Asian-American political leaders and community advocates described the choice of Ms. Harris as the Democratic vice-presidential nominee as a powerful statement on American possibility.
Shortly after former Vice President Joseph. R. Biden Jr. selected Senator Kamala Harris of California as his running mate, Neil Makhija’s father sent him a photo. It was of Ms. Harris, sitting with her family in traditional Indian dress, a bindi on her forehead and a raspberry-colored sari wrapped around her. The image could have come from his own family album, he said, and made clear that for the first time, a candidate for one of the nation’s highest offices looked like him. “Spending time in India, growing up where nobody in our neighborhood really understood us — or maybe they kind of noticed my mother’s accent, or didn’t take her as seriously — those are experiences that Kamala Harris understands,” said Mr. Makhija, now the executive director of the Indian American Impact Fund. “I think we’re feeling seen for the first time,” he added. On Tuesday, upon being named Mr. Biden’s vice-presidential pick, Ms. Harris became the first Black woman on a major party’s presidential ticket. She also became the first Indian-American, South Asian and Asian-American person to be chosen — historic firsts in their own right that many Asian-Americans celebrated. In interviews, Indian-American political leaders and community advocates called Mr. Biden’s choice of Ms. Harris — the daughter of an Indian mother and a Jamaican father — a refutation of President Trump’s demonization of immigrants and a powerful statement on American possibility. “It’s a stand-alone milestone, irrespective of who the opponent is,” said Vanita Gupta, head of the civil rights division of the Justice Department under former President Barack Obama. “But it is particularly poignant given what this country has endured for the last several years, with this administration that at every turn has sought to divide us and use racism for political gain.” Some Indian-Americans said the consideration of Ms. Harris for a job no Asian-American has held represented a sort of validation of their own family’s choices to come to America.
