107 Days

by Kamala Harris

I wanted people to see that in ways that matter, my story was also their story. To see themselves in our neighborhood of nurses and firefighters, in my sister and me on our banana-seat bikes, in my mother’s struggle to save the down payment to finally own our own home. I wanted people to know that I, like them, cherish both my family by blood and my family by love. I recounted how I’d chosen to be a prosecutor after my best friend in high school confided that she was being molested by her stepfather. I said that when I had a case, I charged it not in the name of the victim, but in the name of the people. Because a harm against any one of us is a harm against all of us, and no one who is a victim should stand alone. I told how every day, in the courtroom, I stood proudly before a judge and I said five words: “Kamala Harris, for the people.” In my career, I said, I’ve only had one client: the people.