Page 4 - aruba-today-20201110

A4 U.S. NEWS
Tuesday 10 November 2020
Kamala Harris win inspires women and girls nationwide

DETROIT (AP) — When Ash- Black or brown woman,"
ley Richardson-George's Russell said. "I see Stacey
5-year-old daughter saw Abrams. I see Queen Liliuo-
Kamala Harris wearing a kalani. I see all the women
white suffragette suit dur- who endured so many ter-
ing her prime-time vic- rible things to help clear
tory speech on Saturday, a pathway for us to have
she ran into her room and this moment. She symbol-
came back minutes later izes everything we've been
wearing a white dress and working for."
sweater. Flint, Michigan resident
Not only did her daughter, Egypt Otis and her 9-year-
Andrea, want to be like the old daughter Eva Allen met
Vice President-elect, she Harris in September when
wanted to look like her, too. she stopped by Otis' book-
And on that night, it was store, Comma Bookstore &
more possible than ever. Social Hub, during a cam-
"I was just really happy paign trip focused on Black
for her because you re- communities across the
ally don't believe that you battleground state.
can be anything that you So when Allen and Otis
want unless you see it," watched Harris' historic
said Richardson-George of speech Saturday, it was a
New York. "So for her, she full circle moment for the
was like, 'I can be the presi- Black mother and daugh-
dent.' So to see that glim- ter.
mer in her eyes as a parent, Michigan Sen. Debbie Stabenow, right, takes a picture of Vice President-elect Kamala Harris pos- "My daughter is going to be
ing for a photo on Sept. 22, 2020 with Egypt Otis and her nine-year-old daughter Eva Allen in front
it really is powerful to me as of their downtown Flint, Mich., bookstore, the Comma Bookstore & Social Hub. a part of history because
her mom." Associated Press she had the opportunity to
For countless women and have a conversation with
girls, Harris' achievement of Harris, a 56-year-old Cali- Rincon sat with her arm grows up thinking this is nor- our first Black woman vice
reaching the second high- fornia senator who is the around her 9-year-old mal." president," Otis said. "It just
est office in the country first Black woman and the daughter, Jordan, to watch A similar scene played out shows you how important
represents hope, valida- first person of South Asian the speech. in Phoenix, Arizona in Nicol representation is."
tion and the shattering of a descent elected to the A year ago, Rincon and Russell's home. In Fairbanks, Alaska, Trina
proverbial glass ceiling that vice presidency, has long Jordan had met Harris As Harris stepped onto the Bailey and her 13-year-
has kept mostly white men credited civil rights legends backstage at a rally dur- stage, Russell's 5-year-old old daughter, Leilah, sat
perched at the top tiers of like Shirley Chisholm, Mary ing her bid for president in daughter Makena and her arm-in-arm on the couch
American government. McLeod Bethune and Fan- the 2020 Democratic pri- best friend immediately watching Harris' speech.
"She's literally the blueprint nie Lou Hamer as sources maries. Jordan gave Harris sprang up and ran to the It was a moment of hope
to women's political pos- of inspiration, as well as her the "Kamala for President" TV. For minutes, they stood and mourning as Bailey re-
sibility and now she is step- Indian mother, Shyamala button she was wearing transfixed. flected on the Black wom-
ping literally into the Oval Gopalan. before Harris crouched to "She's brown like my mom," en she loves who never
Office and she's going to On Saturday, she paid trib- the ground to thank her at Makena told her friend. had the chance to step on
put an intersectional lens ute to the women, particu- eye level. For Russell, a Black and Na- a stage like that.
on everything this adminis- larly Black women, who "Harris was being celebrat- tive Hawaiian woman, Har- "I believe Black women
tration does from a gender paved the way for her. ed as this superstar at that ris' election has profound belong in all places where
or race lens," said Glynda "While I may be the first rally and now on stage meaning not just as it re- decisions are being made,"
Carr, the president and woman in this office, I will accepting the vice presi- lates to her daughter but to said Bailey, who is Black
CEO of Higher Heights, not be the last," Harris said dency," said Rincon, whose herself as well. herself. "Today, that's Sena-
which focuses on electing in her first post-election ad- daughter is Mexican and "In watching her, I see my tor Kamala Harris. Tomor-
Black women into political dress to the nation. Vietnamese American. "My sisters, I see my mother. I row, it's my daughter, Leilah
offices. Los Angeles mother Kim biggest hope is that Jordan see every hard-working Bailey."q

Feds: NYPD officer served as lookout for cocaine ring

NEW YORK (AP) — Fed- rant checks on its mem- one message to the traf- lyn U.S. attorney, said in a er of a Long Island pro-
eral authorities arrested a bers. fickers, according to court statement that Abreu "dis- duce company accused
New York City police of- Federal prosecutors said records. graced his NYPD badge of receiving cocaine con-
ficer Monday on charges he also distributed co- Abreu was charged with and betrayed the public cealed in cardboard to-
he served as a lookout for caine and traveled to the conspiring to import and trust as well as fellow mem- mato boxes.
drug traffickers who smug- Dominican Republic in distribute cocaine. He did bers of law enforcement Authorities said the ring
gled hundreds of kilograms January and February to not yet have a defense who put their lives on the also relied on help from a
of cocaine into the United meet with leaders of the attorney who could com- line to interdict drugs that corrupt U.S. Customs and
States. trafficking group. ment on the charges. endanger our communi- Border Protection officer
Officer Amaury Abreu, 34, "Today I'm going to find Abreu has been with the ties." to escort drug shipments
of Hauppauge, is accused out the thing I couldn't NYPD nine years and is sus- Federal prosecutors also through customs and
of explaining law enforce- yesterday because there pended without pay, the charged two high-ranking baggage claim at John
ment methods to the drug were too many people at Police Department said. members of the New York- F. Kennedy International
ring and performing war- the office," Abreu said in Seth DuCharme, the Brook- based group and the own- Airport.q