Like presidential hopefuls before her - Barack Obama’s stories of his single mom waking him up at 5 a.m. Kamala Harris’ parents, Shyamala Gopalan and Donald Harris, immigrants from India and Jamaica, in an undated portrait. Donald Harris, Kamala’s father, is a retired leftist Stanford economics professor from Jamaica who studied issues such as income inequality but was less of an impact on her life after the couple divorced when she was a child. A breast cancer researcher from India who had a powerful presence despite her five-foot stature, she died of colon cancer in 2009. Harris regularly describes her mother, Shyamala Gopalan, as the most important influence on her life. The story of Harris’ parents - immigrant academics from very different parts of the world chasing their American Dream to the Bay Area - has become a key part of her message as she introduces herself to the country. She would also tell a young Harris that “you may be the first to do many things, but make sure you’re not the last,” the California senator said at events in Iowa and South Carolina. “My mother used to say, don’t sit around and complain about things, do something,” Harris told 20,000 supporters at her kick-off rally in Oakland. In the three weeks since she launched her presidential campaign, Kamala Harris has quoted one figure more than any other: her mom. Click here if you are unable to view this gallery on a mobile device.
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