Kamala Harris becomes the first female, first Black and first South Asian Vice President-Elect
Kamala Harris, on Saturday becomes the first female, the first Black and the first South Asian Vice President-Elect. In a historic election which saw several battleground states flip for the first time in years; with mail-in-ballots pushing the Biden-Harris campaign to a projected victory taking Pennsylvania, Georgia, Nevada, Michigan and Wisconsin.
Harris tweeted a video of herself on the phone with President-elect Joe Biden shortly after CNN projected their win.
"We did it, we did it, Joe. You're going to be the next president of the United States," she said with a signature laugh.
Harris attended Howard University, a historically Black university in Washington. Her time at Howard shaped her political vision. She served as California Senator since elected in 2017.
Joe Biden Projected Presidential Winner
Joe Biden will become the 46th president of the United States, as The Associated Press, Reuters/NEP/Edison, ABC News, CNN, NBC News, CBS News, USA Today, The New York Times, Fox News, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal projects, after a victory in the state where he was born put him over the 270 electoral votes needed to win.
With Pennsylvania's 20 electoral votes, Biden now has a total of 273 electoral votes.
Before becoming the Democratic presidential nominee, Biden served as vice president under former President Barack Obama. He is also Delaware's longest-serving senator.
Throughout his campaign, Biden has argued that the "soul of the nation" is at stake, and has promised that he would seek to heal a country fractured by Trump's presidency.
MAIL-IN BALLOTS SHIFT THE HISTORIC 2020 ELECTION
“Stop the count”
Trump tweeted as polls closed on Election night
"ANY VOTE THAT CAME IN AFTER ELECTION DAY WILL NOT BE COUNTED," Trump added shortly after, prompting Twitter to flag the message as potentially misleading. Twitter then applied warning labels to more than a third of Trump’s tweets since the final polls closed Tuesday evening, reflecting how Trump and his allies continue to spout misinformation on social media days after Americans cast their ballots.
Many battleground states hadn’t finished counting votes making this Election Day end with no projected winner. Former Vice President and Democratic Candidate Joe Biden urged Americans to "stay calm." "Each ballot must be counted, and that's what we're going to see going through now, and that's how it should be," Biden said Thursday.
With the counting continuing, several states where Republican candidates typically won and Trump previously won, now flipped creating a projected win for Joe Biden.
NO OFFICERS CHARGED WITH BREONNA TAYLOR'S DEATH
ARE WE SURPRISED? CHANGE A FEW DETAILS AND THE STORY IS STILL THE SAME -HASHTAG BLACKLIVESMATTER. GET OUT AND PROTEST. JUST TO FACE ‘THE ALREADY SET UP’ POLICE BARRICADES - It’s like Deja vu; change a few details, the name, the location and the story is still the same. I can probably go back to an article I wrote years back and do this and it will flow the same- only difference is the dates. It reads the same. Unarmed black man / woman murdered by police who used excessive and unnecessary force. Police gets suspended, maybe fired but not arrested. Media digs up unrelated info to discredit black man or woman or paint them in a negative light. Police may be indicted but never charged. Protests about the decision just to be faced with police barricades with officers with their riot gear just to arrest peaceful protesters and the cycle continues over and over.
Enter white male civilian, who commits an act of terror- shoots at a crowd, shoots up a school, shoots up a movie theater, shoots up a church, killing a number of people; gets into a dispute with a police officer, isn’t shot at or killed but showed restraint. It doesn’t end, white male civilian fights with cops, aims a gun or weapon at a cop and doesn't get shot or killed. Media reports the story and somehow finds a way to lighten the story and use buzz words like he was a nice kid or he suffered from a mental illness or something that doesn't call out what they are, terrorists, murderers etc and the cycle continues over and over.
Black people protest peacefully in the name of justice against the system, its labeled a riot, and other harsh terms and police and military are brought out with their rubber bullets and their riot gear but in the same protests you have white people armed with rifles walking around antagonizing and shooting at peaceful protesters but it gets ignored or its allowed to continue without question, praised as if they are protecting some American way of life or showing some patriotism for this country. Even in their protests, while armed with rifles against their home team loosing a football game or against the mandated law to wear masks to protect during a pandemic, they get a pass. But it’s a story that has been repeating itself and none of this is anything new.
Reactions to the grand jury's decision in the Breonna Taylor fatal shooting
Its only sad and stressful how much this has to be pointed out and for some people to still not get it. But the story remains the same no matter which details get changed. And in this case, no charges for the officers involved. Louisville has prepared for the possibility of unrest, announcing a 72-hour countywide curfew starting 9 p.m. with Government buildings being closed. But in America. For the land of the free. In the name of Justice, it’s what is expected at this point. Better to prepare for the public outrage that comes from these wrongful death decisions instead of changing a system that upholds it. Better to force a curfew knowing that the ruling will be what the people would not want to see. Better to protect the officers and the institution than to actually provide justice. If the police are not at fault, it is the system in place. If a Breonna’s Law can be created, there should be some justice.
But we continue with Hashtags; Say Her Name, Say His Name, Black Lives Matter, A few settlements here; money raised there but continuing the same cycle. We now Push the importance to vote but a whole system refuses to except something is wrong.
PHASING OUT ON THE REAL ISSUES OF BLACK LIVES MATTER
It’s been several weeks; slow progress, and fleeting attention but it looks like it’s back to business as usual. In its peak, it seemed there was some solidarity in pushing the movement of Black Lives Matter. Companies and Brands rushed to post their black squares “for the aesthetic” which to me felt just to alleviate from the backlash if they had not taken a stand. Several statements went out but it started to feel like a PR response. Now we are a month in, the media has quickly shifted its focus as if the protests stopped happening, or as if the issues had been solved, or as if the drop in rioting and looting that took focus away from the peaceful protest made it difficult to just talk about the peaceful protest.
Paint the streets with art saying ‘Black Lives Matter’ and that should do it. Name a few streets ‘Black Lives Matter’ and that should also do it. Dress in Black Culture and that should do it. Organize your company to focus on the few Black employees and that should do it. What about… put Black Music first in your streaming services or movies with Black Issues first and that should do it. Let’s skip over arresting the police officers who murdered Breonna Taylor and so many others. Lets also skip over changing anything. Instead let’s distract with this performative act, hoping they won’t notice.
What else haven’t we noticed? Donations and petitions in the name of Black Lives Matter, where have they gone? How much have they helped? How much has been used for the issues we as a community has been facing? …
Let’s not forget, there’s still a pandemic going on - well two but Covid-19 hasn’t disappeared unless there’s something we’re not being told. Suddenly it’s back to business and a rush to Phase 4. What’s the rush? Are we in a hurry for the business aspect of things? Of course, we can’t keep the economy falling so let’s ignore all the social distancing and get back to opening everything. As we move towards reopening, it seems Phase 4 is just phasing out the real issues and returning to normal. But that norm as forever changed and we cannot go back to what was before. Like Post 9/11, airport security as forever changed; as for Covid-19, the way we live has forever changed. Adding the awareness of the systemic racism that is ingrained in America; we can no longer ignore what this country has been built on and move forward, neglecting the people who have been effected the most. Are we going to let media and elected officials quietly sweep this back under the rug so we can be “great” again?
Breonna’s Law has been passed which bans “No-Knock” warrants and now sets procedures for executing all search warrants. One officer has been fired but no arrests have been made and we are going on 100+ days since the murder. With cameras and under public scrutiny, nothing has slowed down more cases of police misconduct and brutality. Protests continue for Defunding The Police, with the media misinterpreting it as removing the police forces instead of what it actually means - which is to redistribute the funds into other areas that need it.
VOGUE CHALLENGE BUT MAKE IT ELUSIVE
BEYONCÊ IN SEPT 2018 VOGUE REDESIGNED AS AN ELSVMAG COVER. PHOTO BY TYLER MITCHELL
RIHANNA IN NOV 2018 VOGUE ARABIA REDESIGNED AS AN ELSVMAG COVER. PHOTO BY GREG KADAL.
Following what seems to be a trend of brands and companies feeding into the Black Lives Matter movement, particularly making note their lack of inclusion or diversity or even using this time to “seem aware of the issues” that as a whole can exclude Black creatives.
With Anna Wintour - Artistic Director of Conde Nast & Editor-In-Chief of Vogue Magazine; commenting on the discriminatory culture and taking "full responsibility" for not hiring enough Black creatives while acknowledging the hurt and pain Vogue employees of color must be feeling during this time, the response seemed to fuel that it wasn’t enough. With overseeing Vogue; some feels she could’ve done more and to simply say “Vogue has not found enough ways to elevate and give space to Black editors, writers, photographers, designers and other creators” lends itself to the discriminatory culture and systemic racism that has been engrained in America.
Now enters the #VogueChallenge, a trend where Black and POC lend their talents to creating their own Vogue color; speaking to the lack of brown models of color gracing the cover.
How hard is it really to add diverse creatives behind the scenes and on the covers? With this - and as a creator; I have two takeaways - the creator creating to be showcased and accepted within a publication that blindly excludes until its trendy and the power that diverse creators have (somewhat disconnect and widespread) but together can push its own brand and publication that uplifts and recognizes the talent held, giving creatives opportunities to take chances, giving creatives space and the freedom to create for themselves and not to fit in to these spaces that were built to exclude.
Enter ELSV, created out of being excluded from a number of spaces and even at times to showcase that I can produce at a level such as Vogue, GQ, T Magazine, WSJ Magazine etc. Once the building began, the experience of creating just to create and for yourself took over. Its something about working with creatives with the same mindset, that wants to create just to create, removing the stipulation of trying to fit into some box for the sake of checking a box of inclusion so brands can say well we have one or we had models of color and so on. Even with the challenges of being an independent publication, there isn’t anything like having a safe space of your own. So with rebranding, taking risks and never giving up, ELSV still remains a project hard to let go especially in all of its elusiveness.
CIARA IN FAULT ISSUE 31 REDESIGNED FOR ELSVMAG. PHOTO BY IRVIN RIVERA.
ELIJAH BLAKE MOCK ELSV COVER
OUR BLACK YOUTH IS WATCHING
Its been completely disheartening seeing a new generation having to grow up and see this. Its been disheartening that years of systemic racism hasn’t been address and here we are in 2020, still having to address this. We are still having to explain this. We are still trying to have our voice heard.
What do you say to a child who has to see images of black brothers, black uncles, black Fathers, black sisters, black aunts, black mothers being treated in such ways? When they are in situations when they’re relatives are being mistreated, met with unreasonable force by police at a traffic stop or even a witness to a wrongful death… what do you say? How are they supposed to grow in a society that basically tells them that because of the color of your skin, you will be treated differently?
This is something they shouldn’t have to face and at the same time it’s something no black person should have to face. Black people should be able to drive a certain car and not be pulled over because “it’s being checked to see if it’s stolen” or “it’s too nice of a car for them.” Black people should be able To live or even walk in a neighborhood and not be questioned why they are there. Black people should be able to be placed in a box as if they can’t obtain a specific level of education or go to a specific University or work at a specific level or even work at a certain organization. The list can go on. When do we address this? When do we not have to raise our voice to be heard? When will the day come for it to be normal for us to just have the rights that all humans deserve?
REMBERING LEFTEYE
TLC is the first artist I remember hearing ever. 1992 - BABY BABY BABY - So ANYTHING TLC hits different. Especially LeftEye.
Bittersweet. Will Never NOT rep TLC and think about how it would be if she was still here.
AM I NEXT? - #BLACKLIVESMATTER
“This specific ontology of subjectivity, which defines the entire human experience as a result of brain chemistry, is a singular, restrictive and reductive understanding of all the ways in which humans and their subjectivity can be understood. This reduction serves a specific political function. That is, it keeps those who are oppressed inward looking and forecloses knowledge of the dominant class as they exert enough force to contribute to extensive suffering and mental illness in the oppressed.”
- Dr. Eric Greene; The Mental Health Industrial Complex: A Study in Three Cases. Journal of Humanistic Psychology
Is it considered revisiting when it’s a constant reoccurring cycle? - This quote & picture was the start of a collective of events, ideas, programs at work revolving around Black Mental Health. Looking back at it now, I’m reminded, not just of this particular topic but how its translated over time and is still relevant. We STILL must protect our mental health. We STILL have to wonder and question so many things; even in a pandemic - which in itself has vastly effected a majority of minorities and those in Black and Brown Communities.
Here we are. Another police shooting or assault or misconduct. I’ve lost count. I don’t know what we’re calling it anymore. I’m tired. We talked about it then. We talked it last week. We’re talking about it now.
George Floyd
Kenneth Walker
Breona Taylor
Sean Reed
Ahmaud Arbery
Steve Taylor
