Mansoor’s Musings: Harris leads Brown Power sweep

By Mansoor Ladha on July 30, 2024.

Politics make strange bedfellows. That is so when you apply it to the current political situation in the United States. President Joe Biden threw a bombshell when he finally decided to withdraw his candidacy as Democratic Party’s candidate, endorsing Vice-President Kamala Harris.

The scene is now set for a confrontation between a former California attorney general and prosecutor and a guy facing 34 criminal indictments and other sexual charges. A lot of fuss was done at Biden’s age 81, while it appears it’s fine for Trump at 78 to be the oldest nominee in U.S. history!

Within days of her endorsement, according to Reuters/Ipsos poll, Ms. Harris is leading polls at 44 percent while Trump is trailing at 42 percent. Pollsters have predicted that Ms. Harris will surpass Trump as the campaign continues. Some 56 percent of registered voters agreed with a statement that Harris, 59, was “mentally sharp and able to deal with challenges,” compared to 49% who said the same of Trump.

Vice-President Harris held her first campaign rally in the battleground state of Wisconsin and raised more than $100 million in two days.

It appears that Brown Power is sweeping the world as people of colour ascend on the highest political offices. The U.S. has had the first black president in Barack Obama and if Ms. Harris is elected, she will become not only the first woman to become president of the United States, but also the first woman of colour to reach such a high stature. A proud moment for the Indian diaspora as Ms. Harris is the daughter of an Indian mother and a Jamaican father. Trump’s vice-president nominee, J.D. Vance’s wife, Usha, is also a daughter of Indian immigrants.

In 2023, Britain was bestowed with a Prime Minster (Rishi Sunak) of Indian descent. The City of London has had a Pakistani, Sadiq Khan, since 2016 as mayor while another prominent Scottish politician was Anas Sarwar, leader of the Scottish Labour Party since 2021.

Humza Yousaf, who was elected leader of the Scottish National Party following the resignation of Nicola Sturgeon in March this year, has become the latest child of migrants to rise to the top of government.

In Canada, the only federal high-profile minority politician currently happens to be federal NDP leader Jagmeet Singh, though several people of colour have served as federal government ministers. Ujjal Dosanjh was the only one who became premier of B.C. in 2000 and later served as a federal minister while Arif Lalani, Anita Anand, Harjit Sajjan, Gary Anandasangaree and Kamal Khera are currently serving in the Trudeau cabinet.

Alberta’s two major cities, Calgary, and Edmonton, however, have mayors Jyoti Gondek and Amarjeet Sohi respectively, both of Indian descent. Ms. Gondek and Mr. Sohi are both serving their first term as mayors while Mr. Sohi has been a federal cabinet minister before he plunged into municipal politics.

Three-time Calgary mayor Naheed Nenshi, now leader of the provincial NDP, is perhaps the only politician with name recognition who can achieve a higher political calling,

It is becoming clear that diversity in politics has become more acceptable, that diaspora politics will play a prominent role, and voters everywhere are willing to elect qualified people of colour for the top jobs in the country. It also indicates that the electors have matured in their thinking and have adopted non- partial opinions, rejecting stereotypical thinking about people of colour. One hopes that the wind of Brown Power blowing fiercely will benefit Ms. Harris in her campaign for the U.S. presidency.

Mansoor Ladha is a Calgary-based journalist, travel writer and author of Aga Khan: Bridge between East & West, Off the Cuff, Memoirs of a Muhindi: Fleeing East Africa for the West and Portrait in Pluralism: Aga Khan’s Shia Ismaili Muslims.

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