Brown’s Town in Jamaica’s St. Ann Parish is where Kamala Harris spent many holidays with her family as a child, and has the unmistakable feel of a close-knit rural Caribbean community.
Narrow roads wind through trees and lush vegetation, winding past concrete homes and the rolling hills of the Dry Harbor Mountains.
The town itself becomes busier, with cars honking past colorfully painted shops and the local market that young Kamala often visited with her parents.
The town of 6,000 people was named after Hamilton Brown, an Irish slave who is believed to be the ancestor of Harris’ paternal great-grandmother, Christiana Brown, known in the family as Miss Chrissie.
After leaving the market area, the road reaches the Harris family estate in Orange Hill. Harris’ 86-year-old father, renowned economist Donald Harris, was born in 1938.
Today, the estate includes a quarry and several family homes. But for Harris, it was once a place of adventure and joy, her cousin Sherman Harris recalled, pointing to the spot where they used to play together.
Sherman, who is only a few days younger than the vice president, remembers the Christmas holidays Harris and her sister Maya spent with their family in the Caribbean.
“Maya was a little quieter, but Kamala was more of a tomboy, running and jumping and jumping around in the mountains. Chrissy called her and said, ‘It’s dinner time, come inside. I had to say, “Come in and stop me from jumping over there,” he said.
“And she just tried to do it better because her father encouraged her,” he added.
Sherman said that even as a child, Kamala asked ageless questions and displayed “a deep level of intelligence and thinking that goes far beyond what we are used to at an early age.” .
When he couldn’t get an answer from his co-workers, he said he consulted his father.
Harris speaks fondly of her parents, Donald Harris and Shyamala Gopalan, a biomedical scientist who was born and raised in India, describing her as “a home full of laughter and music, Aretha, Coltrane, Miles.”
She credits her father for believing in her, saying, “At the park, my mother would say, ‘Stay close.'” But her father would laugh and say, “Run, Kamala, run.” . do not be afraid. Don’t let anything happen. ” From an early age, he taught me to be fearless. ”
The New York Times reported this month that the relationship between father and daughter became strained after Harris’ parents divorced in 1972. According to the article, Harris claimed that her father was angry that he did not attend Gopalan’s funeral, and their relationship deteriorated over the years. In 2009.
Sherman dismissed the reported rift as “complete nonsense.”
“We know that, but we don’t fight the issue with people because it’s a losing battle. People have different ideas. On social media, someone said that her father wouldn’t vote for her. “I’ve seen him say he is, but that’s not true. He fully supports her and is happy for her.”
After her parents divorced, Harris’ childhood was spent primarily in Montreal, where her mother taught at McGill University, and California, where her father taught at Stanford University.
“Like many Jamaicans, my father took immense pride in his Jamaican heritage, and he instilled that same pride in my sister and me,” Harris told The Washington Post in 2021. Ta. He taught me the history of where we came from, the struggles and beauty of the Jamaican people, and the richness of our culture. ”
Donald Trump has sought to question Harris’ mixed genetics by falsely claiming that she only identified with her mother’s ethnicity. “She was Indian all her life and then all of a sudden she turned around and left and became black,” he said.
But Sherman-Harris said her cousin’s ties to Jamaica have always been strong, adding: “Jamaicans are certainly proud of her, and Jamaicans should be proud of her.”
Indeed, there was strong support for the Democratic candidate in St. Anne’s Parish. Mayor Michael Belnavis told CNN: “You have to recognize a really good guy who comes from humble beginnings…The Browns Town guy couldn’t be more humble.”
Harris’ accomplishments as San Francisco District Attorney, California State Senator, Vice President, and Democratic presidential candidate were an inspiration to Jamaicans across the island.
“They say it doesn’t matter what your race or background is. You can be anything you want to be as long as you hold your head high, know what you want and go for it.” Jamaica said Alexia White, a journalism student from Manchester. “It makes me really proud to know that she is of Jamaican descent and is making big waves in the United States.”
Some have questioned whether a Harris presidency would actually bring tangible benefits to the country.
“Will she do anything to improve our economy? I don’t know what effect her becoming president will have on Jamaicans,” said architecture student Dana McCallum, adding that Harris He expressed hope that a victory could make it easier for Jamaicans to obtain U.S. visas.
Marlon Hill, a Jamaican-American lawyer who served as Barack Obama’s Florida elector in 2008, cautioned against exaggerating Harris’ ties to Jamaica, saying, “Kamala’s immigration story is unique; “There shouldn’t be a line drawn between whether it’s accurate or not,” he added. Same as our own experience. ”
“Jamaicans want her to be more vocal and visible about their relationship,” he said. I’m running for office, so I don’t know if I’ll be able to get that in this election campaign.
“But what I would like to say is that when she wins, we give her a responsibility to take a keen interest in what she has inherited and how she can use that experience for the benefit of Jamaica.” It’s up to us, as Jamaican-Americans, to decide whether or not to do so.”
Not all Jamaican-Americans are Democrats: Claston Bernard, a Commonwealth Games gold medalist who ran for the U.S. House of Representatives as a Republican in 2021, said that despite Harris’ Jamaican roots, he believes in religious freedom. Citing his own views on the matter, he said he could not support her policies. , Abortion and Wealth Taxes. “Jamaicans are very wary of supporting socialist policies that do not support wealth building, threatening religious worship, or attacking people’s right to bear arms to defend themselves or property. It should be,” he said.
Whatever their views, the November 5 election is expected to be a historic moment for Jamaicans at home, in the United States, and around the world. In the small community of Brownstown, Sherman and other residents will be anxiously awaiting the moment when Kamala will be proclaimed president of the United States.
“I have no doubt that the American people will support her because she has good support,” Sherman said. “She will make history and the Jamaican name and flag will once again be held high. It will be put up!” he added.
