To A Brighter Tomorrow
It’s a new day in America. January 20th, 2021 brings a plethora of thoughts and emotions to the forefront of my mind. On this day, Joe Biden becomes the 46th President of the United States, and alongside him will be Kamala Harris, the first female Vice President of the United States. Joe Biden stands as a stalwart of politics, holding office for almost 50 years (some see that as a bad thing — in our current climate, I see it as welcoming). Joe also stands as a symbol of overcoming tragedy and adversity — from the tragic loss of his first wife Neilia and one-year old daughter Naomi in the early 1970s, to loss of his beloved son Beau to cancer in 2015. Kamala Harris is a symbol in her own right — beyond being the first female Vice President of the United States, she will also be the first African American and Asian American Vice President of the United States. In her own words, “I may be the first…But I won’t be the last.” One of the things that I believe unites Joe and Kamala is their love of family- I’ve followed Kamala’s niece Meena and Joe’s granddaughter Naomi on Twitter for a few years, and one of the common threads in the Biden and Harris families is how much they value the time they make for and spend with their families. A few months back in an interview, Naomi Biden, along with the other grandchildren, discussed how no matter what her grandfather was doing, whether a major meeting or eating ice cream, if she called, her grandfather would always answer (Joe’s daughter Ashley told a similar story to Jenna Bush Hager the other day as well).
As I look forward to the future, I keep harping back on the old adage, “Rome was not built in a day.” As a nation, we have a lot of work to do and a lot of healing needs to be done. Yesterday, we passed the devastating milestone of 400,000 deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. Over the coming days, weeks, and months, the case numbers and death numbers will continue to rise, and alongside it, I hope the number of those vaccinated increases exponentially. If we hope to return to a re-imagined sense of normalcy in 2021, the Biden-Harris administration needs to confront the pandemic head-on, something the Trump administration has failed to do for months. With voices like Dr. Anthony Fauci, Dr. Vivek Murthy, and Dr. Rochelle Walensky in the room (amongst many others), I am optimistic that the Biden administration will prioritize this crisis.
Criminal justice reform and holding police departments accountable is something that I personally have advocated for for years. I am cautiously optimistic that the Biden-Harris Administration will fight for that same sense of accountability that we are all striving far. Led by one of the most well-respected legal minds in the country, Judge Merrick Garland, the office of Attorney General will have a lot on its plate over the next few years, but I take comfort in knowing that this Attorney General will not be functioning as the President’s personal attorney.
Two weeks ago to the day, almost to the hour, that hundreds of domestic terrorists/insurrectionists/seditionists/faux-Patriots stormed the Capitol and tried to undermine the core of American Democracy, a new hope will be sworn in to power. A vision, built upon the foundation of “Yes We Can,” and a renewed hope for the future, will be sworn in to power. If you think I won’t be holding the Biden-Harris administration accountable, then you just don’t know me. Do I think this administration may tend to be more centrist than progressive? Absolutely. That doesn’t mean I won’t fight for the progressive principles I proudly support.
As the clock strikes 12 on January 20th, 2021, I long for what the future holds. As we look toward the future, it is important to remember that we stand on the shoulders of giants. To help center myself in order to gather my thoughts for this piece, I thought back to the words of three great Americans. First, the late John Lewis wrote in his book, Across That Bridge, “Take a long, hard look down the road you will have to travel once you have made a commitment to work for change. Know that this transformation will not happen right away. Change often takes time. It rarely happens all at once. In the movement, we didn’t know how history would play itself out. When we were getting arrested and waiting in jail or standing in unmovable lines on the courthouse steps, we didn’t know what would happen, but we knew it had to happen.” Change cannot happen overnight, but knowing that there will be a light at the end of the tunnel gives us hope — John Lewis, I salute you. Secondly, the late former President John F. Kennedy said at the Loyola College (Go Hounds!) Annual Alumni Banquet in February 1958, “Let us not seek the Republican answer or the Democratic answer but the right answer. Let us not seek to fix the blame for the past — let us accept our own responsibility for the future.” We have seen the dangers of partisan politics — let’s be better, let’s learn from the past, and use it to shape our future. Lastly, the late Beau Biden once said, “I was struck by the strength and diversity of our country…I was reminded why we as a nation are stronger when everybody has a chance to do their part.”
Here’s to 46.