This election will be historic. The legacy that civil rights icon the honorable John Lewis left calls for equal opportunity. With Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, the nation’s first female African-American candidate seeking the office of vice president on the Democratic ticket, it means there’s a lot at stake not only for the Black community but also for women and the nation.

It brings to mind an earlier time and another Black woman who sought high office in 1972, Shirley Chisholm. Chisholm, like Harris, was “unbought and unbossed.” Both women were steeped in a democratic tradition. Both had the wherewithal to change the face of history.

As an African-American woman and a voter who has watched this historic leap, I can’t help but feel proud of these political treasures. From the time women got the right to vote, it was clear that our vote could and did make a difference. Black women in particular have been the backbone of the Democratic Party and we have played a pivotal role in getting candidates elected on the local, state and national level.

Now we face our biggest challenge: bigotry and bias. The naysayers worry about a Black woman being a heartbeat away from the presidency. The president himself says that the election of Harris as vice president would be an “insult to our country.”

Don’t let the Republican rhetoric fool you. Kamala Harris is smart and gifted, and she just happens to be Black. We as voters must rise above the petty slurs coming out of Washington. We must elect the team that won’t harm the country but help get it back on track. There is a lot at stake this election cycle. The cause is just. The opportunity is here, and the time is now. Vote!

Janette Johnson Parker is the chairperson of the Good Government Committee for the Connecticut Sojourner Network of Democratic Women. She has served as state representative of Connecticut’s 95th District. She is the wife of the late Henry E. Parker, who was Connecticut’s State Treasurer.