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Kamala Harris Makes History As First Woman And Woman Of Colour As Vice President

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A senator from California and a former prosecutor, Ms. Harris has a track record in breaking new ground. Now, she is the first woman, first Black person, and first person of Asian descent elected to the country’s second-highest office.
A barrier-breaking prosecutor with a love for grilling — “Question, I will repeat —” — and music: “One nation under a groove —”
California Senator Kamala Harris is making history as the first woman, and first woman of colour, elected vice president. “Let’s talk about who is prepared to lead our country over the course of the next four years.”
She ran for president, going head-to-head with Biden over school busing. “You know, there was a little girl in California who was part of the second class to integrate her public schools, and she was bused to school every day. And that little girl was me.” But she later endorsed him, and he picked her as his running mate. And soon they will be entering the White House together.
“I am incredibly honored by this responsibility, and I am ready to get to work.” Haris has a track record of being the first. “You may be the first to do many things, but make sure you’re not the last.”
She was the first black person and first woman to become district attorney of San Francisco, and later attorney general of California. “I decided to become a prosecutor because I believed that there were vulnerable and voiceless people who deserved to have a voice in that system.”
And in 2016, she was elected the first Black senator from California. And now she will be the first woman, first Black person and first person of Asian descent elected to the country’s second-highest office. So what is she known for in Washington? “So my question to you —” As a senator, Harris served on four committees, and was perhaps best known for her tough questions. “It makes me nervous.” “Is that a no?” “Is that a yes?” “Can I get to respond please, ma’am?” “No, sir. No, no.” And some of her policy priorities? Criminal justice reform and racial justice legislation. “Racial justice is on the ballot in 2020.”
After George Floyd’s killing in police custody, Harris became an outspoken voice in the national debate on police brutality.
“We should have things like a national standard for excessive use of force.” And on the campaign trail, she doubled down on that message, making a concerted effort to reach voters of color. “People have been asking, ‘Why should I vote?’ One: Honor the ancestors. Honor people like the late, great John Lewis, who shed his blood on the Edmund Pettus Bridge so we could vote.”
But she’s faced criticism from progressive activists over her record as a prosecutor, including her push for higher cash bails for certain crimes, and for refusing to support independent investigations for police shootings as recently as 2014. So what does she bring to the White House? “This is our house!”
She is policy-oriented and pragmatic. Proponents say that her experience in law enforcement will help her face the unique challenges of the moment and that her lack of ideological rigidity makes her well suited for the vice presidency.
“We can overcome these challenges.” Harris embodies the future of a country that is growing more racially diverse. As one of the best-known Black women in American politics, Harris now finds herself the most clearly positioned heir to the White House, with the oldest incoming president in history.
From the earliest days of her childhood, Kamala Harris was taught that the road to racial justice was long.
She spoke often on the campaign trail of those who had come before her, of her parents, immigrants drawn to the civil rights struggle in the United States — and of the ancestors who had paved the way.
As she took the stage in Texas shortly before the election, Ms. Harris spoke of being singular in her role but not solitary.
“Yes, sister, sometimes we may be the only one that looks like us walking in that room,” she told a largely Black audience in Fort Worth. “But the thing we all know is we never walk in those rooms alone — we are all in that room together.”
With her ascension to the vice presidency, Ms. Harris will become the first woman and first woman of color to hold that office, a milestone for a nation in upheaval, grappling with a damaging history of racial injustice exposed, yet again, in a divisive election. Ms. Harris, 56, embodies the future of a country that is growing more racially diverse, even if the person voters picked for the top of the ticket is a 77-year-old white man.
That she has risen higher in the country’s leadership than any woman ever has underscores the extraordinary arc of her political career. A former San Francisco district attorney, she was elected as the first Black woman to serve as California’s attorney general. When she was elected a United States senator in 2016, she became only the second Black woman in the chamber’s history.
Almost immediately, she made a name for herself in Washington with her withering prosecutorial style in Senate hearings, grilling her adversaries in high-stakes moments that at times went viral.
Yet what also distinguished her was her personal biography: The daughter of a Jamaican father and Indian mother, she was steeped in racial justice issues from her early years in Oakland and Berkeley, Calif., and wrote in her memoir of memories of the chants, shouts and “sea of legs moving about” at protests. She recalled hearing Shirley Chisholm, the first Black woman to mount a national campaign for president, speak in 1971 at a Black cultural center in Berkeley that she frequented as a young girl. “Talk about strength!” she wrote.
After several years in Montreal, Ms. Harris attended Howard University, a historically Black college and one of the country’s most prestigious, then pursued work as a prosecutor on domestic violence and child exploitation cases. She speaks easily and often of her mother, a breast cancer researcher who died in 2009; of her white and Jewish husband, Douglas Emhoff, who will make history in his own right as the first second gentleman; and of her stepchildren, who call her Momala.
It was a story she tried to tell on the campaign trail during the Democratic primary with mixed success. Kicking off her candidacy with homages to Ms. Chisholm, Ms. Harris attracted a crowd in Oakland that her advisers estimated at more than 20,000, a tremendous show of strength that immediately established her as a front-runner in the race. But vying for the nomination against the most diverse field of candidates in history, she failed to capture a surge of support and dropped out weeks before any votes were cast.
Part of her challenge, especially with the party’s progressive wing she sought to win over, was the difficulty she had reconciling her past positions as California’s attorney general with the current mores of her party. She struggled to define her policy agenda, waffling on health care and even her own assault on Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s record on race, perhaps the toughest attack he faced throughout the primary campaign.
“Policy has to be relevant,” Ms. Harris said in an interview with The New York Times in July 2019. “That’s my guiding principle: Is it relevant? Not, ‘Is it a beautiful sonnet?’”
But it is also this lack of ideological rigidity that makes her well suited for the vice presidency, a role that demands a tempering of personal views in deference to the man at the top. As the vice-presidential nominee, Ms. Harris has endeavored to make plain that she supports Mr. Biden’s positions — even if some differ from those she backed during the primary.
While she struggled to attract the very women and Black voters she had hoped would connect with her personal story during her primary bid, she continued to make a concerted effort as Mr. Biden’s running mate to reach out to people of color, some of whom have said they feel represented in national politics for the first time.
Many witnessed — and recoiled at — the persistent racist and sexist attacks from conservatives. President Trump has refused to pronounce her name correctly and after the vice-presidential debate, he derided her as a “monster.”
For some of her supporters, the vitriol Ms. Harris had to withstand was another aspect of her experience they found relatable.
“I know what I was thrown into as the only African-American at the table,” said Clara Faulkner, the mayor pro tem of Forest Hill, Texas, as she waited for Ms. Harris to address a socially distanced crowd in Fort Worth. “It’s just seeing God move in a mighty way.”
While some members of the political establishment professed outrage at the insults, friends of Ms. Harris knew that her pragmatism extended to her understanding of how the political world treats women of color.
Senator Cory Booker, a colleague and friend of Ms. Harris’s who has known her for decades, said in an interview that some of her guardedness was a form of self-protection in a world that has not always embraced a barrier-breaking Black woman.
“She still has this grace about her where it’s almost as if these things don’t affect her spirit,” Mr. Booker said. “She’s endured this for her entire career and she does not give people license to have entrance into her heart.”
After waiting days for results, Democrats rejoiced in a victory that offered a bright spot in an election that delivered losses to many of their candidates, including several high-profile women.
Representative Barbara Lee, Democrat of California, who got involved in politics through Ms. Chisholm’s presidential campaign, said she always believed she would see the first Black woman at the steps of the White House.
“Here you have now this remarkable, brilliant, prepared African-American woman, South Asian woman, ready to fulfill the dreams and aspirations of Shirley Chisholm and myself and so many women of color,” she said. “This is exciting and is finally a breakthrough that so many of us have been waiting for. And it didn’t come easy.”
‘We are in a better place than we were four years ago.’
The Democrats’ down-ballot defeats tempered the celebratory mood a bit, as did a wistful sense among some activists and leaders that this historic first still leaves women in second place — closer than ever to the Oval Office, sure, but not in it.
The end to a presidency that inspired waves of opposition from women, many politically engaged for the first time, has left the “highest, hardest glass ceiling” intact. Democratic primary voters, including a significant number of women, had rallied behind Mr. Biden, eschewing the women and people of color in the race because they believed Mr. Biden would be most capable of beating Mr. Trump. Scarred by Hillary Clinton’s defeat four years ago, many believed the country was not quite ready to elect a female commander in chief.
Ms. Harris’s presence on the ticket will forever be linked to Mr. Biden’s explicit promise to select a female running mate in an acknowledgment that the party’s future probably does not look like him.
Ms. Harris now finds herself the most clearly positioned heir to the White House. Perhaps more than any other vice president in recent memory, she will be carefully scrutinized for her ambitions, a level of attention that is perhaps inevitable for the No. 2 of the oldest incoming No. 1 in history.
Mr. Biden understands this, Mr. Booker said: “He is really bringing us to the next election.”
Allies say Ms. Harris is acutely aware of her place in history. She views her work as connected to both the civil rights leaders who came before her — the “ancestors,” as she calls them — and the generations she hopes to empower.
Representative Pramila Jayapal, Democrat of Washington, a rising figure in the party’s left wing, said Ms. Harris’s ascent was a deep source of pride among South Asians, expanding the imaginations of how high they can climb in American public life. Ms. Jayapal has spoken proudly of her own connection to the new vice president, writing an op-ed article in The Los Angeles Times in August describing their intertwined family history in South India.
“She understands what it means to be the child of immigrants — what it means to be a person of color seeking racial justice,” she said, pointing to Ms. Harris’s work on rights for domestic workers and helping Muslim immigrants get access to legal counsel. “There’s just so much you don’t have to explain to a Vice President Harris and I believe she will fight for many of the issues that are important to our South Asian community.”
The small sorority of Black women in federal politics also views Ms. Harris as a mentor and an ally, praising her championing of issues like Black maternal mortality and anti-lynching legislation that have not typically received the spotlight that can follow a high-wattage political brand.
When Representative Lauren Underwood was mounting her first race for Congress, trying to become the first Black women to win her predominantly white suburban Chicago district, Ms. Harris reached out for coffee.
“There’s not that many Black women who have been at the highest level of politics in this country. Not that many Black women who have run very competitive races,” said Ms. Underwood, who became the youngest Black woman ever elected to Congress in 2018. “To have the opportunity to learn from, counsel from and just know someone who has done that is something I find incredibly valuable.”
Kimberlé Crenshaw, a prominent Black progressive scholar, hailed Ms. Harris’s ascension to the vice presidency and described her as “well positioned to weather the storms that will definitely come now that she has broken through the glass ceiling.”
But amid the joy and sense of empowerment in seeing a woman of color as the nation’s second-highest elected official, she also cautioned that the history-making moment should not distract progressives from continuing to push their agenda.
“This is still the Biden administration — what Kamala Harris thinks or does has to be recognized as being part of that administration,” she said. “So we cannot let the pedal to the metal be slowed in any way because we’re celebrating the fact that we’ve had this breakthrough moment.”
For others, that moment has been a very long time coming.
Opal Lee, 94, paid a poll tax when she first went to vote, choosing between casting her ballot for the Democratic candidate or buying food for her four young children. Decades later, Ms. Lee, a former teacher and activist from Fort Worth, Texas, celebrated at President Barack Obama’s inauguration.
Despite the health risks from the coronavirus pandemic, Ms. Lee has no intention of missing Mr. Biden’s inauguration in Washington this January — to witness Ms. Harris.
“I want to be able to tell my great-great-grandchildren how it felt for a woman to be vice president,” she said. “I just got to go.”

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Group Doles out N13m To Market Women In Isiama 

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The peaceful Town of Isiama in Andoni Local Government Area of Rivers State was at the weekend agog with activities following the donation of over N13million to market women by Engr. Justus Ngerebara in partnership with Fast Track Development Initiatives, a non-governmental organization, as part of its first phase empowerment programme.
According to Justus Ngerebara, who is also the Executive Director of the organization, the women, numbering 108, will receive various sums based on their business proposal.
He stated that the organization will carry out an annual review of the performances of the beneficiaries, with a view to rewarding those who put the money into good use.
According to him, the initiative was a collaborative effort between himself and his wife, Dr. Unyime Ngerebara, in partnership with Fast Track Development Initiative (FDI), an organization committed to youth capacity building and community development.
He said the family believe deeply in the transformative power of women’s empowerment as a catalyst for economic growth, especially in rural communities.
“As the saying goes, when you empower a woman, you empower a community. This truth resonate strongly with us, knowing that empowered women uplift households and inspire generational change”, he stated.
Ngerebara described the programme as the beginning of more things to come and urged the beneficiaries to view the gesture “as a reflection of our deep love for the community and our commitment to easing the burdens of economic hardship.
“We encourage you to invest wisely, channel these resources into your business not frivolities.
“We will continue to follow up with each participant to monitor progress and Offer guidance.
“It is our goal to see thriving business, creative solutions to households hunger and a ripple effect of prosperity through Isiama.
“We also call on the men to stand beside their spouses, offering support and encouragement to ensure these resources are maximized for growth”, he said.
In an interview, Ngerebara said the second phase of the empowerment programme will start very soon, stressing that since inception the organization has done so much for the community.
He listed some of the programmes carried out by the group in the community to include the installation of solar powered lights, and solar powered water.
While declaring the event open, a former coymmissioner for Works in Rivers State, Engr. Sampson Ngerebara, described the event as the first of its kind in the community.
Engr. Ngerebara said the programme will go a long way to improve the conditions of not only the beneficiaries, but also the entire Isiama Community.
He also charged them against wasting the resources on frivolities, adding that their success will attract more of such empowerment programme to Isiama community
Giving a brief talk on women empowerment, a lecturer at the Ignatius Ajuru University of Education, Dr. Awajimogobo Felix MacLean, warned the beneficiaries to justify the effort of the donor by avoiding wastages.
Dr. MacLean also urged them to be consistent in their line of business as well as avoid unnecessary competition.
She also stressed the need for them to network among themselves, while working out ways of helping the community to develop.
Guest of Honour at the occasion, Professor Uriah Oboada Alafonye, said Engr Justus Ngerebara, the initiator of the programme, has set a standard for present and future generations of leaders both in the community and the rest of Andoni to follow.
Prof Alafonye who is of the department of Arts Education, Ignatius Ajuru University of Education, also appealed to the beneficiaries to seize the opportunity provided by the programme to reduce poverty in the community.
Speaking, one of the beneficiaries, Mrs. Hebron Mercy Fyneface, a crayfish seller and an interior designer, said it was the first time she was receiving such gesture from any organization or government.
She thanked Engr Justus Ngerebara for remembering the women of Isiama and urged others to emulate him.
By: John Bibor
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Fubara’s Return Excites NCSU … As Hope Rises For Civil Servants 

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The umbrella body of civil servants in Rivers State, the Nigeria Civil Service Union(NCSU) has expressed delight over the lifting of emergency rule in the State and the return to office of Governor Siminalayi Fubara, his deputy, Prof Ngozi Nma Odu and members of the State House of Assembly, saying, the development portends good omen for workers, the people and the State.
The Rivers State Chairman of NCSU, Comrade Chukwuka Richman Osumah, who gave the indication in an interview in Port Harcourt, said the return of the Governor to office portends good omen and better days for civil servants in particular, stressing that the union heartily welcomes the Governor back to office, to resume his good works in the State, after six months of the emergency rule, as well as his deputy and members of the House of Assembly.
He noted that civil servants in the State are not only elated over the development but are also full of hope that the Governor would start from where he stopped in attending to their welfare needs.
He contended that the political crisis that recently engulfed the State and the six-month emergency rule had for over one year pulled the State backwards, but expressed delight that a permanent solution has been found to stem further political upheavals in the State, and thanked President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for making this possible; the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory and leader of the State, Chief Nyesom Wike; Governor Fubara; Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Rt Hon Martin Amaewhule; members of the House; and other stakeholders for agreeing to amicably resolve all contending issues.
The labour leader said this is the right time for all political gladiators in the State to bury the hatchet, work together and embrace peace and genuine reconciliation in the overall interest of the State.
He described as too hasty the resolution of the House, mandating the Governor to present a supplementary budget to it, and pleaded with members of the House to be calm, to tread with caution, and harmoniously work with the Governor.
He said the return of democratic governance in the State would fast-track progress and development in the State, and enjoined the people of the State, particularly civil servants to continue to give their support and cooperation to the Fubara administration.
Osumah expressed optimism that Governor Fubara would give prompt attention to challenges facing civil servants in the State, being a former civil servant himself, stressing that the workers truly have hope, now that the Governor has returned to office, and knowing the kind of Governor he is.
According to him, he is going to look into the controversial and contentious contributory pension scheme; rehabilitation of the State Secretariat Complex; recruitment into the state civil service; extension of service and retirement years for civil servants; provision of vehicles to industrial unions; as well as provision of befitting staff quarters for civil servants; among others.
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NDDC Organizes ADR Capacity Building for Staff

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The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) has organized a one-day sensitization program for its personnel on Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) approaches to promote workplace compliance on transparency and due process.
The workshop, themed “Promoting Transparency and Due Process in the Workplace using ADR Approaches in Building a Culture of Accountability and Integrity,” aimed to equip staff with the skills to resolve disputes effectively.
Declaring the event open on thursday in port Harcourt,The NDDC Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Samuel Ogbuku, emphasized the importance of using ADR mechanisms to resolve conflicts in the workplace.
Dr. Ogbuku  represented by his chief of staff,Rev Omeya Oworibo,noted that ADR approaches can encourage a culture of honesty, fairness, transparency, trust, and reduce conflicts among staff, ultimately promoting efficiency and productivity.
He averred that those disputes and quarrels if not proper resolved can derail the vision and objectives of the commission to the people, noting that the commission must as a team and unity as service provider in order to render a profitable service delivery to the people.
 “ADR approach will encourage culture of honesty,fairness, transparency ,trust  and reduce back bitting and the workforce, noting that such tendency would in turns promote efficiency and increase results in workplace.
 when integrity and honesty becomes the operandi of an organisation and employees begins to trust that their matters will be handled with fairness it will breed team work and increase in productivity.”he stated
He commended the department of DCR for organising the workshop and urged the participants to make good use of the opportunity and imbibe the culture of tolerance, integrity and teamwork in workplace.
Also speaking,the NDDC acting director of DCR ,Mr Godwin Ayewumi Ogedegbe noted that the theme of the captures the core of what the commission seeks to achieve a workplace where every action is expected to be guided by openness, fairness, and a steadfastness commitment to due process, where conflicts are not merely resolved, but prevented through structured,principled processes , and where accountability and integrity are not aspirational ideals but every day practice.
In his  keynote presentation on the theme “workplace Ethics and alternative Dispute Resolution Correlation,
Prof. Sylvester Odion Akhaine of the Department of Political Science, University of Lagos, delivered a keynote presentation on “Workplace Ethics and Alternative Dispute Resolution Correlation.” He stressed the importance of due process, transparency, integrity, and accountability in the workplace, noting that these values are essential for productivity and organizational goals.
The workshop aimed to promote a culture of accountability and integrity in the NDDC workplace. By equipping staff with ADR skills and promoting transparency and due process, the commission can build a more efficient and productive work environment.
By: Akujobi Amadi
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