Tuesday, November 3rd: we anxiously awaited results of the 2020 elections even though we knew it would probably be several days before we found out who would win. I started getting so nervous that I had to start a Hallmark Christmas movie because I couldn't keep looking at the same unchanged map forever.
It felt like we endured a month before finding out on Saturday morning that Joe Biden was the president-elect and Kamala Harris the vice-president elect. This year has been a crazy one to say the least but to have a contentious election on top of a pandemic felt like a fuse was about to go off. And then when we heard the results, and instead of the fuse, it was a huge sigh of relief.
Being the observer, no confrontation person in my family, I don't inherit the passionate politics that some of my siblings have but I love to hear their thoughts. I felt like them that we could not sit idly and not stand up to a man who has no interest but for his own gain. And it made me sick seeing politicians not stand up to him because they knew they would lose their supporters and possibly their seat in Congress. I could not get behind that.
Decency matters. Character matters. Telling the truth matters.
One of my friends here came from South Africa and she has been telling me about the racist culture shift from the Obama to the Trump administration. And how for her, the racist comments have intensified since George Floyd died. About a week before the election, we were having a conversation and she said, "I'm seriously thinking about leaving the country if he wins again." I kind of laughed it off a little but then realized she was dead serious and I had to check myself. I am a white privileged woman with no understanding of her situation. But as a white woman, I need to spend my privilege and use my voice and vote.
This experience has helped me look at this election with new eyes. Yes, people are concerned about a lot of things. And it's good to be. But I'm noticing a community who can't breathe right now. Whoever gets elected doesn't have as much bearing on a white person than it does for a person of color. I felt like I voted for my friend.
I texted her the afternoon that Biden won and she replied that she has been crying all day, happy tears! So when we watched Kamala Harris, the first Black, South Asian woman to be elected the Vice President, give a speech and talk about Black and Brown women, I wept for them. What a victory.
Now the necessary hard work can go on.
I loved your thoughts, Julia. Dad read it, too, and said, "This is well written. Our children are standing up for truth and sharing it." Or something to that effect. I can't imagine what people of color must feel in our country. History in the making!
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