Before Kamala Harris’ historic speech on the final night of the Democratic National Convention, her granddaughters took the stage and gave the crowd a unique lesson. The two girls, introduced by actor Kerry Washington, helped teach the crowd how to correctly pronounce the US vice president’s name.
“It has come to my attention that some people are struggling — or pretending to struggle — to correctly pronounce our future president’s name. The confusion is understandable. But the disrespect is not. So tonight we’re going to help everyone pronounce it correctly,” the actor said, before the two kids walked over to the cheering crowd.
Harris’ niece Meena Harris’ daughters, eight-year-old Amara and six-year-old Lila, wore pink pantsuits and blue dresses.
“First you say ‘comma,’ like a comma in a sentence,” Amara said. “Then you say ‘la,’ like la-la-la-la-la,” Lila said.
Then it was the crowd’s turn to practice. “Coma! La!, Coma! La!, Coma La!” they roared.
Amara and Leila Ajagu — the daughters of Kamala Harris’ niece Meena Harris — joined actress Kerry Washington on stage and taught people — hint, hint — how to pronounce their “aunt’s” name, “Kamala.” pic.twitter.com/MLmaOd2BG4
— Andreas Sandre (@andreas212nyc) August 23, 2024
The girls’ mother and Harris’ niece also took the stage to talk about growing up with them. “I grew up in Oakland, California, in a household filled with extraordinary women, my mom, my grandmother and my aunt who taught me the meaning of service, helping my sister, a 17-year-old single mom who was fighting for justice for the American people and still cooking dinner for the family on Sundays. She guided me. Now she’s guiding my own children and I know she will lead our country forward,” she said.
Many leaders in the past have faltered while pronouncing the name of a leader of Indian origin.
Most prominently, his now rival and Republican nominee Donald Trump takes pride in mispronouncing his name, and often uses it to dismiss him as a competitor.
When asked why, Trump said he had heard Harris’s first name pronounced “about seven different ways.”
He said, “Don’t worry about it, it doesn’t matter what I say. I don’t care about it.”
