In 2016, I was awoken to the cheers of fans as Donald Trump had accepted his title as 45th president of the United States. I was completely heartbroken and terrified for the future. As a freshman in high school, I was confused and had lost faith in America. Fast forward to 2020 (four years later), I as a freshman in college was awoken to my family telling me Joe Biden had won. This was something that I would not have fathomed as that terrified girl in the ninth grade. This is a day I will remember forever.
It’s official, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have been elected. On Oct. 7th, the nation embraced the news in the streets of Pennsylvania, Atlanta, New York, Washington D.C and even London. The world seemed to be a safer place on that very special Saturday. All the work that those that voted to protect human rights paid off, and it resulted in victory.
This was no ordinary election; it was one that determined the fate of our democracy for the next four years. This election has broken records and has been one of the most monumental elections since Obama in 2008.
Joe Biden has surpassed President Obama’s previous 69,498,516 votes by earning 74,446,452 votes in total. This made Joe Biden become the most voted for presidential candidate ever. Furthermore, the United States will have its very first African-American, AKA soror, HBCU alumna, and female vice president. Proving that the people of the United States went out to insight change and came back with so much more. We not only voted to change our circumstances, but we made history.
The victory was so huge that President Trump is unable to accept his losses. He is claiming voter fraud, suing states, going on firing sprees and refusing to concede. His followers are even contradicting themselves with the chants “Stop the count,” and “Count the votes.” Those that perpetuated bigotry for the past 4 years have no choice but to eventually accept that change has been made.
The efforts of the American people are definitely not going unnoticed. It is important to recognize that all of the protesting, mail-in ballots, in-person votes and marches finally paid off. Also, we must recognize that Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin and Arizona turning blue is a huge achievement. It is also a huge beautiful thing to see young people everywhere continuing to show up for change. These occurrences are a breath of fresh air and prove that there is hope. It finally felt like we were able to let out a sigh of relief for the very first time since Donald Trump was elected in 2016.
The American people are forces to be reckoned with. This should prove what unity and persistence can do. Now, do not get me wrong, this does not solve every issue present in society. It doesn’t even begin to fix the hurts we as a people have felt in the past year, and beyond. However, it gives the American people faith that our country can be changed. We as people have to continue to demand change, and more things like this will follow. This election is the result of our tireless fight as people for better, and that fight will not end here.
I cannot wait for what is yet to come for our nation, and I will continue to fight like hell for our nation to trailblaze like we did this past week. It’s a new era and girl does it feel good.