So much has happened over the past month – quite frankly, over the past year – that it’s been oftentimes overwhelming to take it all in.
I want to take this moment to paint the picture of where we stand as the Black community, and as a nation. We are at the precipice of real change. Lasting change. And it is entirely because we fought so hard with the strength of our vote and the power of our voice.
The last four years have shown us what happens when the most powerful office in the world is led by hate, bigotry, and ineptitude – thousands of innocent Black and brown people killed by the police, a global pandemic, or even insurrectionists at the Capitol.
But we’ve also witnessed what can happen when we come together as a community to demand the democracy we rightfully deserve – the first woman and the first Black Vice President of the United States, the first African American to represent Georgia in the Senate, and the most diverse Congress in our nation’s history.
There may be a lot of noise, but we must never get distracted from the fact that this is our time. The outcome of the elections has proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that there is unity in the Black community, and now more than ever we must demand policies that promote equity, advancement, and justice.
Whether it’s economic relief from the impact of the coronavirus or access to quality education for our children, we now have the power to establish policies that will make life better – livable – for us.
This is why we vote. This is why we advocate. This is why we win.
Derrick Johnson
President and CEO
NAACP