ESPOSITO: Biden's entrance is not inequality's exit
Column: Unapologetically
A phrase tossed frequently around every news platform on Nov. 4, 2008, was, “It is the death of racism in America”! Former President Barack Obama had just become the projected winner of the presidential election.
He had defeated the Republican nominee, former Sen. John McCain of Arizona. He was going to become the 44th president of the U.S., but this was not the extent of the notoriety behind Obama’s win.
He was going to be the first Black man sworn in to be president of the U.S. There is no denying that this was a monumental moment in our country’s history. But oftentimes, we do not acknowledge that Obama taking office was as many steps forward as it was backward.
Many people took this milestone as a sign that the times of racism in America were behind us. By electing a Black president, people thought that this was an eradication of the systemic inequality that still rages and exists in America today. We know now, especially with the social unrest of 2020, how false that is.
People of color are still disproportionately living in poverty. They are still making far less wages and making up the majority of lowest paying jobs. They are still outwardly discriminated against by law enforcement, politicians and even our previous president. There is no one step to eradicate the ugliness our country has. It takes time, it takes law revisions, it takes action.
And to falsely claim the end of racism, is to ignore the problems that real people still face every day, more than a decade after we elected Obama. This potentially contributed to the election of former President Donald J. Trump, who upon taking office, divided the country on issues of race, gender and inequality more than it ever has been in modern times.
President Joseph R. Biden Jr. was inaugurated as the 46th U.S. president a week ago. Since taking office, he has sought to revise some of his predecessor's most controversial policies: revoking the Muslim Ban, rejoining the Paris Agreement and the World Health Organization and monumentally reversing the ban on transgender people in the military.
Biden’s mantra is unity. He and his administration promised to be for everybody, regardless of whether someone voted for him. But the entrance of Biden, and the riddance of these ignorant policies, do not fix America. We know that as millions of us watched the thousands of rioters storm the Capitol building in response to the coming inauguration of the new president.
Biden’s return to the White House did not eradicate the major challenges our society faces every day, it just keeps them at bay. Revoking the transgender ban in the military does not mean that transgender people do not face judgment when applying for a multitude of jobs, even though there is no law where that is concerned.
Revoking the Muslim ban did not make America more tolerant of people of color overnight. These Americans still face racism as a part of their everyday life. And just because people are now paying attention, just because the issue of inequality has become more of a conversation, we have not yet defeated these ugly issues we face. We still have a long way to go.
I am 21 years old, living in a Democratic state and going to a public university that is about as tolerant as it gets. And still, I witness moments of injustice throughout my everyday life. I still hear of those who are struggling to be accepted due to who they are. Biden’s win did not create unity. It created a conversation toward it.
We cannot turn our heads on the ugliest parts of America and claim they are fixed, besides “a few radicals.” If we do so, we will never get the unity we all deserve, we will simply just stray further away from it.
Laura Esposito is a School of Arts and Sciences junior majoring in journalism and political science. Her column, "Unapologetically," runs on alternate Tuesdays.
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