Do different times equate different problems?

   We are all well aware that 2020 has been viewed as one of the worst years ever, from Giant Murder Hornets to Endless Quarantine; it's easy to say this year is a not a fan favorite. One subject that has been boiling over all year is the presidential race that is now upon us. This race has a lot of fuel that keeps it going, but one of the most hot spots to gain or lose millions of votes is the Treatment of Black people by the police. This brings us to our topic, Black people in the United States; more specifically Black People who have attempted to run for positions of power in The United Sates Government.The two people we are Looking at are the very first Black Person to run for President, George Edwin Taylor, and the very first black Woman to run for Vice President, Kamala Harris. This is history vs what will soon be viewed as such. Candidates who aimed for power in completely different times and the real question is if different times change the problems they both have and will face?

George Edwin Taylor ran for president in 1904, he was the son of a slave in a time where Black people where barely seen as citizens, and many did not even cast their ballots because of the "Black Codes" that were set in place to restrict Black men from voting. He was a close partner to Fredrick Douglas and he ran as an independent republican who have a strong urge for the betterment of his people. This as you may expect did not earn him any sympathy with opposing parties or the majority of voting Americans. A lot of hurdles were things that he could not control, most prevalently the violent and chaotic racism that plagued the world at the time, especially in the United States. Being a Black Man who could read would've been enough to lose your life so imagine being a Black Man attempting to claim the highest powers as your own. H was faced with a force of pure hatred that sought to destroy him and all black people in the United States and this is the biggest and nastiest problem he faced. He could not finish school after his mother died and he was poorly educated to begin with. Taken as a joke and ridiculed for trying at all. He even made a statement on the matter, He said "Yes, I know most white folks take me as a joke … but I want to tell you the colored man is beginning to see a lot of things that the white folks do not give him credit for seeing. He’s beginning to see that he has got to take care of his own interests, and what’s more, that he has the power to do it" he was meant to be an inspiration, going into a race that he was destined to fail. 

    Let's come back to the present day, anyone and everyone can vote, racism is far far less than it has ever been in the United States. It is 2020 and Kamala Harris is the first black woman to run for Vice president. She is the daughter of an Indian Woman and a Jamaican Man and has been in government before her run as Vice President. She has not faced many things that are from an outside force, as a woman in 2020 attempting to rise above her station she has gained nothing but support in that aspect, but many are against the idea of identity politics. If you don't know what that mean, Identity politics are the idea of voting for someone based on how they identify. This is a big part of the reason she is receiving such backlash, she has tried to use her ethnic background to benefit her in the polls. In other words the biggest spikes she has to hurdle are the ones she built for herself. She doesn't face the terrible racism, she doesn't face the gender inequality of 1904, and no one is just going to hold anything outside her control against her. In 2020 inclusivity is something that most people want. Identity politics are something people are very ok with for whatever reason and she is taking full advantage of that.

They do not face any of the same problems at all. George Edwin Taylor faced

1. Extreme Racism in the day to day life of his people

2. His candidacy was practically a joke to everyone

3. Black people could not vote

4. He never graduated school so he was very under-educated

5. He was trying to be a symbol to the rest of African-Americans.

  I know this is supposed to be about their similarities but I can not see any similarities. They aren't even the same ethnicity so she could never even start to compare to the hardships he faced. Because she doesn't face any. And if she does then they're not comparable at all.