The US magazine ‘Time’ has designated President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris as 2020 People of the Year for “changing American history” and putting “empathy over division” in a world marked by pandemic pain.
Biden and Harris, who take up the witness of the young environmental activist Greta Thunberg, have been chosen by the magazine as the last representatives of a list that began in 1927 and that this year included the outgoing president of the United States, Donald Trump, among the nominees. .
The other two candidates for the title, has revealed ‘Time’, were the specialist in infectious diseases and champion of the health efforts in the fight against the coronavirus, Dr. Anthony Fauci, and the Movement for Racial Justice, a term with which the medio designates the amalgamation of organizations that have protested throughout this year against police brutality towards black citizens.
The editor-in-chief of ‘Time’ and head of the election, Edward Felsenthal, justifies his decision in the transformative nature of those chosen. “For changing American history, for showing that the forces of empathy are greater than the fury of division, for sharing a healing vision in a suffering world,” he wields.
“Biden,” highlights the magazine in the corresponding article dedicated to the two elected, “had the vision, set the tone and led the Democratic formula to the White House, but he was also able to recognize what he could not offer himself, what a 78-year-old white man could never bring: generational change, a fresh perspective, and an embodiment of America’s diversity.
“For that he needed Kamala Harris, a California senator, former district attorney and state attorney general, a biracial daughter of immigrants whose charisma and tough questions to those in charge of the Trump Administration electrified millions of Democrats,” says the magazine. “In an era of tribalism, the union aims to show that differences do not have to be divisions,” adds the medium.
This year, Time has dedicated additional mentions to other prominent personalities from the sports, cultural, social and technological scene. Basketball player LeBron James has been voted Athlete of the Year, the Artist of the Year award has gone to South Korean pop music group BTS, and businessman Eric Yuan has been chosen the Business Person of 2020 as the founder of the electronic application by excellence employed in this pandemic: the Zoom group communication service.
Finally, the magazine has dedicated a special section, the “Guardians of the Year” award, to racial activists from around the world, with a special mention for the French social organizer and face of the Black Lives Matter movement, Assa Traoré.
