It’s That Time of The Year: A a breakdown of Time Magazine’s person of 2020

One of my favorite things to look forward to at the end of the year — along with YouTube Rewind and Spotify Wrapped — is Time Magazine’s honoring of Person of The Year, which they announced to be Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. 

Throughout a year like 2020, being a part of Time’s list is more commendable than ever because of the hardships we’ve gone through. 

While I think Harris and Biden both deserve this achievement, it wasn’t necessarily a surprise. Other prominent political leaders, like Obama and Trump, have accepted this recognition in years past. 

Because of the pandemic and the amplified voices striving for racial justice, it’s different to be honored this year. With both of them encouraging mask wearing and social distancing, and Harris being the first Asian-American and Black woman in office, they’ve fought these struggles already. 

Despite all of the disagreement that this year has brought, whether it be political or moral, they’ve both persisted with the fact that we’re all Americans — something that I wasn’t proud to be for the larger part of this year. During this time of disagreement, it’s especially critical that this point is emphasized as the country pushes out COVID-19 and towards racial justice.

While I’m not a big fan of Biden and Harris themselves, the diverse cabinet they’re building has given me a reason to appreciate their election to office, and that they were granted the honor of being mentioned as 2020 person of the year.

Along with Biden and Harris, Time also announced their Guardians of The Year to be frontline 

healthcare workers and racial-justice organizers, their athlete of the year to be LeBron James, business person of the year as Eric Yuan and entertainer of the year to be BTS.

Pandemic workers and activists are working for the change that we desperately need right now, and LeBron James continues to prove he is the greatest basketball player of his generation through advocating against the suppression of Black voters.

Eric Yuan created Zoom, which has been used for connecting families and teaching students this entire year, and BTS, a K-Pop boy band, has continued to dominate the charts with their unique music.

While there are so many other individuals who are equally as deserving of this award, these people stood out in making a difference and initiating change.