I Walk In Her Shoes BY CHERIE BUCKNER-WEBB
Image courtesy of Bria Goeller and WTF America-Good Trubble
While we knew not her name, we knew she would embody the whole of all women, races, backgrounds, cultures, professions. AND FINALLY, SHE IS HERE.
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We
knew she was coming. We waited. We made preparations. For generations, many laid the foundation, shared the promise of women of power, passion and purpose. No one lost hope. We kept the faith, were prayerful: we did not falter nor faint. We heard her voice in the admonitions of our mothers, felt her fervor in our DNA, tasted her freedom in our dreams. Her determination swelled in our hearts. Our destinies were woven with will and perseverance she would possess to overcome the naysayers and adversaries. We remained vigilant.
All the while she was learning the ways of the advisory and how to best address the myriad paradoxes she would face as a woman of color in a white world. She learned the formidable lessons of diplomacy, order, tact, and finesse, while understanding that there is opportunity in chaos. She acknowledged the juxtapositions she represented, those that seemingly confounded the mainstream, dominant culture. In every endeavor of her life: educationally, personally, professionally, and politically, she was pushed back and pulled forward always heading toward the future. Our future. She did not accept either/or as the only answer. She worked, listened, and learned from those who came before and inhabited her paradox like a second skin. She is clear about being an individual and being a member of a group, always aware of her sameness and difference. Knowing how and when to challenge and when to support and serve an ideology, a person, the greater good, made her a leader. She is the first and will not be the last.
She honors the women who forged the path for herself and all of us. She epitomizes the skills and capabilities, the cherished “firsts” in the political and in life–the Honorable Shirley Chisholm, Barbara Jordon, Carol Moseley-Braun, Rosa Parks and six-year-old Ruby Bridges, the first African American child to attend a white elementary school in southern America. While we knew not her name, we knew she would embody the whole of all women, races, backgrounds, cultures, professions. And finally, she is here. We call her sister, mother, trailblazer and Kamala Harris, Vice President of the United States of America. We welcome you, Kamala, at this place in our time. We knew you were coming.
