During web-based Monday proceedings for this year’s edition of the International Women of Courage Awards, which are hosted by the State Department, First Lady Jill Biden reflected on the travails of the recent past and possibilities for the path ahead. The award recipients included Guatemalan trial judge Erika Aifan, Chinese human rights lawyer Wang Yu, and others, and the First Lady extolled the “love for family and friends” and “hope that we will be together soon” that, she said, “transcend language and distance.”
‘If we have learned anything in this year of sickness and sorrow, it’s that we are all connected to one another — how one deadly breath can move through the world… Poverty and conflict, unrest and uncertainty, these aren’t contained by borders… But we’ve seen how joy can spread too, with the music of balcony concerts bringing comfort to people across the world… We’ve seen calls for justice echoing through the streets of cities near and far. And we’ve seen how the things that connect all of us — our love for family and friends, our hope that we will be together soon — transcend language and distance.’
The Biden administration has been working to advance these causes through means including the ongoing nationwide COVID-19 vaccination effort and the substantial COVID-19 relief package that will soon be ready for the president’s signature. That relief package includes landmark provisions like a child tax credit expansion that could provide monthly or near-monthly financial support to parents across the country, helping to substantially decrease child poverty in the United States. Previously, child tax credits were only available at the time of filing end-of-year taxes, and the amounts were smaller.
At the State Department event on Monday, Jill Biden added as follows:
‘Justice can only be justice if it’s for all… [The United States will] make the choice to lead, to be bold, and to lift up women and girls everywhere who light our way. Today, we recommit to being worthy of that courage. To understanding that our lives are tied together in immeasurable and powerful ways. And by choosing every day to honor that connection.’
Check out her comments below:
On Monday, President Joe Biden was slated to sign two executive orders on a similar note. The orders include a demand for a review of controversial guidelines for handling sexual assault on college campuses that offered significant protections for accused perpetrators and the creation of a White House Gender Policy Council, which is slated to operate within Biden’s purview.
