The Symbolic Value of Kamala Harris

Richard Zimler

The Symbolic Value of Kamala Harris

Politicians tend to forget that human beings think symbolically. Hence, the phenomenon of the president of an impoverished nation who drives to work each day in a cortege of Mercedes.  By using a moderately priced Fiat, he wouldn’t make his country any richer but he would help to create an atmosphere of solidarity and trust. Or, closer to home, think of the loss of credibility of a political leader in a nation once ruled by right-wing dictatorship who is overjoyed to form a coalition with a proto-fascist party led by a racist demagogue. In the same way, when we evaluate the election of Kamala Harris, we must first view it from the perspective of its enormous symbolic value to Americans and others – and the possibility it gives us to work toward solutions to the critical problems we face, including Covid-19, climate change and the enormous and increasing gap between rich and poor.

It was a hundred years ago that women first gained the vote in America – a right that women in some European countries like Portugal achieved only decades later. Until the 1960s and 70s, few women in Europe and America were able to overcome prejudice and live out their dreams to become doctors, lawyers and anything else they wanted to be. Fewer still dared dream of holding public office. And with good reason; even today, journalists and editorial writers tend to evaluate women candidates differently than men, frequently commenting on their clothing and make-up as well as their ideas and perspectives.    

The situation for African-Americans has been even worse in some ways. In some states, officials still regularly invent difficulties to keep them from registering to vote. As for their access to social mobility (to the American Dream), it has typically been overestimated by privileged white politicians and media pundits seeking to keep them from demanding more equality. The proof? The median wealth (assets) of black families is only one-tenth that of white families and is getting smaller not larger. 

As for Asian-Americans, they were excluded from voting by a racist law passed in 1882 known as the Chinese Exclusion Act that was later extended to apply to other Asian immigrants.    

So what is the symbolic value of having the first woman vice-president – and one with African and Indian ancestors?  Firstly, it gives young people of all gender-identities and ethnicities a clear message: follow your dreams and don’t let anyone tell you that you’re the wrong kind of person to achieve them. Secondly, it tells progressives and members of minorities that if they vote, the Republican party – which has lost all its scruples over the last decades – will be unable to win the presidency for many years to come.

I hope that these symbolic messages can inspire a new age of trust and dynamism in America. Unfortunately, millions of Trump supporters fear the coming end of 350 years of white male privilege, which is one of the main reasons why they committed treason at the Capitol two weeks ago. So look for further violent attacks on the American democracy over the months and years to come.  As Bette Davis famously said in All About Eve, “Fasten your seat belts, it’s going to be a bumpy night.”