Kamala Harris made history with quiet, exquisite power

Vice President-elect Kamala D. Harris walks to address supporters outside the Chase Center in Wilmington, Del. (Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post)

By 

Robin Givhan

Senior critic-at-large

November 7, 2020 at 7:24 p.m. PST

History was right there in the making all the time.

When it arrived, there was no screaming shock to the system. The system was, quite frankly, numb. Instead, it was a moment of hushed catharsis. Of release. Of tears that had been buried so deep, for so long, that they bubbled up slowly and quietly.

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From the moment Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden asked Sen. Kamala D. Harris (D-Calif.) to join the ticket, the country knew that she could become the nation’s first Black woman and first Asian American woman to be vice president. And yet, the reality of what that meant, or how that would look, seemed to recede into the background of a campaign narrative that was dominated by a raging pandemic, a president who treated a live debate like a wrestling match, and the unknown ramifications of the Democrats’ decision to shift to virtual fundraisers and drive-in rallies.