Sounds Like Selena
By Selena Ganguly
By Selena Ganguly
When the news first broke out on Nov. 7, 2020, about who won the presidential election I remember sitting in the living room with my parents while we waited for President Joe Biden to come up on stage.
Before Biden came up Vice President Kamala Harris had her speech for the first time as vice president-elect. While listening to the speech there was one part that hit me hard, when she said “While I may be the first woman in this office, I won’t be the last.”
During the vice-presidential debate Harris broke the news with her infamous quote, “Mr. Vice President, I’m speaking.” While that was seen as newsworthy to the media, it is a reality women of color have gone through every day.
Women of color have been historically silenced whereas Susan B. Anthony, a prominent woman praised during the women’s suffrage movement in America were all white. Feminist movements would either exclude or segregate Black women and women of color from their work. For instance, Indian Suffragette Sophia Duleep Singh was depicted as an ally to advocate for white women only during the movement in the United Kingdom.
Barely until a few decades ago have women of color been recognized, yet they still face discrimination to this day not only from the West but also within their community.
From my personal experience growing up in a South Asian household, I remember when I was very little my melanin skin wasn’t seen as the ideal type of beauty, and it took me years to accept my skin is beautiful. As I’ve grown older, when I mention controversial topics like women’s rights, I am immediately seen as a “traitor” to my own culture, and those experiences alone are what determine whether or not if I’m a “true” Indian.
I’m sure women outside of the South Asian community can relate to me when I say that time and time again we have to “prove” ourselves for our voices to at least be heard and respected without judgment.
To find out someone like Harris to get the position of vice president shocked me because this is one of the very few times in history where a woman of color would be respected for their title instead of being forgotten again. Hopefully, this will be the start of recognizing them for their accomplishments like their white counterparts which were used in history to erase women of color.
Before Biden came up Vice President Kamala Harris had her speech for the first time as vice president-elect. While listening to the speech there was one part that hit me hard, when she said “While I may be the first woman in this office, I won’t be the last.”
During the vice-presidential debate Harris broke the news with her infamous quote, “Mr. Vice President, I’m speaking.” While that was seen as newsworthy to the media, it is a reality women of color have gone through every day.
Women of color have been historically silenced whereas Susan B. Anthony, a prominent woman praised during the women’s suffrage movement in America were all white. Feminist movements would either exclude or segregate Black women and women of color from their work. For instance, Indian Suffragette Sophia Duleep Singh was depicted as an ally to advocate for white women only during the movement in the United Kingdom.
Barely until a few decades ago have women of color been recognized, yet they still face discrimination to this day not only from the West but also within their community.
From my personal experience growing up in a South Asian household, I remember when I was very little my melanin skin wasn’t seen as the ideal type of beauty, and it took me years to accept my skin is beautiful. As I’ve grown older, when I mention controversial topics like women’s rights, I am immediately seen as a “traitor” to my own culture, and those experiences alone are what determine whether or not if I’m a “true” Indian.
I’m sure women outside of the South Asian community can relate to me when I say that time and time again we have to “prove” ourselves for our voices to at least be heard and respected without judgment.
To find out someone like Harris to get the position of vice president shocked me because this is one of the very few times in history where a woman of color would be respected for their title instead of being forgotten again. Hopefully, this will be the start of recognizing them for their accomplishments like their white counterparts which were used in history to erase women of color.