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Washington on the evening of Biden's inauguration: Hope for better times
Photo: Shafkat Anowar / AP
SPIEGEL:
Racism, unrest, an attempted coup: Mr Johnson, have the last four years been difficult for you?
Johnson:
You can say that.
SPIEGEL:
Now the United States has a new president - and with Kamala Harris, the first African-American vice president in history.
How do you feel personally?
Johnson:
It gives me hope that we will have a new beginning.
That we can turn things around for the better.
That we can not only master the corona crisis, but also unite this divided country and so on to work on what Martin Luther King Jr. preached and what the memorial on the National Mall symbolizes: democracy, justice, hope and love.
To person
Icon: enlarge Photo: Jacquelyn Martin / AP
The lawyer Harry Johnson (l.), 66, is the President of the Martin Luther King Jr.Memorial Foundation, the foundation behind the monument to the civil rights activist on the National Mall in Washington, which opened in 2011.
From 2001 to 2004 he headed the oldest black US fraternity, Alpha Phi Alpha, of which King was a member, and which initiated the construction of this first monument to an African American on Washington's boulevard.
SPIEGEL:
Many Americans don't accept Joe Biden as "their" president.
How can such a country be united?
Johnson:
The people who stormed the US Capitol will certainly not be able to change their minds.
But we should sit down and talk to each other and see where our differences lie.
I am convinced that the differences are not that great when we talk to each other.
We all just want to be heard.
That we are treated fairly.
That was also behind the big »Black Lives Matter« protests in summer.
People want to be heard.
And I believe that if Biden, as President, will listen to the people and rule with a resolve to help the people, then this will be a better year for us.
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