Chicago: On the final night of the Democratic National Convention, Kamala Harris’ great-nieces took the stage to provide a tutorial on pronouncing her name. Actress Kerry Washington introduced the girls, noting that some people either struggle or pretend to struggle with pronouncing the future vice president’s name.
“It’s come to my attention that there are some folks who struggle — or pretend to struggle — with the proper pronunciation of our future president’s name. Confusion is understandable. Disrespect is not. So tonight we are going to help everyone get it right,” the actor said before the two children walked on to a cheering crowd. This moment preceded Kamala Harris’ historic speech, with the crowd cheering as the children began their tutorial.
Out came eight-year-old Amara in a pink pant suit and six-year-old Leela in a light blue frilly dress,daughters of Kamala Harris’ niece Meena Harris.
“First you say ‘comma’ like the comma in a sentence,” Amara said.
“Then you say ‘la’ like la-la-la-la-la,” added Leela.
“OK, let’s practice,” Washington said.
Amara pointed stage left and said, “Everybody over here say comma!”
Leela turned to stage right and said, “Everybody over here say la!”
The United Center roared in response — “Comma! La!”
Some of the speakers at the Democratic National Convention have stumbled over Harris’ first name, including former President Bill Clinton who said it as “CAM-UH-LA” in his speech on Wednesday night.
Others played it safe. When Leon Panetta spoke, a reporter spotted that the teleprompter said “Comma-la.”
Republican candidate Donald Trump has relished opportunities to mangle the pronunciation, which Democrats describe as a sign of disrespect.
He usually says “Kah-MAH-la.” When asked why, Trump said last month that he had heard Harris’ first name said “about seven different ways.”
“I said, ‘Don’t worry about it, it doesn’t matter what I say,,’” Trump said. “I couldn’t care less.”
Video: Kamala Harris’ Grandnieces’ Teach How to Pronounce Her Name world-news World News | Latest International News | Global World News | World News Today
