The year of 2020 has been hard on most of the people across the United States. We have been met with incredible challenges that have tested the faith of our entire country.
From time to time, we often wondered if we could take anymore. With lost jobs, wages, family and friends, it seemed like it could not get any worse.
We thought we had seen the worst when Donald Trump was elected the 45th president of the United States. We dealt with increased bigotry, racism, and sexism. Trump changed the tax code and removed critical improvements that took our country years to achieve. The future for many of us looked bad enough to consider leaving the country we love. But there was the 2020 election coming that could change everything if Joe Biden and Kamala Harris could win. Trump’s supporters made this task seem impossible. Many wondered if it is possible to outlast Trump’s supporters and return our country to normalcy.
Well, the country has spoken and on Saturday, November 7, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris were announced as the winners of the 2020 presidential election.
All seems right with the world again. We might be able to go back to sleeping all night. We might be able to salvage some of the things that were destroyed over the last four years.
But it actually gets even better than what we expected. Choosing to elect our country’s first female, African-American vice-president does more than
restore hope. We are getting to live and experience a moment in time that could change our lives forever.
The story of Kamala Harris is a wonderful one. Born to a mother who immigrated to the United States from India at the age of 19, Kamala Harris knows what it means to work hard.
Harris attended Howard University, a historically black college in Washington, D.C. While at Howard, she interned as a mailroom clerk for California senator Alan Cranston, chaired the economics society, led the debate team, and joined Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority. Harris graduated from Howard in 1986 with a degree in political science and economics.
In 1990, Harris was hired as a deputy district attorney in Alameda County, California, where she was noted as being “an able prosecutor on the way up.” In 1994, California Assembly Speaker Willie Brown, who was dating Harris at the time, appointed her to the state Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board and later to the California Medical Assistance Commission.
In 2015, as California’s Attorney General, Harris secured two settlements with Comcast. One totaling $33 million, over allegations that it posted online the names, phone numbers, and addresses of tens of thousands of customers who had paid for unlisted voice over internet protocol (VOIP) Another settlement for $26 million resolved allegations that Comcast discarded paper records without first omitting or redacting private customer information.
Harris also settled with Houzz over allegations that the company recorded phone calls without notifying customers or employees. Houzz was forced to pay $175,000, destroy the recorded calls, and hire a chief privacy officer, the first time such a provision has been included in a settlement with the California Department of Justice.
As Vice-President, what can we expect from Harris? Female leaders around the world tend to have better economies, better healthcare for their citizens, and higher approval ratings.
Harris and Joe Biden will bring a renewed faith to a fragile country that things might get better. Historically, Blacks have suffered under both Democrats and Republicans, but something feels different this election.
Blacks and the Black Lives Matter movement deserve all the praise for putting Biden and Harris in the White House. In 2021 we are looking for more than promises.
We will be watching very closely what these two do with our votes. We have proven that our votes count. What the new administration does with our vote will determine if we did the right thing or not. Only time will tell.
