The 9-year-old daughter of a friend of the president of the Blair County Democratic Committee found it hard to believe that there had never been a female U.S. vice president before Kamala Harris was sworn in Wednesday.

“She was taken aback,” Gillian Kratzer said of her friend’s daughter. “It speaks to the fact that so long as (there has been) American history, essentially half of our talent pool has been left by the wayside.”

Harris is not only the first woman, but also the first Black woman and first person of Asian descent elected vice president.

It shouldn’t have taken until 2021, especially because there are other countries “not classified as particularly friendly (to) women” that have had women at the head of their governments, Kratzer said.

“A lot of us felt it was overdue,” said Laura Burke, Democratic Blair County commissioner.

Hillary Clinton came close to the presidency in 2016 — and was expected to win — but “almost isn’t good enough,” Kratzer said.

“It’s surreal,” Lynda Witherspoon, a local Black woman originally from Haiti, said of Harris’ new office.

All her Facebook friends are posting about it, wearing items to show their solidarity with Harris, Witherspoon said.

“Pearls and Chucks,” she said, referring to the jewelry Harris favors and the footwear — Converse Chuck Taylor All Star sneakers.

The Jan. 6 Capitol riot demonstrates how negativity about America’s increasingly diverse population “sometimes hardens people,” Witherspoon said.

“(But) when things like (Wednesday’s inauguration) happen, it’s kind of like change can come,” she said. “Those little glimpses of the light give us that hope.”

After all, immigration and diversity are “the embodiment of what America is built on,” Witherspoon added.

Although women have historically been overlooked in connection with holding office, they are “the backbone of democracy,” given their tendency to vote in higher numbers than men do and their dedication to causes like civil rights, said Linda Witherspoon, who is white, the widow of recently deceased Blair County NAACP President Don Witherspoon and related by marriage to Lynda Witherspoon.

Black women and South Asians have been even more thoroughly overlooked than white women, she said.

“How great that must be for them to see someone that looks like them (become) vice president,” she said.

The new vice president’s swearing-in “was an emotional moment” for many, and it wasn’t limited by age, said Burke.

Harris is a role model for everyone, not just women, given her intelligence and competence, according to Donna Gority, former Democratic Blair county commissioner.

Wednesday’s inauguration was traditional, “in a very good way” — aside from the COVID-19 restrictions on in-person attendance — because of its “collegiality,” according to Kratzer, who cited the inclusion of the Republican leaders of the Senate and House.

No one is going to forget the riot, but it’s critical now to have “conversations, even where we disagree,” Kratzer said.

Still, the new administration will need to prove itself, Gority said.

“Are they sincere about trying to unify the country?” she asked rhetorically.

She has Facebook friends with political views that vary widely and saw both elation and “all kinds of negativity” Wednesday.

But she’s optimistic, given Biden’s political experience as vice president under Barack Obama, his many years in the Senate, his acquaintance with “many of the key players” and the chastened mood of many in recent days, she said.

“The horrific attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6 stunned everybody,” Gority said. “I think people are willing to step back a little bit from that rancor.”

The departure of President Donald Trump and the arrival of Biden and Harris has given people a feeling of “a weight lifted,” Burke said.

It will be neither easy nor quick, but the administration can “bring the country back together,” Burke predicted.

Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 949-7038.