Kamala Harris during her acceptance speech, wearing “suffragette white.”

While we can’t yet say the dust is settling on the 2020 elections, we are beginning to see the end. Though Biden and Harris have 279 electoral college votes as I write this (and not all states have declared a winner yet), 2000’s Bush v. Gore was the first presidential election I was able to vote in. I know frustration, and pain, and sadness, and anger. I experienced it all again in 2016, more acutely than in 2000. I am cautiously hopeful about the the future, but until the electoral college votes in December, I reserve a part of myself to protect myself.

And yet, I celebrate. As Tiffany wrote, the election of a woman–a Black, Asian woman, even–shatters another glass ceiling. It’s a ceiling that, four years ago, Hillary Clinton managed to shatter, yet not pass through. For Kamala Harris to, hopefully, accede to the second highest office in the land (“a heartbeat away” from the presidency) is thrilling. For she’s representing not only women, but the Black community and the often overlooked Asian American community. And like Tiffany, I can only imagine what this representation means to girls of color–any color–in America.

The Squad (L-R): Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, and Ayanna Pressley.

More than just feeling hopeful for a sense of calm, rational, leadership emanating from the White House, I look toward the other bright spots of this election season. The Squad (Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan) have all been reelected, continuing their amazing work on things like the Green New Deal. All three of New Mexico’s House delegates are women of color; two are Native American and one is Latina. Two transgender women have been elected to state legislatures. George Gascón, who has spent 40 years in law enforcement and believes in real reform of policing, will be L.A. County’s new District Attorney (the largest DA office in the United States). And multiple states have passed laws legalizing marijuana, reforming sentencing and bail laws, providing options beyond jail and fines for drug possession and use, and other issues related to police reform.

Stacey Abrams

Lastly, I celebrate Stacey Abrams, a voting rights activist and the founder of Fair Fight Action. She has (probably–not all votes have been counted as of this writing) successfully flipped Georgia blue. And her work will continue into January, as both Senate seats are, under Georgia State election law, going to runoff elections. It’s impossible to stress how amazing Stacey Abrams is. A lawyer, voting rights activist, politician, business woman, and romance author (as Selena Montgomery), Stacey is an incredible woman, one that all women, but especially Black girls, should look up to. She is the future of progressive politics in the United States.

So though I wait for the final results of the electoral college. I have hope. And I hope you have hope, too.

-Katie Weidmann
Editor-in-Chief
Girl Museum Inc.

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