Editorial

A new day for America

For so many who stayed up late on Tuesday night last week  to watch  the results of the United States elections on television, it was indeed a long wait.

But when days later, it was finally announced that Joe and Kamala had won, it was celebration time in our own Caribbean community.

After all, this was a special event .Biden’s running mate was none other the daughter of  a Jamaican economist and Indian medical  researcher. To put it in the vernacular, she is “one  ah we,”

And  as  Joe and Kamala addressed the people of a deeply divided United States at their victory celebration, many Black mothers and their daughters were seen shedding tears of joy. And not just in the United States, mind you.

As Prime Minister Trudeau pointed out, at a news conference on Monday, “for so many people in Canada and around the world, seeing a woman — and a Black and South Asian-American woman — elected as the next vice-president of the United States is an inspiration and a reminder that everyone’s voice belongs in politics.”

An inspiration indeed.

Harris introduced Biden at their victory celebration as “a president for all Americans” who would look to bridge a nation riven with partisanship and she referred  to the historic nature of her own ascension to the vice presidency.

“Dream with ambition, lead with conviction and see yourselves in a way that others may not simply because they’ve never seen it before,” she told Americans.

“You chose hope and unity, decency, science and, yes, truth … you ushered in a new day for America,” she said.

We hope that the message is taken to heart by all Americans

Clearly, the the task ahead will not be easy  for Biden.

Civil rights activists and Black leaders  in the United States have already warned of the rough road ahead in addressing persistent inequalities and the racial division that Donald Trump fueled during his presidency.

When Biden takes office  in January  he will have to deal with a series of crises that have taken  their toll  on Black people, including the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting  job losses.

According to Jessica Byrd, who leads the Movement for Black Lives’ Electoral Justice Project, protesters will be looking for Biden and Harris to address their concerns and create progressive policies to address the root causes of police violence,

Of course, Biden must be aware of the problems which he faces.

As  he noted in his victory speech the other  night, he “seeks not to divide, but to unify.”

And in a message clearly aimed at his political opponents, he said  “it’s time to put away the harsh rhetoric, to lower the temperature, to see each other again, to listen to each other again, to make progress, we must stop treating our opponents as our enemy,”

But racist Trump and his diehard supporters appears not to be listening.

We hope that Kamla Harris is right and that Americans have ushered in a new day for America.

A new day  when unity and racial harmony will prevail.