Joe Biden refers to Kamala Harris as 'South Asian', not Indian

While praising his running mate Kamala Harris as a fantastic Vice President US Presidentelect Joe Biden avoided calling her Indian and instead referred to her as South AsianI will be honoured to be serving with a fantastic Vice President Kamala Harris who will make history as the first woman first Black woman first woman of South Asian descent and first daughter of immigrants ever elected to national office in this country he said at a victory rally in his home state of Delaware on Saturday nightRace categorisations recognised by the US government do not include South Asian while Asian Indian is listed officially for people of Indian descentPeople of Indian descent also officially come under the broad category of Asians that includes people from across the continent but there is no South AsianSouth Asian in common and academic use includes Indians Pakistanis Bangladeshis Sri Lankans Maldivians Bhutanese and Nepalese and it is preferred by some progressive Indians in the US who seek an identity that they see as more inclusive than Indian and perhaps more politically correctSometimes in common usage South Asian is used to refer to someone whose national identity cannot be ascertained but has the physical or other characteristics common in the regionHarris spoke of her mother Shyamala Harris Gopalan coming to the US as a 19yearold from India but did not anything about her Indian legacy or use words like chithi younger maternal aunt in Tamil that she mentioned while accepting her nomination as the Democratic Partys VicePresidential candidateShe said her mother maybe didnt quite imagine this moment but she believed so deeply in an America where a moment like this is possible for her daughter to become Vice PresidentHarriss mother was active in the civil rights movement which created equality of opportunityThe Vice Presidentelect said she was remembering her among the ranks of women who fought for equalityI am thinking about her and about the generations of women Black women Asian White Latina Native American women who throughout our nations history have paved the way for this moment tonight Women who fought and sacrificed so much for equality and liberty and justice for allWhen the event at which Biden spoke after her ended they brought their families to the stage at the openair eventHer family reflected the diversity of America with people of Asian Indian African American and Jamaican descent and her White Jewish husband Douglas Emhoff and his two daughters from an earlier marriageHarris introduced her niece Meenas two young daughters to BidenKeep scrolling to read more newsCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates MidDay is now on Telegram Click here to join our channel middayinfomedialtd and stay updated with the latest newsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever