On Saturday, November 7th, 2020, Joseph R. Biden Jr. was projected to be the winner of one of the most influential and important presidential elections. The last four years of American history have undoubtedly widened the gap between political parties within our country’s democracy. The results of the 2020 election evoked a large difference in reactions from people of all backgrounds–with celebrations in the larger cities on one end, and relentless claims of fraud from the other. In major cities such as Chicago, LA, Boston, and New York, people ran to the streets in celebration. Some NYC citizens claimed that the streets felt, looked, and sounded like the people had just overthrown a dictator. 

Saturday wasn’t just the day Joseph Biden became the president-elect for the election of 2020; it was also the first day in all of history that a woman was elected to become Vice President of The United States. Soon to be Madame Vice President, Kamala Harris will be inaugurated alongside Joseph Biden on January 20th, 2021. Following the progressive trend since June of this year, when the Black Lives Matter movement heightened, Harris has much to prove as the first female in office. 

Different news sources claim different outcomes of the election, which debatably demonstrates a correlation between the source and their station’s political association. Generally, Democratic sources such as CNN, The Associated Press, and ABC News announced Biden as the projected winner almost immediately when the state of Pennsylvania’s vote was tabulated. However, some news sources that generally have more conservative or Republican bias, such as Fox News, refrained from projecting the winner for nearly an hour after the first news sources had. This may have been a response to Donald Trump’s claims of mail-in voting fraud. 

Social media news outlets have encouraged people on both ends of the political spectrum to be reminded that the campaign was to settle for Joseph Biden, but not to settle for the fight toward the unity of our country. Now, the future of our country is focused on the unification and delivery of equality and freedom to all citizens of America that our Constitution promises. 

Our country’s push for change is still developing, and the youth are still writing our history as the days continue. Let this be a reminder not to be silenced, and to continue our persistence with speaking out against what we believe is wrong. Every vote does count, and every citizen should continue to educate themselves on current day issues and events in order to produce effective change in our nation. That includes you. 

There are no more rallies or riots at the rotary every time we drive to the dump. Therefore, the future is bright, and this is just the beginning.