Millions of viewers witnessed the historic inauguration of Kamala Harris as the nation’s first woman, first Black American and first South Asian American vice president on Wednesday. But it was different for the Black and Asian women and girls watching — a sentiment Mindy Kaling captured when she shared her daughter Katherine’s reaction to the sight on Instagram.
“I was at work, but apparently she said: ‘Is that mommy? It looks like mommy.’ Best compliment I ever got! It matters. Happy Inauguration everyone,” Kaling wrote, sharing a photo of her daughter in front of the TV.
As parents, we know representation matters. By breaking glass ceilings with her historic win, Harris showed little Black and brown girls everywhere that someone that looks like their mommy, and someone that looks like them, can achieve anything.
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A post shared by Mindy Kaling (@mindykaling)
Harris has always been vocal about her Black and Indian heritage. Her Jamaican father and Indian mother immigrated to the U.S. for school just a few years before she was born in 1964. No stranger to making history, Harris is also the first woman and POC to become the district attorney of San Francisco and California’s attorney general.
Kaling also talks about growing up Indian in the U.S. Like Harris, her parents immigrated to the U.S. from India in 1979. Her 2020 Netflix series, Never Have I Ever, is partially based on her childhood in Boston, and it has been praised for shattering Asian stereotypes. Kaling knows what it’s like to have young girls look up to her as the first.
While campaigning for president in 2019, Harris even shared a special moment with Kaling while discussing their families and cooking traditional South Indian cuisine.
“Who else keeps their spices in Taster’s Choice jars?” Harris tweeted, sharing a video they made together in Kaling’s kitchen. “Turns out @MindyKaling and I have more in common than we initially thought.
Other Black and Asian moms, including Kerry Washington and Chrissy Teigen, took to social media on Wednesday to share their pride over our new VP’s history-making inauguration.
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A post shared by chrissy teigen (@chrissyteigen)
Michigan State Senator Stephanie Chang, the first Asian American woman elected to her state’s legislature, spoke to what this meant for her daughters too.
“As a mom of two daughters who are half Black and half Asian American, I do believe #RepresentationMatters,” she wrote. “I hope that Kamala Harris serving as VP will show my daughters they can be what they will dream to be.”
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