On Saturday morning, viewers across the nation looked on their television screens, and based upon their candidate of choice, were either elated or despondent upon the news that Democratic Presidential candidate Joseph R. Biden had secured enough electoral votes to become the 46th President of the United States. In the wake of Tuesday’s general election, there was a waiting period for the mail-in and military votes to come in for the states of Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, North Carolina and Pennsylvania respectively. Although there is still a race yet to be called in Georgia, and despite a legal battle from the current President Donald Trump to stop the counting of votes, Biden has won and alongside with him is the first ever Black and Asian-American Vice President in California Senator Kamala Harris. They addressed the nation on Saturday evening from Biden Headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware, calling for healing across the land and to put aside differences for the greater good of the nation.

(photography by Alex Sakes)

Across the nation, celebrations were held in cities from Oakland to Philadelphia to Washington DC. Dancing and shouting exuberated as if their respective cities’ teams had just won the Super Bowl all at once. There were cries of joy and relief, especially for a country that was in the midst of the arguably most divisive tenure in the Oval Office since the early 1970’s. Tensions were high as more than 150 million people cast their votes and the results were coming in from each precinct. Once the mail-in votes began to come in, what seemed like a potentially second term for President Trump started to turn into a near certainty for Biden.

As people came together to celebrate, the President-Elect and Vice President-Elect thanked the diverse voting base in making their victory possible. They also acknowledged that there will be several challenges that are ahead, and the greatest obstacle was put in clear view Saturday as those who joined in celebration were wearing masks as the Coronavirus pandemic rages on, with the death toll as of press time at approximately 230,000 and rising. In order for the economy to regain its vitality, the virus must be dealt with.

One of the first things that President-Elect Biden has pledged to do is to take on climate change. Earlier in the week the United States under President Trump had pulled out of the Paris Climate Accords, and according to the Washington Post “Biden has long pledged to rejoin the Paris Climate Accords by executive order, but he has also said that he would attempt to persuade other nations to adopt higher standards in an attempt to curb the impacts of climate change.” We spoke with Tiziana Bottino of Mother’s Out Front and the Greater Prince William Climate Action Network, and she has this to say regarding the President-Elect’s decree:

“It’s not just about joining the Paris agreement, but to pressure the world to follow through with it, which they haven’t been doing sufficiently. The US is one of the top emitters and it must lead or other countries won’t do the work necessarily. And this is a collective effort, so that’s why it’s so important that we start with this. We would also have major investments in our crumbling infrastructure, in public and electric transportation, and American-made manufacturing.”

She continues on, “Millions of people would experience better health and quality of life, as environmental justice is also a major part of this. But if we don’t win both Georgia Senate seats it will be an uphill battle and there’s a lot that we couldn’t achieve.”

The Georgia Senate race will go to a run-off in January with two seats up for grabs.

From climate change to economics and racial justice, the new administration will need to begin immediately on healing this nation from scars of not only the past four years, but from over 244 years of rhetoric and legislation aimed at creating a divide. As Idris O’Connor of the Prince William Young Democrats stated, “We are extremely excited that President-Elect Joe Biden and Vice-President-Elect Kamala Harris won the election. We are ready to start the healing and recovery of the soul of our nation.”