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The candidates selected to be the next president and vice president will work to help their country heal and will inspire the world to do the same.

I see the embodiment of perseverance in Biden, as he’s been knocked down many times in his personal and professional lives. I see someone who knows how deeply loss, especially the personal kind, can affect one’s life. But Biden has channeled his pain into action by using his awareness of pain to help people. He can identify with kids who may be afraid of what comes after a parent loses their job or may not know how to deal with a stutter.

He knows what uncertainty feels like, and he knows that our country is capable of so much more than the past four years. He turns to his religion to remind himself that he’s not alone, which I sense is the same principle he wants the public to know: we’re not alone because we have each other.

I appreciate that he’s calm. Biden is focused on doing things right and not rushing. He represents a return to who we are at our best: kind, smart, and hard-working.

When I look at Biden, it’s hard for me not to think of Syracuse University. When I think of what the color orange symbolizes, it makes even more sense that he would at some point hold the highest office in the land. Orange represents strength and endurance. Few people are able to become president, and considering that he’s run twice before for and fell, this is quite the comeback.

Biden had to find strength after enduring so many losses. It takes someone who knows pain to take those life lessons and apply them to sticky situations like where we are now as a nation. He makes being a student here even sweeter now because we know he’s taking on the biggest political challenge there is.

Like Biden, Harris represents grit and determination. She alone makes history by being the first woman, first Black person and first Asian American to ascend to the vice presidency. She also helps to bring attention to the greatness of historically Black colleges and universities. Harris makes women, and especially Black women like me, proud.

As a fellow graduate of an HBCU, Florida A&M University, I am even more proud because she reminds mainstream America and the world of the talent and caliber of Black people. She is the epitome of what so many women before her fought for and will inspire the next generation and adult women to keep going.

When I learned of the election results, I remember looking at the television in disbelief. I think it came from not really being sure if it had finally happened, or maybe I was in a dream state. Yet it was true, Biden and Harris were officially being deemed the president and vice president-elect. What we have now is a chance to move forward.

Camille Daniels is a graduate student in the magazine, newspaper and online journalism program. Her column appears bi-weekly. She can be reached at cdaniels@syr.edu.

Published on November 10, 2020 at 11:56 pm