Why Kamala Harris's Big Night at the 2020 DNC was bittersweet

Good morning, Broadsheet readers! The EU responds to elections in Belarus, women’s sports struggle with how to address transgender athletes, and Kamala Harris makes history. Have a productive Thursday.

– Kamala’s Big Night. It was a historic night in Delaware. On night three of the all-virtual Democratic National Convention, Sen. Kamala Harris (D–Calif.) officially accepted the party’s nomination for vice president, becoming the first woman of color to ever get the nod on a major party ticket.

In her speech, Harris did what Joe Biden selected her to do: act as his chief surrogate and fiercely prosecute the case against the president. “Donald Trump’s failure of leadership has cost lives and livelihoods,” she said.

She also decried “structural racism,” a cause that has drawn millions to the streets to call for the kind of change that Harris herself—arguably—represents.

“[T]here is no vaccine for racism,” she said. “We’ve gotta do the work.”

Harris also addressed her barrier-breaking status head on: “That I am here tonight is a testament to the dedication of generations before me. Women and men who believed so fiercely in the promise of equality, liberty, and justice for all.”

But the evening also had a bittersweet feel to it, as Hillary Clinton, speaking earlier in the night, used her 2016 loss to Trump as a means to get out the vote. “This can’t be another woulda-coulda-shoulda election,” she said.

Clinton’s comments were a stinging reminder that being a first doesn’t mean you don’t fail; that female politicians are still judged by a different set of rules; that Americans still see women in power as a novelty.

Even with all the digital fanfare surrounding her nomination, Harris is no doubt profoundly aware of those realities. In fact, she and Clinton both mentioned the suffragette movement in their speeches. In paying tribute to the activists who a century ago Tuesday won (white) women the right to vote, they recognized a movement whose legacy is not a one-and-done battle but a fight that started seven decades before Aug. 18, 1920 and endured long after.

“These women and the generations that followed worked to make democracy and opportunity real in the lives of all of us who followed,” Harris said. “And these women inspired us to pick up the torch, and fight on.”

Claire Zillman
claire.zillman@fortune.com
@clairezillman

Today’s Broadsheet was curated by Emma Hinchliffe.

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