Inauguration Day: Herstory is Our Story
Photo credit to google images under Creative Commons licenses
A day of history and hope. These are words from the 46th President of The United States of America Joseph R. Biden, as he gave his first Inauguration address on January 20th, 2021. For the first time in American History we have observed our first female Vice President take an oath into a national office. She is a woman of African and Asian descent being a child of a jamacian father and an Indian mother. What Kamala Harris symbolizes is so much bigger than anyone could have imagined. She is one of the biggest examples of representation today. This is not playing out in a movie or a book but in real life, in real time. America has allowed us to witness this remarkable occasion across every media outlet known to man.
While Shirley Chisholm made history as being the first black woman in congress, Harris is continuing that legacy of Black Girl Magic breaking the glass ceiling. Let us also acknowledge the symbolism of the suffrage movement today. We’ve seen that acknowledgement made with Former First Ladies Michelle Obama, Hillary Clinton, Senator Elizabeth Warren and now with our current Vice President of United States America. This symbolism takes us back 117 years ago. What an honor it is to see these powerful women paying homage to the women of 1903 who paved the way for this to be possible; when the suffrage movement was founded. In absence of the women of 1903, perhaps women of today would have experienced bigger challenges.
As Biden said in his speech, America has “risen to the challenge.” This has shown in the results that exceeded Donald Trump's by 7,058,637 votes. Step one was showing up at the polls for the Biden/ Harris campaign. The next step is to persist and insist that voices are heard for the betterment of our country. Americans are hoping to cash in on promises made during their campaigns to push for change.
Vice President Harris congratulations on your election. Always remember as Shirley Chisholm said, “If they don’t give you a seat at the table bring a folding chair.” Vice President Harris take you seat, it has been duly earned.