How the Shared Heritage of Harris, Haley, and Khanna Shapes Their Politics

These Indian American Leaders Live the Legacy of a Historic Struggle for Independence

On August 15, 1947, my father George Mayer celebrated India’s freedom from 300 years of British colonial rule by flying kites with his friends off Howrah Bridge, over the Hooghly River in Kolkata.

Kites in India are made by delicately attaching colorful tissue paper to dry reeds using lehi, a glue made from boiled white flour. Thin kite strings are made with strong cotton fiber called manja, wrapped tightly around a decorated spindle reel or laddi. As kids taking part in a neighborhood kite fight, we would coat the first few …

It’s the Best and Worst of Times in Oakland

As Presidential Hopeful Kamala Harris Reaches New Heights, Her Hometown Is Filled With Despair

If Dickens were to rise from the grave tomorrow, I bet he’d head straight to the East Bay.

Because we are watching a tale of two Oaklands.

One Oakland is advancing on …

California Has Got This, America

Kamala Harris Survived San Francisco and the Golden State. She’s Ready for Three Months Against Trump

Don’t worry, America.

We got this.

By “we,” I mean California.

By “this,” I mean this presidential election.

And by “got,” I mean that we are sending you the best possible candidate to weather …

Come Home, Kamala

The Vice Presidency, Under Biden, Is a Lose-Lose Proposition. And the California Governorship Is About to Be Open

Come back, Kamala. Come back.

Back to California, where you might have a future.

Away from Washington, D.C., where they will never give you a fair shake.

You’re politically trapped. You’re the unpopular …

What Does Kamala Harris’s Rise Say About America? | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

What Does Kamala Harris’s Rise Say About America? 

The Vice President’s Political Career Is a ‘California Story,’ Says Biographer Dan Morain 

The inauguration of Kamala Harris was a moment of many firsts—the first woman, the first Black woman, the first woman of color, the first person of South Asian heritage, even …

How to Teach an American Inauguration | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

How to Teach an American Inauguration

Since 2008, My College Students Have Been Exploring—in Real Time—What the Transfer of Power Ceremony Reveals About the Nation

“Wouldn’t it be cool to go to D.C. for the inauguration?” I remember telling a fellow adjunct instructor in late 2008. Barack Obama had just been elected, and most of …