The Future for Marginalized Groups in America

A Biden 2020 support flag on a West Hartford resident’s house. (Tessa Hughes)

The Trump Administration has left a string of marginalized groups looking hopefully towards the next four years. 

Democrats all over the country let out a sigh of relief when the president elect was announced as Joe Biden on November 7th, 2020. But why was this year’s election so important? 

After almost a year of COVID-19 causing life changing issues globally, Biden’s first priority in office is to assemble a new pandemic task force, release a vaccine distribution plan, and implement new policies to prevent the spread of the virus, the president elect stated. COVID-19 has disproportionately affected people of color in America, especially poor Native American and black communities. In fact, Native Americans have 2.8x the amount of COVID cases compared to white people, according to the CDC. A thorough plan for handling the virus is, correlatively, a plan for protecting people of color in America.

“Biden has pushed for the passage of laws to strengthen the Voting Rights Act,” said Elena Moore, a writer for NPR. The Voting Rights Acts of 1965 aimed to end racial discrimination in voting. However, disenfranchisement due to racism still exists today. By promising to expand this act, Biden is seeking to minimize de facto discrimination that still exists in the US.

A Trump 2020 support sign on a West Hartford resident’s lawn. (Tessa Hughes)

“From decreasing civil rights enforcement to threatening the Affordable Care Act to undermining the U.S. immigration system, the administration has put the United States in peril instead of moving the nation forward,” said the Race and Ethnicity Policy Team from the Center for American Progress. “Under the Trump administration, the U.S. Office for Civil Rights upheld fewer than 2 in 10 complaints of racial harassment, compared with a rate of 31 percent under the Obama administration,” Was just one example they provided of 365 racist actions taken by the administration between 2016 and 2020.

“It made me feel unsafe and angry,” said Divine Edwards, a black man from West Hartford, about the national guard being instructed to act violently at Black Lives Matter protests. Divine has been anxiously following Trump’s policies throughout his presidency and had a strong emotional reaction to Biden winning the 2020 presidential election. “I was very ecstatic, and relieved,” said Edwards, “It gave me faith in this country.” The black community was an integral part of Biden winning the recent election. Black women were the demographic group with the highest percentage of Biden voters in 2020: 91%, said Erin Delmore for NBC news. 

“I had a huge celebration with my family,” said Sarah, a bisexual Jewish woman, whose name has been changed for anonymity, on the moment she found out that Biden had won, “I think the next four years will undo a lot of harmful things, and bring more equality for everyone.” The LGBT community has dealt with countless hits from the Trump Administration. “The Department of Defense put President Trump’s ban on transgender service members into effect, putting service members at risk of discharge if they come out or are found out to be transgender,” stated the National Center for Transgender Equality. A majority of members of this community were overjoyed and relieved that a president who most recently said he opposed gay marriage in 2015 is being replaced with one who was in office as Vice President when gay marriage was legalized for the first time in America.

For marginalized groups in America, the future seems hopeful. “President-elect Joe Biden will take office in January with a lot of promises to keep. He has pledged to enact new policies swiftly that veer the U.S. off President Trump’s current path,” said NPR’s Elena Moore.