The student news site of Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, Illinois.

The Daily Eastern News

The student news site of Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, Illinois.

The Daily Eastern News

The student news site of Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, Illinois.

The Daily Eastern News

Column: Americans can’t afford to get complacent under Biden-Harris

Kyara Morales-Rodriguez

Since Nov. 3, Americans have been anxiously waiting for the election results. Since Election Day, I spent my days obsessively scrolling through social media, looking up the election results, and watching CNN, hoping for the best but expecting the worst.

After days of America’s ballot counters hard at work to get the election results finalized, we learned that Joe Biden will be the next president of the United States. The days that followed were days of celebration for Democrats across the United States, with many people taking to the streets to celebrate the Biden-Harris win.

I celebrated in my own way too! My best friend and I took a break from the constant stresses of college life by ordering food from our favorite Thai place here in Charleston and watching “Avatar: The Last Airbender.”

That celebration, I felt, was necessary and much deserved. It was also just great to see everybody coming together in such a beautiful and moving way. After four dreadfully long years under the Trump presidency, the Biden-Harris win has provided us with hope that things will get better. It feels like finally taking a breath of fresh air.

However, all this celebration brought a creeping fear to the back of my mind: with Biden and Harris in office, Americans will get comfortable again.

Now that we have gotten all the celebration out of the way, we must get back to action. Though things are taking a step in the right direction, a lot of work still needs to be done. We need to continue fighting just as hard, if not harder, to help create the change that is needed.

Racism, homophobia, transphobia, sexism, xenophobia, white supremacy… those things did not start and end with the Trump presidency. They have been a part of America’s history for a long time and dismantling those things will take a lot of work.

Please do not put your trust back in the system just because we have a Democratic president and vice-president. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are not perfect, and they deserve the same amount of criticism as any other people in power.

We have to remain vigilant, paying careful attention to the decisions they make while in office. We have to continue expressing the changes we want to see made. We have to keep protesting against actions that negatively impact people’s lives. We must remain united on issues that matter to us.

Simply put, let this victory empower you instead of leading you into complacency. If we get too comfortable, we won’t be able to create the future we all deserve.

 

Kyara Morales-Rodriguez is a junior English major. She can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].

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About the Writer
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Kyara Morales-Rodriguez, Reporter

Kyara Morales-Rodriguez is a senior English major. She previously served as associate news editor at The News.

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