This time last year, we were still in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Daily life as we knew it was changing and many throughout the United States reacted in an unfortunate, but predictable way by engaging in racial scapegoating. The virus’s origins in China were used as justification for broad anti-Asian sentiment and many of us warned that this hateful, reactionary rhetoric would lead to increased harassment and violence in real life. Sure enough, anti-Asian hate crimes rapidly increased, but fast forward to 2021 and things have taken an even more grim turn.

Women’s History Month 2021 commemorates a particularly pivotal time in the American story. We have witnessed history being made at the highest levels of power with the election of Vice President Kamala Harris, the first woman, Black and South Asian person to serve in the role. While that certainly gets much-deserved attention, the early months of 2021 have highlighted the contributions of women in a variety of areas.

Just a month into 2021, we have already witnessed a number of defining moments that demonstrate the duality of where we stand as a country. On one hand, the elections of Kamala Harris, the first woman, Black and Asian American person to become Vice President of the United States, and Raphael Warnock, the first Black Senator from Georgia, represent major milestones in American politics. However, for many, the deadly Jan. 6 attack on the U.S.

2020 has been a year of clarity. One of the most important examples of clarity, specifically in regards to ignoring lessons from history, was the spread of wildfires up and down the west coast of the United States. This trend of both the fires growing every year and our collective society choosing to accept this reality seemed to have no end in sight. Then something both surprising and predictable happened. The fires got so bad and became so widespread no one could ignore them anywhere. For days, parts of Oregon recorded the worst air quality of any cities on Earth.