The Biden/Harris presumptive presidential win is a win for young girls of all races across America, mainly because, for too long, we have consistently seen our government filled with strictly white men. When the election was called, social media pages were flooded with videos of young black and brown girls ecstatic to hear the news of the Harris win. People celebrated that a woman will become the next vice president, hoping that she will be a strong and cemented leader for the next generation of politicians and leaders.
Harris will become the first Asian-American, African-American, and female Vice President of the United States. This in itself reaffirms the idea that representation in politics is so important for us because when we see people with the same background as us achieve high positions of government and politics, we understand that we can succeed despite any present societal obstacles.
Vice President-elect Harris is an admirable figure in both the academic and political worlds. First off, she received an educational background at Howard University, an HBCU that has a reputation for crafting future Black leaders. She later attended UC Hastings College of the Law. She then started her career in an Alameda district office, then became District Attorney of the City and County of San Francisco.
After that, she was promoted to California’s District Attorney and sworn into the U.S. Senate in 2017. She was sworn in as the first South Asian-American and the second Black woman in the Senate. Her long history of influential positions gives her a record young girls can look towards and follow.
Despite her notable past, Harris has been criticized for her rulings in a few cases because they do not align with the values she has campaigned with. She has also been somewhat inconsistent on certain political topics like healthcare. While I believe people can change their beliefs and manifest arguments from their past mistakes, teenagers aspiring to become the next leaders must continue to be critical and observant of the Biden/Harris administration to ensure productive change is created.
While younger voters were upset with the selection of Harris, she was aimed at the older generations to gain more votes and appeal to some progressives that share her beliefs. In the grand scheme of things, progression and advancement within politics will come with time and patience.
Kamala Harris’s reputation and spotlight give young women and BIPOC a way to see themselves in the second-highest position of power in the United States. I hope we will stay critical of her to make her a good role model for the millions of young people looking up to her across the country.
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