WASHINGTON
: Outraged over the mispronunciation of Democratic vice-presidential nominee Kamala Harris’ name by a
Republican Senator
from Georgia, her supporters launched an online campaign with the hashtags ‘MyNameIs’ and ‘
IstandwithKamala
’. During a rally of President Trump on Saturday,
Senator David Perdue
mispronounced Harris’ name. “KAH’-mah-lah? Kah-MAH’-lah?
Kamala-mala-mala
? I don’t know,” he said.
The mispronunciation outraged Harris’ supporters and her spokesperson Sabrina Singh said, “I’ll keep it simple: If you can pronounce ‘former’ Senator David Perdue, you can pronounce ‘future’ vice-president Kamala Harris.” A spokesperson of Perdue said the senator mispronounced the name and he did not mean anything by it.
Amit Jani — the Asian American and Pacific Islander Outreach Coordinator of the Biden campaign — launched the ‘My name is’ campaign to “push back against the bigotry”. Several people responded by posting the meaning of their names along with the hashtags. Preet Bharara, former AG for the southern district of New York tweeted, “#MyName is Preet, which means love.”
Democratic Congresswoman Ilhan Omar from Minnesota tweeted, “#MyNameIs Ilham, I prefer Ilhan. It means “Inspiration” in Arabic. My father named me Ilham and inspired me to lead a life of service to others. In his honour I am voting for an inspirational ticket over desperate and maddening one.” According to Erin Wilson, national political director at Biden for President, his name has Irish origin. “All of our names deserve respect,” she said.
Expressing support for presidential nominee
Joe Biden and Harris, Indian-American Congressman Ro Khanna tweeted, “#MyNameIs Rohit, and my friends call me Ro. It means bright light in Sanskrit.” Khanna said in the upcoming election, he will vote for an “inclusive” America by voting for Biden and Harris.
Indian-American lawmaker
Pramila Jaipal
said her name comes from the Sanskrit word “prem”, which means love. “Let’s build an inclusive America. Vote #BidenHarris2020,” she tweeted