The year 2020 was an eventful one to say the least. It was historic in more ways than one with a global pandemic and political tensions among many other things.
Starting in January, Australia dealt with bushfires that ravaged its coasts and caught global attention. About 17 million hectares of land was burnt, which is about the size of 31 football fields. Wildlife was highly affected as the fires burned around 20% of Australia’s forests.
On January 15, 2020, Trump was impeached for the first time by the House of Representatives for obstruction of congress and abuse of power. The move to impeach him came after he was found to have tried to bring Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden’s son in a move to aid his reelection.
Towards the end of January, basketball legend Kobe Bryant and his daughter among seven others died in a helicopter crash. He won five N.B.A championships and in his last game before his retirement, he scored 60 points.
In February, a normal Super Bowl took place and the Kansas City Chiefs beat the San Francisco 49ers while Jennifer Lopez and Shakira performed at halftime. At the Oscars, Parasite made history by becoming the first non-English film to win best picture.
The end of February was marked by the murder of Ahmaud Arbery by two white men in Georgia; they were convicted two and half months later. The first COVID-19 death in the U.S. was also reported.
Things changed drastically in March. COVID-19 caused concerns and many events such as the NBA season and concerts were canceled. On March 11th, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 to be a pandemic. On March 13th, California schools closed for the rest of the school year. Zoom became a staple in students’ lives as classes were moved online. That same night, Breonna Taylor was murdered when police raided her Kentucky home. She was only 26 years old.
Stay at home orders were soon enacted and made people stay at home. Cities quickly became ghost towns. The U.S. reached 163,000 reported cases by the end of March.
In April, masks became mandatory in public. They were spotted anywhere from grocery stores to parks. Joe Biden also became the democratic presidential candidate as Bernie Sanders dropped out of the race.
May was marked by the murder of George Floyd. Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin held his knee to Floyd’s neck for 8 minutes, cutting off his oxygen and causing his death. Floyd’s death was caught on video and it soon became viral. Protests ignited across the nation. Several cities like Los Angeles declared a state of emergency amid the intense protests. Police clashed with protesters; they used force, tear gas, and rubber bullets to deter and counter protesters. Protesters knocked down longstanding symbols of white supremacy and racism like statues of Columbus and Confederate figures. Protesters called for racial justice in the name of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and so many more who were wrongfully killed. They demanded for systemic changes such as criminal justice reform and police reform.
In early June, Black Lives Matter Plaza was designated in Washington D.C. Black Lives Matter protests persisted throughout the month. The protests put pressure on leaders to address racism directly, led to the defunding of many police departments, and increased investigations into police brutality. By the end of June, Mississippi’s state flag was retired; it was the last state flag that featured a Confederate flag.
The NBA also resumed its season by creating an isolated setting. In the finals, LeBron James led the Lakers to their 17th championship title against the Miami Heat.
Black Lives Matter protests continued in July. Trump ordered federal troops into cities like Portland and Seattle where major protests were occurring. He also began to claim that fraud would be prevalent in the upcoming presidential election.
More sports such as the Major League Baseball season resumed and took place in isolated areas without fans.
In August, one of California’s worst fire seasons began. Almost 400,000 acres were burned in the LCU lightning complex fires, making it the third largest in California history. In Sacramento, a smoky haze coated the city for weeks. Masks became not only useful for protecting against COVID-19, but also proved to be helpful in protecting against the toxic smoke. Hundreds of other fires plagued California during the month.
At the end of August, Jacob Blake was shot in the back by a police officer several times in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Black Lives Matter protests occurred across the nation with the same intensity as instances of injustice continued.
Chadwick Boseman also died from colon cancer on August 28th. He was most known for his role as Black Panther, Marvel’s first black superhero. In one of his last projects, he played a dramatic role in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, which was released after his death.
In early September, California once again battled a massive fire in El Dorado county. It was started from a “gender reveal party” and the intense smoke was carried across the state, Sacramento included.
On September 18, Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg died. She was the second woman to serve on the Supreme Court and was a women’s rights advocate. She graduated at the top of her class at Harvard and Columbia Law. The sex discrimination she faced as a woman in law contributed to her feminist beliefs and pursuit of gender equality.
Not 10 days later, Trump nominated Amy Coney Barrett, a Catholic conservative judge, to succeed Ginsberg. The event in which Barrett was nominated was later found to have been the cause of COVID-19 being spread to several attendees.
In October, Trump tested positive for COVID-19 but made a speedy recovery from the Walter Reed Medical Center in Maryland. The Lakers won the NBA championship for the 17th time and the Dodgers won the World Series.
Stress was widespread as the presidential election took place in the beginning of November. There was record voter turnout as about two thirds of registered voters voted in the election. After days of vote counting and recounting, Joe Biden was announced the winner by a narrow majority. Trump took efforts by using lawsuits and arguing against the validity of mail in ballots in battleground states to try to overturn the results; he was not successful. He continued to claim voter fraud and did not accept the results of the election.
COVID-19 vaccines reached final stages of testing and were rapidly prepared for the public. were close to being done and ready for the public.
In December, the first COVID-19 vaccinations were administered. Joe Biden is confirmed the president elect by the electoral college despite efforts to overturn election results. By the end of the year, COVID-19 deaths totalled about 317,000.