There’s No Excuse for Mispronouncing ‘Kamala’

Photo: SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images

The Democratic National Convention is officially over. While Beyoncé didn’t make an appearance, the final night did include speeches from Kamala Harris and many members of her family, including her sister, Maya Harris, her stepdaughter, Ella Emhoff, and her niece, Meena Harris. But the most charming speakers of the night were Meena’s daughters — and Kamala Harris’s grandnieces — Amara and Leela Ajagu. The two girls, 8 and 6, came onstage with Kerry Washington to teach everyone, once and for all, how to pronounce their great-aunt’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,” Washington told the crowd. She then brought out her two expert guests to help. Introducing themselves as Amara and “Leela, her little sister,” they told the adoring crowd they were there to “teach you how to say our auntie’s name.” They broke it down in the simplest way possible. “First you say ‘Kama,’ like a comma in a sentence,” said Amara. “Then you say ‘La,’ like ‘la-la-la-la-laaa,” Leela finished. They led the crowd in a few rounds of “Comma! La” before swiftly and cheerfully exiting the stage.

Absolutely no notes! Hopefully, that was straightforward enough for the guy watching at home who keeps calling her “Camilla.”