President Joe Biden shocked the political world when he stepped aside from his reelection campaign and handed the mantle to Vice President Kamala Harris. That act may prove to be Biden’s greatest political achievement in a long list. His presidency has been one of the most successful in American history. He has steered the country through the COVID pandemic and brought the economy back stronger than it was prior to the deadly, disruptive outbreak.
Biden brought NATO back from the brink after his predecessor sided with Russian President Vladimir Putin and did everything he could to dismantle the military alliance. He stood in the breach and put America’s full support behind Ukraine to help contain Russia, as he once again did the right thing for our country and the world.
But as monumental as those actions were, Biden’s decision to give up a chance to extend his stay in power and hand the mantle to Harris, the first Black vice president, who is also of South Asian descent, may go down in history as an even greater achievement in his long political career.
Now, it’s true that Biden made that decision after putting in one of the worst performances in a presidential debate and facing pressure from within his own party. For different reasons, Lyndon Johnson in 1968 and Harry Truman in 1952 withdrew in a presidential election year, though months earlier. Biden’s belated but wise move shows us just how much better of a person he is than the Republican nominee — convicted felon, sex abuser and conman Donald Trump.
Like many people, I was concerned about the future of our country if Biden stayed in the race. But even with the groundswell of intra-party criticism, I did not anticipate his turnabout. His stepping down after a COVID diagnosis ignited a new sense of optimism and belief that Democrats have a chance to win and keep Trump and his destructive, chaotic ways out of the White House.
Within two days, Harris proved she is a force to be reckoned with as a presidential candidate. She raised $81 million in a day and then won pledges from enough delegates to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago next month to secure the Democratic nomination, if those commitments hold up.
Black women have always been America’s superpower. The list of Black sheroes goes back to the beginning of this nation, a long list of committed warriors for justice, freedom and the betterment of our country for all. As a Black man married to a Black woman, I have experienced firsthand the power of a Black women.
As we stand on the precipice of the possible election of the first Black woman as president, Black women must come together to support her at a level greater than any other past Democratic candidate. Black women have long been crucial to the success of modern parties’ presidential nominees. They brought Barrack Obama over the top as our first Black president. They saved Biden in his 2020 campaign against Trump. In this presidential cycle, they have already rallied behind their sister Kamala Harris, raising $1.5 million during a three-hour Zoom.
Her first, aborted run for the president in 2020 received mixed reviews, but Black women candidates always face a tremendous backlash. Three years after becoming vice president, Harris has grown into a more capable politician. She is a brilliant attorney and, as a former state and local prosecutor in California, will be very hard to cast as soft on crime — as Republicans try to paint all Democratic candidates for president. Also, she is a skilled debater from her courtroom experience and law school training. If Trump lives up to his commitment and debates her, I have no doubt that her performance will exceed anything he can muster on any given day.
But most important of all, we must remember what is on the line in this election. The other presidential candidate and his party wish to do even more to dismantle a women’s right to choose and have installed a Supreme Court majority willing to overturn established precedents and turn our country back in time.
The conservative Heritage Foundation’s 2025 agenda for Trump clearly advocates a national ban on a woman’s right to choose, along with a whole host of draconian laws that would revoke the rights of women and many others in our nation. This kind of misplaced striving for power will only continue to lead our country down the dark path.
The future of our country is at stake. It is going to be up to America’s superpower, Black women, to continue to help us as a country rise up against the oppression we have endured for centuries. But they cannot do it alone. Black men and our white allies need to do their part too. Harris is going to need all the help she can get to win this election and keep our country on a path to becoming a better place for all of us.
The race is the prosecutor versus the felon, but it is so much more than that. It is for the future, for our kids, and for a country free of racial hate and misogyny, with freedom for all people. The future of this country is what we make it, and we must continue to stand together and make Kamala Harris the next president of the United States. She is a brilliant, strong woman who will lead our country to a positive future.
