Making The Promise Real

In his victory speech on November 7, 2020, President-Elect Joe Biden proclaimed:

“We must make the promise of the country real for everybody — no matter their race, their ethnicity, their faith, their identity, or their disability.”

In that moment, my heart felt fuller than I ever knew was possible. I was listening to the 46th President honor and acknowledge so many people, including me, and my community. It may seem simple, but when your experiences are so often ignored and erased, hearing someone— especially someone in power, acknowledge the importance of your existence, and your equitable treatment in society feels revolutionary.

I've talked a lot about why I became an activist, and the struggles I have experienced living as a disabled woman in this world, particularly the fears and concerns I had about a continuation of the Trump administration. So, I wanted to take a moment to write down and document why this statement is so important to me, and millions of other marginalized people in the United States.

Let me start by saying very clearly that I am not naïve. I know that statements like these do not mean that our work is anywhere near done. They do not mean that oppression will suddenly disappear, and equity and justice will happen overnight. I know all that, but that doesn't mean they're not powerful, and it doesn't mean they don't matter. 

I've often said, I became an activist because my life depended on it, and that's the truth. My activism was born out of my own struggle to find my place in this world. It was born from disappointment and realizing that the promises of our great nation often did not apply to people like me. It came from realizing that hard work and determination would not be enough to get people to realize that my disability doesn't make me less valuable than anybody else.

I dream of a world grounded in equity, where differences are not ignored, or glossed over, but rather celebrated. I dream of a world where our goal is not to pretend that everybody's the same, and needs the same things, but rather where we acknowledge people's different experiences, struggles, talents, and backgrounds, and truly believe that no one way of being is better or more deserving of respect and dignity than another. I pray and hope for a world where my disability is not seen as a bad thing, but as a valuable part of who I am. I hope for a future where people can acknowledge their privileges without defense and work on dismantling the structural oppression that keeps others down. This is the world, and the America that I dream of. This is the nation I know we can be.

When Joe Biden acknowledged my community among those deserving of the promises of this nation, I felt seen, but I also remembered why I will never stop doing the work of fighting for equity and change.

The truth is, Joe Biden's words shouldn't be considered revolutionary at all. Instead, they should be expected. Those words should be a reality for every single person in this nation.

We shouldn't live in a country where certain people have to work ten times as hard as others for half as much because of the identities they hold and the bodies they inhabit. We shouldn't live in a country where people fear elections because their very right to existence is up for debate yet again. 

I know I've said this before, but it bears repeating.

This fight isn't about Republicans versus Democrats, red versus blue, or even Trump versus Biden. It's about so much more than that. Activists are fighting for their lives, and the lives of others. We are fighting for our right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. We are fighting to matter, and have our lives seen as valuable and worthwhile, not in spite of who we are, but precisely because of it.

So, you may be wondering what does all of this have to do with the words Joe Biden spoke on November 7, 2020? Well, let me tell you.

It has everything to do with it.

The first part of fixing a problem, and of challenging inequity is being willing to openly acknowledge that it exists, and we deserve better. With his speech, Joe Biden did just that. He acknowledged that the promises of the United States of America are not yet equally real for everyone regardless of their identities, and it shouldn't be that way, because we all deserve better.

I became an activist because I genuinely believe that we are capable of better, and we deserve better, and hearing the next leader of our country acknowledge this gives me at least a little bit more hope that we can get there. It is well past time that the promises of our nation become a reality for everyone, and I won't give up, or stop doing the work that needs to be done until that dream becomes our reality.