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Biden chose Kamala, but now what?
Democratic Presidential nominee Joe Biden finally named a running mate in Kamala Harris. Here’s why that choice doesn’t put any of my concerns about him to bed.
I can follow Team Biden’s logic here. Joe’s old, so he needs someone younger. Joe’s white, so let’s get a person of color on the ticket. Joe’s a man, so let’s pick a woman. Every Presidential candidate needs a running mate that complements them. Barack Obama chose Biden for many of the same reasons that Biden chose Kamala Harris. I get it, I really do. I’ve been in Democratic Party grassroots spaces before. There’s no demographic that’s more represented in the party than Black women, both in activism and at the ballot box. As a result, a Black woman as the party’s Vice Presidential candidate is long overdue. However, we shouldn’t view people in positions of power solely through a lens of identity; we should also take into account their ideology as well. There were undoubtedly worse options, in my opinion, such as Val Demings, Stacy Abrams, and Susan Rice, but the presence of worse alternatives does not automatically make something ‘good.’ With this said, I’m terrified of what a Biden-Harris administration could bring.