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Black GOP Pioneer Has Advice for Kamala Harris

Dora Mekouar

   Michael Steele has an idea of what Sen. Kamala Harris is facing as a
   trailblazer -- the first Black woman and the first American of South
   Asian descent tobe nominated fornational office on the Democratic
   presidential ticket.

   It starts with people having their own version of who they think you
   are.

   "Everyone else has an expectation of what they think you will do, what
   they think you represent," Steele says. "And then,they define it for
   you.So, it is a challenge,because people begin to see you through a
   lens that they have sort of created for themselves."

   Steele knows all about breaking barriers. In 2002, he became the first
   Black person elected to statewide office in Maryland, where
   hewaslieutenant governor from 2003 to 2007. In 2009, Steele became
   theRepublican National Committee'sfirst Blackchairman.

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