Kamala Harris: I may be first woman in this office, will not be last

Wearing a white pantsuit in tribute to womens suffrage and taking the stage to the sounds of Mary J Blige the first Indian and Black American woman to be elected US Vice President Kamala Harris headlined a rousing victory speech invoking memories of her mother urging the young to dream with ambition and hailing Presidentelect Joe Biden for his audacity in selecting a woman as his running matePulitzer Prizewinning historian Jon Meacham described Harris speech on Saturday night as a signal of the renewal of an American conversationEarly in her speech Harris 56 leaned into the barrier shattering nature of her role on the Biden ticket and tied it to the long arc of the American Civil Rights movementWhile I may be the first I wonrsquot be the last pictwittercomR5CousWtdxmdash Kamala Harris KamalaHarris November 8 2020While paying tribute to the too often overlooked women who came before her Harris noted that it has taken 100 years ago since the 19th Amendment which granted women the right to vote and 55 years after the Voting Rights Act for a woman to be elected to the countrys most powerful political officeWhile I may be the first woman in this office I will not be the last Harris said midway into her postelection addressHarris spoke on Saturday in her first national address to the nation after she and Biden were declared the winners of the presidential election against Donald Trump and Mike Pence Biden will be the oldest president ever inaugurated at 78Harris as she does in every major political stump gave thanks to her mother Shyamala Gopalan as the woman most responsible for my presence here todayWhen she came here from India at the age of 19 maybe she didnt quite imagine this moment But she believed so deeply in an America where a moment like this is possibleAnd what a moment it was even before it began Harris arrived in a motorcade flashing red and blue lights the first sign that the earth has shifted from beneath the TrumpPence White HouseThroughout her speech Harris offered glimpses of the incredible promise of multicultural AmericaWhat a testament it is to Joes character that he has the audacity to break one of the most substantial barriers that exists in our country and select a woman as his Vice President Harris saidHer message to every little girl was that America is a country of possibilitiesShe told them from her uniquely powerful place in history Dream with ambition lead with conviction and see yourselves in a way that others may not simply because theyve never seen it before but know that we will applaud you every step of the wayFor their part Harris and Biden face tough challenges ahead They have won but like Trump says more than 70 million Americans have voted for him and a great deal of his votes came from areas ravaged by the coronavirus In Trumps grievances those voters found common ground and stuck with him for the second time in four yearsYet Saturday was a day of national celebration in the middle of a raging pandemic Americans poured out in street corners and downtown enjoying a nationwide version of a block party They waved from balconies and car windows honked horns and cowbells sang and danced an awesome sight that brought back familiar comparisons to the Obama win in 2008For the last four years Ive been living in a cave because Trump was President It was very dark there Now I can come out of my cave said Peter Oh a voter in Washington StateKeep scrolling to read more newsCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates MidDay is now on Telegram Click here to join our channel middayinfomedialtd and stay updated with the latest newsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever