Written by Tina Johnson
The election is today! The election is today! The alarm bell has ceased to sound for what seems like an eternity now. And like everyone, on either side, this is a stressful day. I am 100% Team Biden and Harris and for a Blue Wave. Like many of you I have voted, hounded my family and friends, and have pulled my hair out reading and listening to polls.
But it is today, Election Day that the final votes are cast and we will wait to find out what political party will have the leadership role to steer the ship that is American democracy and shape the future of her society for generations.
Today, I am reminded of the 2016 election night upset. I remember the faces of my friends and colleagues standing, seated, pacing back and forth in a restaurant lobby, Marrakech, Morocco. We were attending the United Nations Conference on Climate Change (UNFCCC) COP 22. I left the lobby to return to my hotel after Pennsylvania was called for Donald Trump. My home state, I was sick to my stomach and sad. Like many, there was no sleep to be had and I had the responsibility to facilitate the first press conference of the day post-election, the United States NGOs responding to the outcome.
The hotel staff expressed their sorrow to me and for me. “I am so sorry for you” the manager of the hotel said to me. When I walked into UNFCCC pavilion the air had been sucked out of everyone around me. It was the first time that I felt this collective anguish on this scale. The Americans were shell shocked and grieving and the international community was in disbelief and shock. This moment was being felt by a global community under one tent, literally, at the same time.
The question I asked myself in that moment was “how do we continue to build and to do the work that will be more difficult now?” I asked this question because it was the most obvious question. The United States is a democracy that holds elections every four years and that we hold the power to vote in the leadership the majority of Americans want. We needed to position ourselves to be able to move the country forward even when it was going to be difficult to do so.
And the answer is that we have been building power, educating ourselves and communities about what a diverse and connected American society can be and do. This has all been done against the backdrop of a dysfunctional Presidency and Federal Senate. There was a Blue Wave in 2018 that has proven to be the most important political win in the last four years in the current political state of American politics. The Black Lives Matter Movement, The Me Too Movement, and The Woman's March continues to transform our nation.
We have challenged the status quo of what we will and will not accept as our American values against unsurmountable odds, the bullpen of the Trump Administration. We have shown to each other that our love for country is greater than our love for Party. The majority of Americans chant Black Lives Matter and that Environmental Justice and Climate Change will be priorities.
We have declared that poverty is unacceptable. We have shown up for each other to protect each other against the darkest threats to our common decency and belief about our American democracy. We have been doing this before Election Day.
It is clear that we have work to do towards justice and equity. We have a long way to go to make our policies and politics engage more of our citizens to build a democracy that doesn't disenfranchise anyone. No matter who wins we will have to continue to work to transform our American democracy.
Every day that we struggle for equity and justice is one more step towards our more perfect Union. The reality is that democracy is not a given, however the struggle to keep it is. Our democracy is a long game. Regardless of who wins this Election Day, this is not the end. We will have to stay vigilant and diligent in either outcome (in different ways). And remember that it is only when we engage with and in our democracy will it work for us.