The Truths We Hold Book Summary

Book Summary

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Brief Summary

Kamala Harris has a long history of working within the justice system to defend marginalized people. As a biracial woman and the child of immigrants and civil rights activists, she knows that the system too often fails people of color. Harris dedicated her career as a public prosecutor to reducing bail, offering alternative sentencing to at-risk and marginalized offenders, and protecting immigrants and sexually-exploited women. She is willing and able to work across party lines to do what is best for her constituents, and will not grab power if it means compromising her principles. She is firmly against Trump’s policies and believes that immigration and healthcare reform are the first steps toward a more equitable America.

About the Author

Kamala Harris is a U.S Senator and former San Franciso district attorney and California attorney general. She was elected to her current position in 2016. In 2019, she became a Democratic candidate for president. In August 2020, she was selected as the Vice Presidential candidate alongside running mate Joe Biden. When she was elected in 2016, Harris became the second African American woman and the first South Asian American woman to serve in the U.S. senate.

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Biography & Memoir

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Key Insights

Vice Presidential candidate Kamala Harris wrote her autobiography to introduce herself to American voters. Her book offers a glimpse at her life as the biracial child of immigrants, her experience as a liberal public prosecutor, and her commitment to protecting the weak as the District Attorney of California. She tells vivid stories about the nuanced nature of the criminal justice system, and the way prosecutors and DAs can protect those in need while upholding the law. Harris also uses her book to talk about the worst offenses of the Trump presidency, and her policies on immigration, healthcare, and Russian interference in elections.

Harris’s early life as the child of two accomplished immigrants prepared her for a career in law.

Harris was born in Oakland, California in 1964. Her parents, Jamaican immigrant Donald Harris and Indian immigrant Shyamala Gopalan, met while studying at UC Berkeley, and were bonded by their shared passion for civil rights. Harris was raised in a biracial household full of jazz records and Indian spices. Her mother, an award-winning vocalist in India, would sing along to her father’s favorite gospel records.

Harris’s parents were both intelligent and accomplished -- her mother was a breast cancer researcher and her father taught economics. But as Harris considered what she wanted to do when she grew up, she knew she didn’t want to follow in her parents’ footsteps. Instead, she looked to the heroes of the Civil Rights Movement - Thurgood Marshall and Constance Baker Motley. Harris decided to become a lawyer, and use her power and knowledge of the law to stand up for the rights of people like herself. She decided to attend Howard University in Washington D.C. and then headed back to her beloved California to graduate from UC Hastings College of Law.

Harris became a public prosecutor to protect the weak and punish serious offenders.

Harris established herself as a prominent player in the legal community while in law school. She became president of the Black Law Students Association and took it upon herself to ensure that she and all other black law students had the same opportunities as their white counterparts. She set her sights on becoming a public prosecutor, despite the reservations of her family. While her parents though of the justice system as merely a tool to marginalize and oppress people of color, Harris saw the role as an opportunity to bring injustices into the court system.

Harris’s philosophy on public prosecution was more nuanced than most. The typical perspective on district attorneys is that they are either hard or soft on crime. There is no room for middle ground. But Harris knew that her mission was different. She didn’t believe that serious crimes should go unpunished. But she refused to punish marginalized people for minor crimes that were the result of unfortunate circumstances, bias, or lack of resources. Rather than taking a single approach to sentencing, Harris decided to offer leniency to those in need - people who, with better luck or a different skin color, might...