MEDIA: The cover of the magazine features an image of Joe Biden, 78, and Kamala Harris, 56, with the headline, “Changing America’s History.”
It is a real consecration. US President-elect Joe Biden and Vice-President-elect Kamala Harris were named Time magazine’s “Personalities of the Year” on Thursday after their victory over Donald Trump.
Joe Biden, who is to be inaugurated 46th President of the United States on January 20, and Kamala Harris, were chosen before three other finalists – Donald Trump, the movement against racial inequalities sparked by the death of George Floyd at the end of May in Minneapolis, on Doctor Anthony Fauci and the caregivers most exposed to the coronavirus.
Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are TIME’s 2020 Person of the Year #TIMEPOY https://t.co/o97QNlSBrl pic.twitter.com/KuoBoebBN4
— TIME (@TIME) December 11, 2020
“Changing the history of America”
The magazine’s cover features an image of Joe Biden, 78 years old, and Kamala Harris, 56, with the headline, “Changing America’s History.” “To change the history of America, to show that the forces of empathy are greater than those of division, to offer a vision of healing in a grieving world, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are for Time the Personalities of the year 2020, ”the magazine explained.
It was only the 10th time in the history of the United States that a presidential candidate managed to defeat an incumbent president, said the magazine. Even though Donald Trump continues to refuse to recognize the victory of the former vice-president of Barack Obama, Joe Biden has, with some 81 million votes in total, gained some seven million votes more than the ex-tycoon of real estate. Donald Trump, who was “Personality of the Year in 2016”, did not immediately react to the awarding of this distinction to his rival. Many expect him to be furious.
Reviews on social media
Some criticisms appeared Thursday evening on social networks , believing that the “essential workers” most exposed to the pandemic should have been selected by the magazine rather than Joe Biden. These workers – caregivers , delivery people, supermarket or transport employees… – had been named personalities of the year by Time readers , but the magazine’s management did not select them for their final choice.
While the magazine has often named an American President as Personality of the Year, at one point or another during his tenure, this is the first time that a Vice President or elected Vice President has been associated with this honor. In an interview with Time , Kamala Harris, daughter of a Jamaican father and an Indian mother, estimated that the new Biden government would have, in addition to the pandemic and the deep economic crisis it has generated, to work for “the racial justice ”, which is“ too late ”.
A portrait dedicated to Assa Traoré, Adama Traoré’s sister
The movement against racial inequalities, in the United States and internationally, is also celebrated in this category of “Guardians of the Year”. In this regard, Time devotes a long portrait to the activist Porche Bennett-Bey, residing in Kenosha, where Jacob Blake died, but also to Assa Traoré, the sister of Adama Traoré and spokesperson for the “Justice for Adama ”.
Assa Traoré and racial-justice organizers are TIME’s 2020 Guardians of the Year https://t.co/5OFcHqlzR2 pic.twitter.com/xyidngMWia
— TIME (@TIME) December 11, 2020
Time also named NBA LeBron James Sportsperson of the Year on Thursday, both for his athletic results – he won a fourth NBA coronation – and his efforts to encourage people to vote.
