Since July, I have done countless hours of phone banking and educating people on the importance of voting. Today, I can say the hard work has paid off. Not only has young voter turnout drastically increased in this election, but in a sense, we have corrected a few of our wrongdoings. I was absolutely devastated in 2016 when Pennsylvania went red in favor of Donald Trump. Now, we are a proud blue state that helped win this election for Joe Biden. Pennsylvania won this election.
What is even more remarkable than just flipping Pennsylvania, this country has flipped Wisconsin and Michigan which also went red in 2016. We are also on track to flip Georgia and Arizona. To see the country come together to hold this current president accountable for his actions over the past few years is a remarkable sight. We have decided collectively that – enough is enough.
I won’t lie. I was fearful that we may have to endure another four years of the Trump administration. I was afraid that this country would allow racism, homophobia, transphobia, and sexism to continue to infect this country. I was afraid of what this meant for not just myself as a queer woman in America, but for my immigrant friends, my black friends, my trans friends, my gay friends, my brown friends, my Native American friends, and everyone else that has felt as if they have been pushed o the side by this administration.
However, the mayor of Oakland, California, Libby Schaaf, said it best, “it is like a whole new world.”
We are in a whole new world because not only is Joe Biden our president-elect, but Kalama Harris will be our new vice president.
What does this mean? The White House is beginning to look like America. We once had a president that represented our America when Obama was in office. However, with Kamala, we are getting a true representation of today’s America by having a black, south Asian woman in office. Her life journey is much like many in this country who have had to overcome adversity and bias to get where she is today.
I have learned that politics is only effective when all voices are added to the discussion table. As a woman, she has helped break the glass ceiling for female politicians. Hillary Clinton had broken the ceiling by being the Democratic nominee in the 2016 presidential election. However, now, we have a woman in the second highest leadership position in the country. Little girls across the country are watching the news, seeing that it is possible for a woman to be vice president. And hopefully one day, we will see our first female president.
Too many legislations in this country are written in the frame of protecting men. Without females in office, we lose an important aspect of the life experience of Americans. Women make up 51.1% of the U.S. population. How are we able to progress as a democracy if we are excluding over half of the population from discussions? We have already seen a rise in women in political office since the 2018 midterm elections, but we are only continuing to add more women to Capitol Hill and now the White House. I am extremely eager to see who Biden thus picks to fill cabinet positions as he seems to be aware of the diversity this country has and wants to truly represent the American people.
Additionally, besides being a woman, Kamala also represents two minorities in this country that have been historically marginalized. She is the face of the “American” dream that you do not have to be white to be successful. The United States, unfortunately, is a country that continues to uphold institutional racism. White people have had a greater advantage in terms of healthcare, education, employment, etc. It is time to make it an equal playing field, and I firmly believe Kamala Harris can do that with Joe Biden by her side.
Representation is so crucial to uplift repressed groups of people. It gives hope that things are possible to accomplish, that your skin color is not the determining factor of who you are as a human being. The qualities and qualifications of an individual go far beyond just physical appearances. Also, we need to apply more of an intersectional lens to society as not everyone’s experience is the same. We need to be aware that people are made up of multiple identities. Until we dismantle prejudice and the patriarchy, we will continue to see harmful bias and stereotypes with racism, sexism, etc. affecting people daily.
However, this is a new leaf. We are taking a step to bring justice to many Americans that have been denied it for so long. We are saying yes to a better tomorrow for everyone, not just white men. We are placing values back on all human lives and calling out bad behavior by corrupt people in power. In my opinion, this is the best way to start to close 2020 and looking forward to the start of 2021.