In the past, I will admit (with the exception of Barack Obama as the first Black President), the Presidential Inauguration was always an important event in my eyes, but not one that I carefully tuned into. I remember for the last election, in particular, the Inauguration was somewhat sad and an event that caused me to have feelings of anything but hope. As a Black woman, these past 4 years have been filled with watching traumatizing events happen around me to my counterparts, a fear of driving, running, walking, or even living in America, and overall hopelessness for this country and especially for those who looked like me. This year, things finally looked brighter. With Joe Biden as President and Kamala Harris as Vice President, I look to our government and finally see hope for a better future. With Kamala Harris as our VP, I finally see someone who looks like me in a high position of the government. A graduate of an HBCU, an AKA, a Black woman, and a South Asian woman, Kamala represents an image of someone who by society’s standards, should not be where she is. Nonetheless, she is. This in itself is a huge step for America and a source of inspiration for women everywhere. This Inauguration is by far, one of the most important ones yet and it represents a new era and paves the way for people of color and women in this country to follow. I cannot wait to see what the next 4 years will hold and what Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will accomplish in office. I also cannot wait to see America grow in many ways over the next several years. I look forward to the day when seeing a woman of color in the office is not abnormal and when hopefully, a woman of color is elected as president herself. But until then, I am proud to be a part of a generation that has a woman of color as VP and to watch boundaries be broken around me.
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at St. John's chapter.