First South Asian woman elected lieutenant governor in U.S.
Aruna Miller, 58, was sworn in as the 10th lieutenant governor of the state on Wednesday.
The Hyderabad-born Miller has created history by becoming the first Indian-American politician to be elected as the lieutenant governor of the US state of Maryland.
Lieutenant Governor shares Her Memories
Miller shared the story of her arrival from India and made a special mention of her unforgettable first day of school during her oath-taking ceremony.
“None of them looked like me. And I couldn’t speak a word of English, but I wanted to fit in. So when we went to the cafeteria, I had a plan. I was going to do exactly what everyone else was doing,” Miller said in her speech.
Recalling her old memories, “So I ate American food for the first time. I drank cold milk for the first time in my life. I was feeling pretty good. I thought okay, I think I went over all these classmates of mine. They’re my friends now. I walked back to the classroom and proceeded to vomit all over the desk. I was mortified. My teacher called my mom who came to pick me up. And I told her I want to go back to grandma who raised me in India,” Aruna Miller added.
Aruna Miller credited her success to her family who had immigrated to the United States from India. Her father, a mechanical engineer for IBM was the first to arrived in the US in the late 1960s as a student before he brought the rest of his family and she arrived in the country in 1972 as a 7-year-old.
The10th lieutenant governor of the state thanked her parents and siblings after taking oath of office. She said, “To my mom and dad who took a leap of faith to come to this country because they believed in the promise of America, to my siblings, you were the best part of my childhood. And I thank you and I love you for always being there.”
Aruna Miller Takes Oath On Bhagwat Gita
Aruna Miller took her oath on the Bhagwat Gita. The newly sworn-in Lt Governor said that as a woman of color she spent most of her life trying to fit into a space that didn’t have her in mind as an immigrant or a woman of color.
Miller who had become a US citizen in her 30s, said, “As an Indian American legislator in a legislature that looked nothing like me. It took me a long time to realize that it was never about needing to fit into a space created by others. It was always about having the courage to be my authentic self in every space.”
Miller spent 25 years working at the local Department of Transportation in Montgomery County, Maryland, to improve the safety of the public and create equitable transportation access.
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She represented District 15 in the Maryland House of Delegates from 2010 to 2018, where she worked to create legislation to invest in STEM education, streamline the regulatory process for small businesses and advocate for working families, survivors of domestic abuse and the environment.
After becoming a citizen of the country in 2000, for the first time she voted in the US presidential election. Gradually, she was pulled towards the politics of the state of Maryland and the country.
Miller’s victory is also due to her popularity among Indian Americans in the state of Maryland where several Republican, pro-Trump supporters came out to extend their support to her.
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