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Kamala Harris: "Proud, Strong Black Woman"
Photo:
Andrew Harnik / dpa
What a relief.
Joe Biden and Kamala Harris won, against Donald Trump and Mike Pence.
Perhaps a piece of normality will return to the world that was finally out of joint due to the corona crisis.
And for the first time in US history, the Vice President is a woman.
Not only that, she is a black woman with Indian roots.
This has a symbolic effect.
Women in powerful offices are outnumbered worldwide.
Black women are rarely found in these positions.
To take the argument from the critics: It is not about being woman or her skin color qualifying Kamala Harris to be Vice President of the USA.
The point is that her womanhood and skin color must not exclude her from this position.
That is still the case far too often.
Four years of regression
There is structural discrimination against women in our societies, both in the USA and in Germany.
There is structural racism here and there.
That a black woman manages to penetrate these spheres of power despite these structural hurdles is impressive.
It is an important sign that we are on the way to becoming a more inclusive society, also taking steps forward.
The last four years often seemed like a single step backwards: With Donald Trump, a man became president who boasted of being able to hold women in the crotch with impunity, a man who was accused of sexual harassment 26 times, who made racism socially acceptable and did not distance itself from neo-Nazis and right-wing extremists.
Many black people died from police violence.
Brexit weakens the European Union, in France the right-wing extremist Front National became the second strongest force in the presidential election in 2017, in Thuringia the AfD co-elected the Prime Minister.
She creates irritation through presence
For many women, the 2016 election result felt like a punch in the stomach.
Hillary Clinton lost not only because she is a woman, but also because she is a woman.
It seemed as if women were not trusted to hold the most powerful office in the world, even if the opposing candidate is Donald Trump.
This year the Democrats opted for the safer option: Joe Biden is a white, straight man who has been in politics for more than 40 years and has as many rough edges as a ball.
But he made Kamala Harris his runner-up candidate, and that was historic.
The first black woman to attend a black university.
It's a bit like Angela Merkel: just by her presence, she creates an irritation in the rooms that were otherwise reserved for white men.
When it becomes normal to see women in powerful positions, their presence there and on other levels will (hopefully) no longer be questioned.
"You can be president"
Kamala Harris
Angela Merkel never made her woman an issue.
Only in the past few years has she talked about being in favor of parity.
Kamala Harris is less reluctant.
She says her mother raised her and her sister to be "proud, strong black women" and proud of their Indian roots.
A video shared on Twitter the day after the election was shared by Harris' sister.
Her great niece, four years old, sits on Harris' lap and talks about becoming president.
"You can be president, but not yet because you have to be over 35," said Kamala Harris to her niece.
This is what Harris means to little girls in America: They can be president.
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