Irish Examiner View: Reasons to hail historic nomination of Kamala Harris

The nomination of Kamala Harris was greeted with excitement as she became the first woman of colour to be put on a major party ticket

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and his running mate Senator Kamala Harris. Picture: AP/David J. Phillip, File

There are many reasons to celebrate Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden’s choice of running mate, Kamala Harris. To begin, it is a historic first. The California senator is the first woman of colour to be put on a major party ticket. Her nomination was greeted with excitement and a measure of relief that black women, seen as the backbone of the Democratic party, finally have a national platform.

Adding her to the Democratic ticket also carries a particular charge at a time when the Black Lives Matter movement is forcing a country to confront the enduring legacy of its own racial past. Now, Americans can redraw their image of a national leader which, for so much of the country’s history, was male, white and often elderly.