Oprah Winfrey: From the Redwood Forest to Prevost Williams, a Chicagolann, activist, and policing icon

Winfrey’s presence at the DNC is seen as a major win for the Harris campaign, which is keen to leverage Winfrey’s outsized influence over shaping public opinion — a phenomenon colloquially coined as the “Oprah effect.”

Oprah Winfrey made a surprise appearance at the night’s events and said she was going to jump into the race for the presidency if Kamala Harris is elected.

Adherence and respect are on the ballot in four years. Just plain common sense tells you that there are two people who can give us decency and respect. They’re the ones to give it to us.”

In the past, Winfrey has lived in Mississippi, Tennessee,Wisconsin, Maryland, Indiana, Florida, Hawaii, Colorado, California, and sweet home Chicago. “I have actually traveled this country from the redwood forests — love those redwoods! — to the gulf stream waters. Racist and sexist conduct, income inequality and division are some of the things I have seen. I’ve not only seen it, at times I’ve been on the receiving end of it.”

Human beings, both conservative and liberal, who may not agree with each other, but who still help you in a heartbeat if you are in trouble, is what I’ve observed and experienced more often than not. “These are the people who make me proud to say that I am an American.”

She heralded those who advocated for Americans’ freedoms, from reproductive rights activists, and Black Americans who fought against segregation — such as the late Congressman John Lewis and the late Tessie Prevost Williams, who were both Civil Rights era icons.

One of the New Orleans Four was Prevost Williams, who advocated for the integration of public schools in 1960. That activism, Winfrey said, helped pave the way for Harris to be bused across Berkeley, Calif., in order to attend an integrated public school in the 1970s.

Winfrey has also advocated for protecting voting access for Black women, and founded OWN Your Vote under the Oprah Winfrey Network in 2020 to fight voter suppression across the country.

Both of us have a big thing in common. We were both raised by single Indian immigrant moms who defied cultural expectations to give us a better life in America. Now, ahead of the D.N.C., young voters have embraced Harris for her “brat” energy. [MUSIC PLAYING] I was wondering if the mom was morebrat than she is. I was able to get a better sense of the current movement behind her campaign and how it could be easily deflated if she doesn’t lay out policies that distinguish her from her predecessor. And if you’re not up to speed with the whole “brat” thing, this is how it all began. The Trump campaign came after her for laughing and her biracial identity after Harris became the leading candidate on the Democratic ticket. She was Indian and when she made a turn, she became a black person. “Just be —” The young people rushed to her defense, memeing those very same moments with a lime-green filter in the style of this summer’s hottest pop album, “Brat,” by singer Charli XCX. Kamala is a brat, according to Charli. The campaign was renamed to brat green. If there is a reason why she is a brat, it is her mom. When she left India to go and study in the US in the 1950’s, she wanted to become a doctor, but wanted to marry a man she really liked. That may not seem all that bratty to Americans, but I can’t overstate how rebellious that would have been for someone like Gopalan, who was born to an upper-caste family at a time when women weren’t expected to work and marriages were arranged. She decided to marry a man who was black. And most Indian Americans I know today would tell you that they still have family members who have a deep-seated racism, which is a hangover from caste discrimination, which still exists today. The community of black intellectuals who had fought for civil rights in the US during the 19th century were important in raising her two kids after her divorce. She taught her kids to stand up for history, and that is the most brat thing about her. The story she shared about her mom has become a big hit with the campaign. My mother would tell me to be careful and she didn’t know what was wrong with me and my friends. You think you just fell out of a coconut tree. You exist in the context of all in which you live and what came before you.’” [MUSIC PLAYING] This conveys a deeper meaning of how immigrants hold on to their values as they lay new roots in America to build a better future for both their kids and this country. “Please raise your right hand.” Kamala Harris is named after her. Considering that her mom was the epitome of defiance, the positions she defends as VP from continuing to arm Israel or stopping asylum seekers at the border seem moderate. As Kamala officially accepts the D.N.C. nomination this week, I’ll be watching to see if she’ll pay more than just lip service to her mom’s brat legacy by actually setting out some policies that will distinguish her from her more moderate predecessor. There is a chance that this brat green wave she has been riding might turn jaded very quickly if she doesn’t.