallies and demonstrations as a child. She recalls the “sea of legs marching around the streets” and the sound of people shouting.
Kamala Harris reflected on this topic, and she says it was not only about Black people, as it included Asians, Chicanos, and Jews, as well as many others who were aware of the laws unequally applied.
2. Her parents divorced
When she was 7, her parents decided to separate due to her father taking a job at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her mother took custody of Kamala and her sister, Maya. Her parents never argued over money, but they disputed who gets to keep the books.
As her family lived in Berkeley, Harris needed to take the bus to attend school in a “white neighborhood.” She and her sister used to help their mother by cleaning her tubes in the lab, as she was a cancer researcher.
They spent most of their time in the lab, and when they weren’t there, the girls were in a daycare run by Regina Sheldon.
They were frequently taken by her to the Twenty Third Avenue Church of God, which was an African American Protestant church. Kamala Harris created a very strong connection with Regina Sheldon.
She used the same Bible Shelton gave her when she became California Attorney General and Senator.
Her friend Karen V. Clopton, judge and lawyer, declared to The Washington Post that, indeed, Kamala Harris always seemed to be involved in African American community struggles, politics, and organizations.
