Most of us are familiar with Kamala Harris the senator
and presidential candidate,
but you may be surprised to find out
that like many of us,
she started out as a child.
NEWSWOMAN: She's the daughter of immigrants,
a father from Jamaica
and a mother from southern India,
both active in the civil rights era.
NEWSWOMAN 2: Harris was part of the second class
to integrate Berkeley, California, public schools.
NEWSWOMAN 3: She did her undergrad at Howard,
which makes her the first historically black colleges
and universities grad on a major ticket.
NEWSWOMAN 4: Harris is passionate about cooking.
In fact, people in the L.A. area
may have heard Harris calling in to cooking shows.
My entire childhood was pretty much spent in the kitchen.
As this roasts, this is all gonna just get fragrant.
Bring around the legs.
Tie that little bad boy up.
-(laughs) -There's our chicken! (laughs)
Yes, the daughter of immigrants, an HBCU graduate
and, on top of it all, a pretty damn good cook.
Which means if she wins,
that's gonna be a really big change
for the kitchen at the VP residence.
I mean, Kamala will be in there
making delicious Jamaican and Indian food.
Meanwhile, Mike Pence doesn't even have
a spice cabinet because, as he puts it,
"Spice is the anal sex of flavor."
And just by the way, isn't it funny
that every election, the Democrats
are putting together the most diverse tickets that they can.
Like, "What about a black man who's half Kenyan?
Or-or how about a woman who's black and Indian?"
Meanwhile, the Republicans are over here like,
"Okay, look, I know we've got a white guy on the ticket.
"But what if we could find a guy who's even whiter?
"Pack your bags, Billy.
We're going to Indiana."
So, after graduating from Howard University,
Harris returned to California to get her law degree.
Throughout the 1990s, she built a solid career as a prosecutor,
and then in 2003,
she made her move into the public eye.
NEWSMAN: 38-year-old Kamala Harris
came out of nowhere,
and as she did, she made history.
She's the first woman
ever to be San Francisco's district attorney,
and she is the first African American woman
in such a job ever in the state of California.
NEWSMAN 2: Kamala Harris has received praise
for creating innovative programs
to reduce crime and prevent repeat offenders.
NEWSWOMAN: Harris is the first female, first African-American,
and the first Asian-American attorney general in California.
NEWSMAN 3: Newsweek calls her one of the most powerful women
in America, and she proved it this month
when she successfully pushed through
a first-of-its-kind homeowner bill of rights.
NEWSMAN 4: Kamala Harris is already making history.
She is called by some observers the female Barack Obama.
Okay, can I just put in a request
that we stop calling every successful black politician
the next Barack Obama
or the female Barack Obama
or the sleeping Barack Obama?
Everyone's got their own name.
And everyone's got their own story.
I mean, like Kamala.
Basically, in every job she had,
she made history.
First black female D.A. in California.
First female and first black attorney general in California.
First South Asian senator in all of America.
Which says a lot of great things about her
and also says a lot of not so great things about society.
'Cause, I mean, black women could have been doing
these jobs the whole time.
You know? It's not like, in 2011,
black women suddenly got an upgrade
that made them fit for office.
"Oh, hey, they released Black Woman 3.0.
They can be attorney general now!"
Now, on the one hand,
being California's district attorney 20 years ago
is what made Kamala Harris a star.
But a lot has changed in that 20 years.
And some of the things she did at the time
are a little less popular with many of today's Democrats.
NEWSMAN: Kamala Harris is defending her record
as a prosecutor,
that some activists see as being pro-law enforcement
at the expense of civil rights.
NEWSWOMAN: Progressives say Harris
was not progressive enough,
failing to seek justice for the wrongfully imprisoned.
NEWSMAN 2: Contributing as prosecutor
to the mass incarceration of black men.
NEWSMAN 3: Criticized in a lot of communities
for not using the full power of her office
to investigate police shootings.
Critics are questioning some of her policies,
which they say worked against black families,
including a crackdown on parents whose children were truant.
So, I sent a letter out on my letterhead
to every parent in the school district.
This was a little controversial in San Francisco.
(laughs)
A friend of mine actually called me and he said,
"Kamala, my wife got the letter.
"She freaked out.
"She brought all the kids into the living room,
"held up the letter,
"said, 'If you don't go to school,
Kamala's gonna put you and me in jail.'"
(laughter)
Yes, we achieved attend-- intended effect.
(hisses) Ah. That's not a good look.
Threatening to send parents and their kids to jail
for skipping school?
I mean, I get that you wanted kids to get an education,
but there must have been better ways to keep them in class.
Like, why not just tell kids that,
if they go to school every day,
they can get an education
that will help them get a good job
so that they can advance in society.
You know, lie to them.
What I really want to know is, how did this program work?
Like, would the parents and kids go to jail together?
Like, would they share a jail cell?
Would they join the same gang? Would they get matching tattoos?
Hello, Will Smith,
I've got another idea
for a really dope TV sh-- Hello?
Now, to be fair, since Harris was elected
to the U.S. Senate in 2016,
her views have moved closer to those of modern progressives.
She's called for overhauling the prison system,
introduced a bail reform bill,
and tried to decriminalize weed.
But one of the things that has people most excited
about seeing Kamala Harris as VP
is her long history of grilling Republicans
on live national television.
NEWSWOMAN: California's junior senator is notable
both in biography and her two-year tenure in the Senate.
Supporters hail Harris' rapid-fire questioning.
NEWSMAN: Senator Harris being possibly
the best prosecutor the Senate has ever seen.
Can you think of any laws that give government the power
to make decisions about the male body?
I'm not aw-- I'm not aw--
thinking of any right now, Senator.
Has the president or anyone at the White House ever asked
or suggested that you open an investigation of anyone?
Um...
I wouldn't-- I wouldn't, uh...
Yes or no?
Senator, I'm very sensitive about time,
and I'd like to have a very lengthy conversation
and explain that all to you.
-I-I tried to do that... -Can you give me a yes or no answer,
-please? -...in the closed briefing.
Well, it's not a short answer, Senator.
-The answer... -It-it is. Either you are willing
-to do that or not. -Well...
-So when they're instructed... -Can you let me finish once,
-Senator? -Excuse me. I-I'm asking the questions.
-I do want you to be honest. -And I'm not able to, uh,
be rushed this fast.
It makes me nervous.
"And when I get nervous,
I start pooping gold coins."
But, yeah, Kamala Harris doesn't mess around, man.
When she's asking you questions,
you're gonna answer those questions.
I just hope she knows how to turn it off
when she's vice president. You know?
She doesn't want to be at a state funeral, like,
"I'm so sorry about your husband.
Where were you on the night he died?!"
So that's Kamala Harris--
prosecutor, senator, and now VP candidate.
And who knows where she'll go from here?
I mean, at this rate, one day,
they might be calling Barack Obama
the previous Kamala Harris.
Wait, does that make sense?