Jubilee Post News & Views
Jubilee News Desk
Indian-American elevating to the top positions in many US-based companies is a known factor between the two nations and the prominent names are Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, and Sundar Pichai, CEO of Alphabet.
But just as US presidential elections near in on November 3, the current political scenario has brought a few Indian names in to the top US politics too.
A showdown between Joe Biden-Kamala Harris, and Donald Trump-Nikki Haley is in the offing — both Harris and Haley being daughters of Indian immigrants.
Kamala Devi Harris, a junior senator from California, identifies herself as a black politician because her father, Donald Harris, a Stanford professor of economics, was a black immigrant from Jamaica. However, her late mother, Shyamala Gopalan, was a Tamil Indian from Chennai, India, with whom she and her sister Maya lived after her parents divorced.
US has reported about two lakh covid deaths and people have lost jobs in big numbers, which are two burning issues before the voters and the politicians are taking interest in these issues that touches the voters. The US has been divided a bit over the manner politicians are addressing these issues and the violence that took place in different parts of America.
Names of other women too is in debate from India and Pakistan. Sabina Jafar a Pakistani-American is one among them. She is contesting for the mayor in San Ramon a beautiful city 35-miles from San Francisco. She is vice-mayor at present and is contesting for the mayor position. Her father Raja Shahid was union minister in the Benazir Bhutto government in Pakistan.
Sabina came to the US after marriage and settled in San Ramon that has a population of about 80000. She says San Ramon has 52% black and this has happened in the past 15-20 years. She is the first Asian American to have made a place in the city council here in 2018 and then was made deputy mayor in 2019. She had started with social service.
Another name is Nevada Alumnae Radhika Kunnel a candidate for Assembly District 2. Radhika is currently pursuing a law degree at UNLV Boyd School of Law. Before this, she was a tenured Associate Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Cancer Institute at the University of Mississippi Medical Center and Department of Pharmacology and Cancer Institute at Tulane University of Health Sciences.
She received her Ph.D. in Cancer Biology from Louisiana State University Health Science Center and Post-doctoral fellowship in adult stem cell biology and regenerative medicine from Tulane University of Health Sciences. She was instrumental in developing non-embryonic stem cell core at both Tulane and UMMC. Her research interest was to establish personalized therapeutics for solid tumors by targeting the tumor stroma and cancer stem cells. She has co-authored more than 60 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters.
She took to social service and politics after 9/11 attacks. “After the attacks the nrighbours became unfriendly. They stopped talking to us. That made a big impact upon me and I decided we should have a representation,” she said.
Meet, Farrah Khan also. She is the first Muslim woman to ever earn a spot on the Irvine, California, City Council, and now she is looking for the position of mayor in the Southern California city. Khan won her city council seat in the 2018 election.
I have been involved in community work in Irvine and OC for the past 15 years and have built relationships, she says. Over her two years in the city council, Khan explained that it’s been an interesting time and definitely a learning experience.
Through that, she says she has enjoyed working with the community and helping them. She stressed that it’s so important for residents and businesses of Irvine to know that they have a representative that is responsive and is working on their behalf.
Padma Kuppa, a Democrat, is a member of the Michigan House of Representatives from the 41st district which includes the city of Troy. Kuppa is an Indian-American. She is the first Indian immigrant and Hindu in the Michigan Legislature. She has been named Assistant Whip in Michigan. Kuppa is currently President of the Troy Historical Society and a board member of the Michigan Round-table for Diversity and Inclusion.
Kuppa, is a former engineer for Chrysler Corp. and the city of Troy. She worked as Troy’s Planning Commissioner for more than two years. Padma Kuppa (D) defeated Doug Tietz (R) in the general election for Michigan House of Representatives District 41 on November 6, 2018. Kuppa serves on the Energy Committee and the Local Government & Municipal Finance Committee. She is a founder of the Troy-area Interfaith Group. She won in 2018 and is again in the political field.
