The Truths We Hold: An American Journey

The Truths We Hold: An American Journey  by Kamala Harris         Audio Book: 9 hrs.,  26 mins    Paperback Book:  512 Pages                   

Kamala Harris is one of the select people on earth who say, “If not me, then who?”    Her mother from India and her father from Jamaica met in college as both were active on campus rallying for civil rights and justice.   They even took Kamala and her sister with them to all the protests and political rallies they attended so Kamala was born to political activism and has made championing civil rights her life’s work.   In her career she has worked in the District Attorney’s office for Alameda County and later she herself was elected District Attorney of San Francisco.   She talks about many of the cases she has dealt with and the simple common sense approach that can be applied to most anything in life.   This has served her well in her approach as Attorney General for the State of California, and in her own family dealings.   Coming from two diverse cultural backgrounds, living in a third has served her well in learning how to negotiate with people, corporations, multinational groups and also served to give her a beter grasp of some of the background ethics that can be misunderstood if groups don’t dome together to discuss, embrace and accept multiple viewpoints,   She has fought for justice and transparency in the criminal justice system, implemented training for police officers that address their bias both personal and cultural.   She has served as the second black female senator elected to office and works tirelessly to use her influence with her constituents reform the criminal justice system.    She still has a long way to go, but, feels good that she has gotten the ball rolling in the right direction to bring about significant changes that she will be remembered in historical documentation for.    She fights valiantly on to get the minimum wage increased and her hope and dream is to get the opportunity for everyone to attend college one day tuition free as it is in some other cultures.   Near and dear to her heart is the plight of refugees and how under the Trump Administration she is afraid that a sense of entitlement is growing and fostering hate for foreigners in a if you aren’t like me you must go delimma.   She hates that immigrant mothers and children are being detained and separated as the wall project lingers on and gains momentum.   As the daughter of immigrants herself she works tirelessly to protect the rights of refugees and immigrants.     Her pet project is to try and reduce elementary school truancy because she feels it is a learned behavior that has been growing and contributing more and more to the dropout of highschool students.   She wants to catch the problem early and keep kids in school.   She has never backed up from a fight against injustice where she sees it.   That is what her parents instilled in her and she continues to fight for the immutable rights of the people especially those of society’s less advantaged.   She delivers a great warror’s cry for others to join the fight against injustice on corporate, government and health care fronts.    She appeals to the hero in all of us to rise and join her in making a difference and making the world a better place for your having been here and been involved in the needs of the many as opposed to the power of the few.    Kamala Harris has a very down-to-earth way of talking that draws the reader in.   I would recommend this book to the politically active as well as anyone wishing to be the difference in the world.   Good book on a life well lived.

 - Shirley J.