HEARTBREAK AND HOPE

On the 8^th of November, 2016, Hillary Clinton lost. She wrote in her book that she cried herself to sleep that night. She wasn’t alone. Millions of women, in the United States and around the world, cried with her. It wasn’t the glass ceiling that had been shattered; it was our hearts.

We didn’t have any stakes in that election. We didn’t live in the US, nor were we American citizens. We didn’t even believe that Hillary was flawless. And yet, her loss rankled. The woman who Barack Obama had described as the most qualified person to ever seek the presidency had been defeated by a reality TV star. In her concession speech, she fought back tears as she told little girls everywhere to never doubt that they were valuable and powerful. For a generation of women that had grown up believing they could do anything, Hillary’s loss made her own words seems hollow.

When the Biden campaign announced that they would nominate a woman, it seemed more like token representation than an actual, meaningful acknowledgement that a woman could do the job. And for a country that only four years ago was on the verge of electing a female Commander in Chief, a symbolic Vice-Presidency seemed like a let-down.

But when Kamala Harris’s name was announced, not even the most hardened critic could deny that the visual of a black woman, the daughter of two immigrants, seeking one of the highest offices in the land was inspiring. In a world where the President of the United States demeans women, launches racist tirades and abuses immigrants, Kamala Harris’s nomination was a potent reminder of the fact that despite the hate and vitriol, America is still the nation its founding fathers dreamt of. And for women in girls in other parts of the world, it was an affirmation of the basic inalterable truth that some of them had given up trying to prove after 2016- women are equal to men.

But the symbolisms wasn’t confined to her gender. Here was an African-American woman seeking to dislodge an administration that had promoted racial divisions for political gain. Here was the daughter of immigrants aspiring to the second-highest position in the country her parents had come to, at a time when nationalism and xenophobia are at their peak.

They’ll call her “nasty” and “rude” and “ambitious” and all the other dog whistle gender loaded insults they can call her but here is a woman who represents a larger truth- this world belongs to everybody, not just the privileged majorities who rule by fiat in their own nations.

Kamala Harris may not win. She may not even be the best person for the job. But the very fact that a black, second-generation immigrant woman is a serious contender for the second most important job in the United States means something, not just to Americans but to women and minorities around the globe, all fighting to be heard. And that something is hope.

Written By: Anoushka Kothari

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