Kamala Harris Speech Was Powerful and Heartfelt, but Trumps Legacy Has Stilted My Joy

August 2024 · 6 minute read

This past week, I’ve watched politicians, celebrities and political pundits descend on my hometown of Chicago for the Democratic National Convention (DNC). It has been a euphoric display with thunderous speeches from the Obamas, beautiful moments between Vice Presidential nominee Tim Walz and his family and even heartbreaking stories that speak to the aftermath of overturning Roe v. Wade. Democrats are fired up and hitting back in ways we haven’t seen in years. The 2024 DNC culminated on Thursday evening with Vice President Harris’ touching and sweeping speech accepting the Democratic Party’s nomination for president. It was a historical, candid and jubilant evening. 

Harris spoke about her unlikely journey from the courthouse to the White House, her childhood memories and why she’s always been for the people. “I believe that everybody has a right to safety, to dignity and justice,” she said. She also spoke passionately about building an opportunity economy where the American Dream remains within reach for all of us. It was a beautiful speech. But what has it cost to get here?

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Just two months ago, the political landscape looked drastically different. After witnessing President Biden’s disastrous debate performance in late June, I resigned to having one last delusional self-care summer before steeling myself in the fall and casting my vote for Biden-Harris in November. Anything else, as I had so cruelly learned back in 2016, was out of my hands. 

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Within a matter of weeks, everything changed. I sat at my birthday dinner numb upon hearing about the assassination attempt on Trump. Then, days later, came the rumblings that Biden was dropping out of the presidential race. Feelings of respite were brief because a new kind of fear began to take hold of me when it became clear that Harris would likely seek the nomination in his stead. 

The first time I ever voted was in 2008, during my freshman year of college. I proudly mailed my Obama-checked absentee ballot back to Illinois. That era before Instagram, TikTok and the constant onslaught of news and unsourced misinformation feels like a different lifetime. I saw what Obama’s election meant to my elders, especially my father, who had become an American citizen after nearly 40 years just to cast his vote. I felt hope among my fellow millennials. It seemed the country was moving forward. Then, not even a decade later, came Trump. He was so inflammatory, abrasive and absurd that I was confident, as were many, that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was a shoo-in. I was woefully mistaken. 

The Trump years were an endless barrage of horrendous policies, infighting, racist and sexist attacks, and bad news. It wasn’t until the 2020 election was called, several nail-biting days later, that I let out a wail of relief. Biden’s presidency hasn’t been perfect, but in many ways, it has offered a balm or some sense of normalcy and insulation from the cult of MAGA.

Therefore, when I learned Harris would be the nominee, I knew she could command the Oval Office. She has an extraordinary track record.  But I also know misogynoir — the toxic mix of racism and sexism aimed at women of color — intimately. In the last month, there has been an onslaught of barbaric comments about her “colored sorority,” the fact that she has “turned Black,” the purposeful mispronunciation of her name and on and on. As the late Nobel laureate Toni Morrison once said, “Racism is a distraction.” However, it is still exhausting and painful to endure.

Harris called out Trump candidly, calling him an “unserious man.” She called him out for his violent rhetoric and the pride he has in helping strip women of their reproductive rights. “Consider not only the chaos and calamity when he was in office but also the gravity of what has happened since he lost the last election,” she said.

She continued, “I love our country with all my heart. Everywhere I go, everywhere I go in, everyone I meet, I see a nation that is ready to move forward, ready for the next step in the incredible journey that is America. I see an America where we hold fast to the fearless belief that built our nation and inspired the world—that here in this country, anything is possible.”

I am hopeful, but my joy is stilted. Should Harris take office without the Democrats holding their Senate majority or at least flipping the House? We are still on an untested road, but I do believe we can move forward. However, I haven’t forgotten my fellow Americans’ complicity in electing Trump and unleashing havoc on us all. For that, I will never forgive them.   

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