Kamala Harris is BOTH Indian and Black. That Matters to Me and My Children.

I found out that Kamala Harris was the Democratic VP nominee when The New York Times hit my iPhone with a push notification.

Senator Harris was the “1st Black Woman on a Major Ticket.”

That’s true and certainly something to be noted and celebrated.

But it also hurt.

A lot.

Kamala Devi Harris is the child of an Tamil mother from India, Dr. Shyamala Gopalan, and a Black father from Jamaica, Dr. Donald Harris.

Of course, the New York Times later changed its headlines to reflect that Kamala Harris would be the first VP candidate of South Asian descent on a major party ticket as well. But that initial cut ran deep for me.

I know headlines are not easy to write.

There’s only so many words that can go in.

But this announcement wasn’t totally a surprise. Surely, the Times had canned headlines ready to go as soon as the announcement was made.

And that’s what made it hard.

It’s hard to feel like history was being made for all of us in just one way, to the exclusion of some of us who knew that history was being made in still another way.

None of this is to make this a competition—none of this is about celebration of one event to the exclusion of another.

It’s a non-zero sum situation—nobody has to lose for others to win here.

It’s just that we don’t want our historical moments in this country to be erased.

Had the Times headline remained uncorrected, it obviously wouldn’t have changed the pride that the South Asian American community takes in knowing that one of us made it to the upper echelons of American politics.

But for me, and for my children, it would be great if the Times could have reminded its readers—the first time around—why we, too, are celebrating like the Desi* VP nominee.

As a South Asian American friend of mine told me, “Now I finally get to say: Vote Desi.”

*If you don't know, now you know.