In a landmark speech as vice president-elect, Harris honors the women who paved the way for her victory

11/08/2020 Science, World


By: Express Web Desk | New Delhi |

November 8, 2020 11:24:24 am


Vice President-elect Kamala Harris speaks Saturday, Nov. 7, 2020, in Wilmington, Del. (AP Photo / Andrew Harnik, Pool)

In her first public address as vice president-elect, Kamala Harris paid tribute to the women who paved the way for her historic victory: the suffragettes who fought to secure and protect the right to vote, black women who “are often overlooked but with so often he proved that they are the backbone of our democracy ”, and his late mother, cancer researcher Shyamala Gopalan Harris.

“Tonight I reflect on his struggle, his determination and the strength of his vision to see what can be downloaded from what he has been. And I lean on his shoulders, ”he told thousands of supporters at the Chase Center in Wilmington, Delaware.

Harris, who will become the nation’s first female, black and Asian-American vice president, also praised former Vice President Joe Biden for having the “audacity” to choose her as his running mate. “But while I will be the first woman in this office, I will not be the last,” he emphasized.

The California senator took the stage to Mary J. Blige’s song ‘Work That’, her unofficial campaign theme song, dressed in a spotless white suit. The surprising and unusual choice of color was specifically selected to honor the 20th century women’s suffrage movement that led to the ratification of the 19th Amendment in 1920 and gave women the right to vote.

Last year, several women from the Democratic Party appeared at President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address wearing coordinated white suffragette outfits. They were making more than a fashion statement. “Wearing a white suffragette is a respectful message of solidarity with women across the country and a statement that we will not back down on our hard-earned right,” Democratic Rep. Lois Frankel explained to CNN.

Also in 2017, the House Democratic Women’s Task Force urged women to wear white in a presidential address to show support for women’s issues.

Harris and Biden were projected to be the next vice presidents and presidents of the United States after their apparent victory in the state of Pennsylvania, where they were able to garner 20 crucial electoral votes. With this, they crossed the threshold of the 270 electoral votes they needed to win the presidential race, CNN reported.

“You chose hope and unity, decency, science and yes, the truth!” Harris told the audience on Friday, before introducing President-elect Biden. “Joe is a healer, a unifier, a tried and steady hand. A person whose own experience of loss gives them a sense of purpose that will help us as a nation regain our own sense of purpose. And a man with a big heart who loves with abandon ”.

Shortly after his acceptance speech, Harris tweeted: “Now the real work begins.” He said the road ahead would not be easy, but “America is ready.”

With this monumental victory, Harris will become the highest-ranking woman to serve in the United States government, four years after Donald Trump defeated former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

After Biden-Harris was screened as the winner of the race, she shared a video of her call to congratulate Joe Biden. In the phone conversation, he is heard saying, “We did it Joe! You’re going to be the next president of the United States. “

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