Hold and reflected on her governing principles. Here she is at George Washington university in washington dc. This thing has got to come down lower for me. How are all of you tonight. Happy new year and thankyou for being here. Im less of muscatine and im one of the coowners of politicsand prose bookstore. Thank you. And along with my coowner and husband graham was in the front here and are fabulous wonderful staff, we welcome all of you to tonights event here in our Nations Capital and on the campus of George Washington university. I mention our location because well, think about it. We are at an institution named for our nations first president and we are assembled only blocks from the nurse centers of american government, the white house and congress so what better venue for a conversation with the next guest speaker . Better Kamala Harris spends her days on capitol hill and youre not alone if you think in a couple of years she just might be taking up residence at the other end of pennsylvania avenue. [applause] sense or election to the United States senate in 2016 senator harris has emerged as one of the most exciting and refreshing voices in the Democratic Party and innational politics. The california native who started her career, i know. Im from the bay area two. We went to the same Elementary School not far from each other. She started in the bay area and ran against and defeated a long time incumbent to become District Attorney for San Francisco and won a hardfought race or attorney general of california and was elected to a second term in 2014. Two years later she was elected to the United States senate to represent the biggest most raucous, most diverse constituency in the country. With her she brought to washington or legal, prosecutorial and political chops. Lets just say that the Senate Judiciary committee on which she serves and the senate as a whole have never quite been thesame. Thank goodness. Thank goodness. Now with the 20 20 president ial campaign gearing up senator harriss name appears on every list short and long of potential democratic candidates. Andwhy is that . Shes proven throw out her career to be a joyful warrior as she puts it, willing to take on big corporations, fight to protect the Affordable Care act, work to raise the minimum wage and make education more acceptable and reform the criminal justicesystem and who stands more sharply in contrast to the presidency of Donald J Trump . Senator harris is a woman, a woman of color, a daughter of immigrants, a political leader who understands better than most how the dynamics of gender, race, class and ethnicity are playing out in our society inthe 21st century. You might even say senator harris is the best face of america in the 21st century. An america that values inclusion, tolerance, decency, and rights and respect for the rule of law. Someone uniquely situated to solve the challenges and to seize the opportunities of our diverse country and our diverse worldtoday. Before i get too carried away let me remind everyone here including myself and senator harris has not entered the president ial race. At least not yet and decides that the Iowa Caucuses and New Hampshire are still three months away and she is here tonight wearing an altogether different hats than the one she wears in her day job. Hes here as an author and because shes an overachiever she couldnt just publish one book this week, she published two. One of them being a book for super for children called superheroes are everywhere. And in a moment shell tell you about the other book he published this week is for adults and installed the truths we hold, off the presses this week. Its the story of a life rooted in social activism, civic engagement, Public Service and multiculturalism and family rituals like sunday dinner she still cooks every week making chili, beef stew, blackeyed peas, swordfish to name a few of her favorite dishes in case you ever want to go and crash her sunday dinners. Ill say no more about her book knowing you have a copy in your hands and you can start reading it the minute you get home tonight i hope you will do. Were also so delighted tonight that jonathan, pulitzer prizewinning opinion writer and frequent Television Commentator on politics and social issues will be in conversation with senator harris. Jonathan has generously and graciously moderated a few author discussions for politics and prose and there is no better interlocutor than he. We are so lucky whenever he set foot on stage to share his questions and insight and i hope you will join me out in welcoming senator Kamala Harris and jonathan tothe stage. [applause] it was a moment. Senator harris, thank you very much were being here. For choosing washington to be the kickoff of your book to her. For actually to be correct, books to her. As we see. The truths we hold an American Journey and also superheroes are everywhere. Im going to focus on the truths we hold and im going to focus on something that happens before even page1. And i want to clear it up for anyone who might have done this or is still doing this despite hearing it sent directly, its the first time. Pronounce your name. Kamala. Think of a punctuation marker, and then add a laugh and there you go. What does kamala mean . Its a traditional classic indian name and it derives from sanskrit and it means the lotus flower. And its very prevalent in a lot of asian cultures and the idea, the symbolism is the lotus flower sits on water but it never really gets wet. The water beads off of and so the idea that one can be in the midst of chaos or be in the midst of something happening and be there and should be there and it doesnt necessarily need to penetrate you but and equally important, it roots in the mud meaning it is grounded and one must always know where they comefrom and can still be this thing. [applause] now i need you to pronounce another name for me. Which for the life of me i couldnt do it and that is the name of your mother. Shyamala. Tell us about your mom or as you call her mommy. We always called her mommy. Im not embarrassed to say she is mommy. And she is in many ways the reason i wrote the book. Mysister of mine is here. My mother is one of her best friends from college is here, which i write about in the book and my mother was a force of nature. A real force of nature. She is someone all five feet of her if after you met her you would have thought she was seven feet tall. My mother what my mother was a truth teller. She was probably the smartest, toughest and most loving person ive ever known. She raised her daughters a belief that we could do and be anything. The way things have been we should all be in pursuit of being more relevant. And that is who she is and was. Your father, donald, also in immigrants, born in jamaica. An economics professor at stanford . Correct. Spin it keep in mind she comes from some brainiac parents. Your mom got your phd or the year you were born. Correct. Just putting that out there. Now your dad comes from jamaica. My father was equally brilliant, and is. He was that National Scholar in jamaica. He earned his way up and out and came to the United States to berkeley to study economics. And my parents met when they are active in the Civil Rights Movement. Its an interesting story, because as you know my mother graduated college when she was 19. What did i tell you . [laughter] and so she said something to my grandfather who was one of the Freedom Fighters in india for indias independence. My mother was the eldest of four children. And a girl obviously. She said to my grandparents she wanted to study science. And she wanted to go to it was considered one of the best schools and that was uc berkeley. And my grandparents looked at her and said okay, we will put you on a plane and you can go to a place youve never been, at 19 years old. This was in the neck 1959. While. So this girl, this young woman got on a plane, encouraged by her parents to go and pursue her dreams. Now, the back stories also that it was totally expected she would get that degree and go back and have a good arranged marriage. [laughter] [laughter] but of course my mother having been raised in being who she was said naturally when she got to berkeley was immediately attracted to the Civil Rights Movement. Thats where she met my father. When you think that was . I want to say she met my father and decided to have a love marriage in a marriage based on love which i believe is the ultimate act right . The question i interrupted your statement with, why do you think she was so attracted to the Civil Rights Movement . Guest she was raised. And growing up blue go back to india like every other year. And so i know the family that raised her. Because they help to raise us. And it was always about fighting for independence. It was about fighting for justice. It was about fighting to make sure all people had a say in their future. In their government. An equal say. And that was in her blood. And of course thats what the Civil Rights Movement was about. And the free speech movement. There are some funny stories part i was sharing with some backstage, i witnessed this as about in the book for my strollers i view. There is this family luncheon funny family story that my mother is marching with aunt marion, uncle freddie and she would tell the story about how they were marching for this is when strollers didnt have armrests and seatbelts. [laughter] so they are marching away. And shouting and all of that. And i think it was my uncle freddie, look down, looked in the story which was empty. [laughter] and said wheres, la. And apparently they left me a block behind. I apparently had fallen out of the stroller. And then my mother tells a funny story about how one day i was fussing and she thats much cuter when she would tell the story. So she would look down at me and she would say come alone when you want. What he what i look back up at her and i would say freedom. [laughter] [laughter] i wanted to hear you say freedom. Oh yeah. I wanted to talk about your father, economics professor, stanford, at berkeley. Have you and maya, you love going to the park. Yes. And your mom was pregnant would put limits on you and how far you can go and whatever. And your dad would say to you run. Run kamala run. Thats right he would say do not be afraid. Let her go, let her run. You run as fast as you can. You run as far as you want. And i believe that his wanted to say dont be afraid, dont be fearless and run, and run, and do not be afraid of falling. Do not let anyone stop you. Guest theres a question youre from the audience that i want to get in and we are talking about your parents. In particularly your mother. And since you did not write your name done a few here the question just say. I do think this is relevant for the person asked how has being half Indian American shape your identity and political views . Guest i was born who i am. I would say that the influence, the indian influence on my life is really, a lot of it is based on what i describe in terms of the experiences that i had in india. And the family that i come from was very active. And i know that. India is not one of the oldest if not the oldest democracy in the world. So the idea of debating and discussing what it means to be a democracy. You know my grandfather, i was the oldest grandchild he convinced me i was his favorite. But i now know each of us were his favorites. By the time i was six, seven, eight years old he had retired. We would go visit with them. My grandfather would have a routine every morning of taking a walk with his friends and buddies who were also retired, these old men who would take their walk in the morning and discuss the glory days and talk about politics. It was a great honor. People in the family and id hold his hand as he would walk with his buddies. Talking about an honest government. The need to wipe out corruption. A representative government. And i realized later how much i absorbed and influenced me. And so that was a lot of the influence in addition to being a culture as i have experienced it is very welcoming culture it is without judgment. Its about really understanding the things that one must aspire to be. One of the highest callings you can have tba studied and learned person. Money is not a money that someone aspires to. Its about knowledge. I think thats very noble aspiration. Host im going to fastforward here. Again since we are in washington, home of your Alma Mater Howard University thank you. [laughter] [applause] you are also also known as. Guest yes i am. And my fans are in the room as well. [laughter] see when you are a west coast girl, bay area, why howard . Guest a lot of my family members went to how howard. And talk about in my book. Thank you. And so i have family members going to howard. And growing up there till wonderful stories. But also grew up at the young age wanting to be a lawyer. And the heroes among the many in the Civil Rights Movement were the lawyers. Charles hansen, others. They were the ones that took the passion from the streets and translated it into the courtrooms of our country. And to the noble work of reminding folks of the thing that we dont seem to constantly to be reminded of and that is backed break point that we are all equal and should be treated that way. One of my hear you enjoyed here as was marshall another example of a great howard graduate. We can keep going. [laughter] and so for all of those reasons i dreamt of going to howard. I wanted to go to howard and i did go to howard. And thankfully i did. [cheering] and dw is also a good school. [laughter] host more to the point of howard. You do right with such reverence for the university. You right at howard you would come as you were and leave as the person you aspired to be. There were no false choices. We werent just told we have the capacity to be great, we were challenged to live up to that potential. Guest thats right. At howard its interesting jonathan, you remember because we ran into each other about 2008 during that election cycle. I was an early supporter of president obama when he first ran. She remember that conversation that would happen about is he enough . You remember that . And i was us arrogant. I remember having doing a few interviews. In response to that request and at Howard University. This is what i would say. One, when you ask that question, when one asks that question are displaying your lack of exposur exposure. Two who is a black person and what a black person can be and is. So i would explain. , i would explain what it means to stand on the yard at Howard University and i would say, now the yard is an area that is covered in grass in the middle of campus. And it is where we would go at least when i was there on friday afternoons everyone dressing up or theres no such thing as dressdown davis dress update. And we would all promenade. And people would display their feathers as a peacock. And this is what i would say. So if you stood on the arch any day of the week, journals whoever you may be. You could look over there and you would see young black students in the Fine Arts Department perhaps testing out there. Stances are Musical Instruments he would look over there and see young africanamericans and white coats, lab coats coming from the school to get my point people walking up briefcases from the school of business. You would see that the football star was also on the debate team. You would see that the homecoming queen was also an extraordinary science student. You would see that there are no limitations. And there are no choices in terms of false choices that one need make. And so you shouldnt be limited in your view expected of who you are and what is what. When you have an experience of going to school like Howard University, especially during those very formative years of 18 through 24. We all left home we were at the point of really grant our identity, who are we going to be in this world how would the world perceive us . The beauty of being at howard, and i hope that everyone has an experience similar is to learn and have it reinforced. You can be and learn and do anything you want you do not need to conform to anyones inbox about who you are supposed to be. Suet i wish id met you sooner. Switch i went to sorority when i was in howard. I was on debate team. [inaudible] i was on the debate team, i was the chair of the economic society. I went to my share of parties,. [laughter] but you didnt have to make choices. Host c wanted to be a lawyer when you were interning here at the university youd go over to the Supreme Court, you go on about the beauty of the Supreme Court building in houtz the most beautiful of the highest that you visited around the world. But when you went to your family and said im going to be a lawyer but im not just going to be a lawyer i am going to be a prosecutor. Folks probably thought you lost your mind. A prosecutor . Given freedom. [laughter] what did you say to them when they asked . Youre right. Many of then defend my position and what i said then is what i frankly maintain today, after a career as a Law Enforcement and as a prosecutor, i prosecuted everything including homicides when i was a lawyer. I was elected d. A. For two terms. I was the attorney general for two terms. Thats often known as a top cop in the big estate in the country. What i will tell you is that what i said then when i tried to live in the careers of prosecutor is the understanding that in that role you have the power to be the voice of the most vulnerable among us. And an equally important i would have power to make these decisio