Kamala Harris for the All the People

Vice President Kamala Harris

Guest Post by Kristine Schwartzman

On July 24, 2024, as President Joe Biden officially announced that he would not accept the Democratic presidential nomination for the upcoming election, and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as the nominee, we witnessed something monumental. For the first time in history, a woman of color will most likely be the presidential nominee of a major political party. 

Vice President Harris is not the first Black woman to seek the nomination of a major party. Shirley Chisolm, whose motto was "Unbought and Unbossed," ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1968. A courageous trailblazer, "Fighting Shirley" faced discrimination from not only the opposition, but also from the mostly male members of the Congressional Black Caucus. 

These moments don't happen often. As an important election looms before us, one where our choice is moving back to a time when people of color and women had few choices, or forward to a place where every little person of color, every little girl, every child born today realizes they can become president, we not only need to remember how far we've come, but also to remember those before us who worked so hard for change. We have power in our own hands with our votes. It is up to us now.

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