Last Friday, a member of our team posted a video of Sam Cooke’s “A Change is Gonna Come” in our internal messaging channel, on what would have been Cooke’s 90th birthday. It felt like a befitting end to a week that truly signified change in our nation, and quite frankly, the world. Biden and Harris’s victory is a story of change.
After a tumultuous 2020, an insurrection at the U.S. Capitol just one week before inauguration day, and four (long) years of an administration that seemed to revert any progress made in the name of diversity, equity, inclusion and justice—the moment Joe Biden and Kamala Harris were sworn in as the President and (first woman, first Black person, first person of South Asian descent!!) Vice President (did you hear the glass shatter?) it felt like a huge weight was lifted. I am not naïve. I understand that there is much work to do and Biden and Harris in office won’t automatically bring justice and an end to white supremacy. Four hundred plus years of racist systems will not be dismantled in four or even eight years. However, I know and have faith that a change is gonna come….
There is much work to do and Biden and Harris in office won’t automatically bring justice and an end to white supremacy. However, I know and have faith that a change is gonna come…. Click To TweetWe have already witnessed the stark contrast between administrations. From the diversity on display at the inauguration, to the most diverse cabinet picks in history, to reversing many of the racist and xenophobic actions of the Trump administration — a change has already come. Just hours after being sworn in, Biden signed an executive order on “advancing racial equity” requiring that federal agencies investigate whether or not their policies create barriers for BIPOC and other underserved communities (a vast difference from Trump’s actions that targeted any advancement in racial equity, such as his EO banning anti-racism training and the 1776 Commission). This week, Biden took further steps by signing a series of specific executive actions aiming to advance racial equity policy. These four actions strengthened anti–racial–discrimination efforts in public housing, ended the use of private prisons by the Department of Justice, reestablished the sovereignty of Native American tribes, and combatted xenophobia against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. A change is gonna come….
It’s not perfect. It doesn’t address all the demands of which racial justice activists and advocates have been fighting for hundreds of years. But it is a start. Even Biden recognizes that there is much more work to do beyond these actions. “I’m not promising that we can end it tomorrow,” he said, “but I promise you that we’re going to make strides to end systemic racism, and every branch of the White House and federal government will be part of that.” And that’s what we ask for — a start. We know dismantling racism sustainably takes system–level change. And the government is one of the biggest systems there is! At the same time, we can acknowledge complexity — that it will take more than a few executive actions. We must continue to hold our government leaders accountable at the local and federal levels to make changes in policy and laws.
Hearing 'systemic racism' and 'white supremacy' so unapologetically and bluntly used from a President of the United States is powerful to me. Click To TweetThe fact that we are hearing language like “systemic racism” and “white supremacy” so unapologetically and bluntly used from a President of the United States, the highest office in the land, is powerful to me. Biden mentioned the events of last summer — the murder of George Floyd — and how “the ground has shifted.” Those of us doing this work felt that shift as well. This is a movement, not a moment. “Our soul will be troubled,” Biden said, “as long as systemic racism is allowed to exist.”
It’s been a long
A long time coming
But I know a change gonna come
Oh, yes it will
