Member-only story
Culture Diary: Kamala Harris and Sweeping Those Tiny Shards of Glass Under the Rug
This weekend marked the end of a historic (and harrowing) election. Democrats (and reasonable people) everywhere breathed a sigh of exhausted relief on Saturday when the race was finally called for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. I was in the middle of grocery shopping. I restrained myself from doing a celebratory dance in the bread aisle.
Joe Biden was not my preferred candidate. Neither was Kamala Harris, though she was a close second to my fave, Elizabeth Warren, early in the primaries. But watching his victory speech, as well as his childlike wonder at the entire occasion, endeared him to me. I mean, also, he’s the alternative to a literal garbage dump of a person, so he doesn’t need to do much at this point.
There were a few reasons this election was historic: it took place in the midst of a global pandemic; there was a record turnout of voters; most voting took place by mail; and finally, a woman reached the highest office a woman has reached in American history. And she’s a Black, Asian-American daughter of immigrants—her mother Tamil Indian and her father Jamaican—to boot. That’s a BIG FUCKING DEAL.
So why do I feel like it’s not being celebrated as much as it should be? Granted, I haven’t been reading every news story. I know Harris’ achievement has been acknowledged in nearly every headline about the victory. And yet, I can’t shake the feeling that this historic win has been sublimated by America’s collective relief that we finally got rid of Trump.
I was so emotional when Hillary Clinton lost the election in 2016. Of course, most of my rage and confusion was a direct result of having Trump be the winner more than Clinton was the loser. Still, it felt significant to have gotten my hopes up for the first woman president only to be let down in such a spectacular way. It was a terrible reminder of the misogyny ingrained into this nation, and also, of course, the racism, given Trump’s rise to power. I understand why Clinton was such a polarizing candidate. I know many people hated her. But I liked her. I wanted her to win.
I liked Elizabeth Warren even more. Her loss on Super Tuesday shattered me. I’d been so hopeful, again. And again, I took her loss as a sign that America was…
