Honking cars, cheering crowds, and beaming smiles filled the streets of DC on November 7, 2020, the day Joe Biden and running-mate Kamala Harris were declared winners of the presidential election. 

Following that momentous announcement, I rushed to meet my friends who were planning on driving around downtown to feel the energy of a united city. With my head out the window, and “FDT” by YG blasting from the speakers, each cheer or smile from people walking around was like a mini-connection between one another, born out of the mutual contempt of former President Donald Trump. No one was in a rush or angry; everyone in their cars just wanted to be surrounded and uplifted by the vivacity of the city.

The unusually warm November weather made it the perfect day to take to the streets and COVID-safely celebrate. At Black Lives Matter Plaza, the epicenter of the festivities, crowds popped bottles, danced, and admired the White House fence, adorned with posters commemorating victims of police violence, and some very direct messages towards Trump himself. 

The one thing that stood out was the incredible diversity of the crowd. From race to gender, to ethnicity to sexuality, everyone stood in unison expressing their joy and reflecting on the past four years, filled with collective hope for the next four. Biden was illuminated on a nearby building in neon lights, while we celebrated shirtless with Biden stickers on our chests, and enough bottles of alcohol in the trash cans to have supplied all of DC; the feeling was indescribable. In the back of my head, I knew that a utopian future would not be achievable, but after going through the stressful election, Biden’s win was the tiny hint of hope that everyone needed to rejoice together.