Oprah Winfrey calls Kamala Harris's win as VP-elect 'extraordinary', wishes 'Maya Angelou were alive' to see it
Television mogul Oprah Winfrey recently revealed that she is ecstatic that President-elect Joe Biden was declared the projected winner of the 2020 election and more than that, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris was projected to become the first woman as well as the first Black or Asian person to hold the office.
Speaking to People magazine, the legendary talk show host said that Harris's contribution to the history of the nation was immeasurable. "I think what she means for women of the world is so extraordinary. For women here in the United States, we can't even measure it," Winfrey said. "Because to see someone who looks like you in this role, you see what's possible for yourself. Period. And the generational impact: You can't put a price on it. You can't put a measurement on it. I'm just hoping we get through the inauguration and turn the page on this really challenging time for democracy. I felt like democracy was on a cliff, and Black women helped pull it back from the edge."
Winfrey also admitted that she was glued to her TV screen when Harris got up on the stage at Wilmington, Delaware on Saturday, November 7, and delivered her victory speech wearing all-white, representing the Suffragette movement. Reflecting on the past, the California senator, 56, spoke of the importance of looking toward the future without forgetting the bygones.
"All the women who have worked to secure and protect the right to vote for over a century 100 years ago with the 19th Amendment, 55 years ago with the Voting Rights Act and now in 2020 with a new generation of women in our country who cast their ballots and continued the fight for their fundamental right to vote and be heard," Harris said. "Tonight, I reflect on their struggle, their determination and the strength of their vision to see what can be unburdened by what has been. And I stand on their shoulders."
Winfrey said that she could not help but feel emotional for what the moment meant for all the women who thought they were not good enough to achieve their dreams. "Wasn't that something? I must say I had a little water running, too," she said. "I got a text from Tyler Perry saying, 'I know you somewhere in the corner crying, as I am.'" She added that she was also thinking about the women whom Harris invoked in her speech. "I was thinking the other day, 'I wish Maya [Angelou] were alive to see it,'" Winfrey said referring to the world-renowned writer-poet and women's rights activist who died in 2014. "But maybe she's working it on the other side. Because there's no way to measure the what the election of Kamala Harris means for all women, all colors, everywhere."
She said that because the Biden-Harris ticket meant more than the Democratic agenda. "This election was one of the most important I've ever been alive to witness," she says. "For me, what was really at stake, beyond all of the policy issues, was character and decency ... and that's what I was voting for." Winfrey launched "OWN Your Vote", which was a bipartisan campaign to encourage Black women to get to the polls. She added that one could clearly get an idea of Biden's character through the phone call she had with him had a few weeks before the election.
"He was kind enough to call and thank me. I kept thinking, 'He's going to ask for something.' I was waiting. Twenty-seven minutes later, it was just a thank you for what you're doing in terms of voting support and calling people," Winfrey says. "I could not believe it that this man, with everything going on, had 27 minutes to call. My respect for Joe Biden went tenfold over that."