Madam Vice President
We finally have a female Vice President, and no words could express the joy, pride and hope I feel. When Kamala Harris said yes to being Joe Biden’s running mate, she gave women hope with this historic first. When we the people said yes to the Biden Harris ticket, we gave every little girl, especially little brown skin girls another significant first —their first female Vice President heroine. Finally the glass ceiling to the White House was shattered.
America has had forty eight Vice Presidents. None have been female. None have been black. In fact they all look disturbingly alike. Old white men; since in the past Black people rarely had equal opportunities. The deck was stacked against her. However, as the daughter of immigrants, struggle, adversity and stacked decks were familiar territory. Harris once shared that whenever she complained about a problem her mother would say, “well Kamala what are you gonna do about it?”
On November 7th with the strength of her Indian mother and Jamaican father, she taught us what to do.
When the deck is stacked:
- Define your own path. Society, friends and even family may try to put you in their own pre-defined box. Don’t let them. At the Black Girls Lead 2020 conference Kamala said, “there will be people who say to you, ‘You are out of your lane.’ They are burdened by only having the capacity to see what has always been instead of what can be. But don’t you let that burden you.”
- Do something. Make a move. Dreams will remain dreams unless we act on them. Problems will remain problems if we ignore them. And obstacles will remain obstacles if we avoid them. Kamala’s mom always said to her “don’t sit around and complain about things; do something.” So she did.
- Draw strength from rejection. One of my mantras has long been use no’s and rejection as fuel. I subscribe to the notion that a “no” is THEIR loss not mine. Many lessons in the Bible too, teach us that delayed is not denied. I love that Kamala says she “eats no’ for breakfast.”
And she did. She broke the glass ceiling of the second highest office of the United States of America.
Historic firsts
She is:
- The first woman.
- The first Black woman.
- The first Asian-American woman.
- The first woman of Caribbean descent.
- The first HBCU woman.
- The first Howard University woman.
- The first AKA woman.
- The first woman with a second-gentleman.
Each one of these historic firsts are significant and touch a wide cross sector of individuals. With all her firsts however she reminded us that’s it’s just the beginning as she has now paved the way for women whether they are Black, Asian, Indian or White. In her first address to the nation she declared, “while I may be the first to this office, I will not be the last.” Now little brown girls can see themselves as a District Attorney, a Senator and now the Vice President of the United States of America.
“Rosa sat; so Ruby could walk; so Kamala could run” and shatter the glass ceiling for every little brown skin girl.
