2021 Inauguration Recap: A call for unity
Free for commercial use photo of President Joe Biden on Pixabay.
President Joseph R. Biden, Jr.’s first message as president of the United States of America is one of unity and healing. During his inaugural speech, the 46th president declared, “I will be a president for all Americans.”
This message comes two weeks after the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection at the capitol building that left many Americans injured and some dead. It is also a response to a nation that is trying to heal from the 2020 racial protests as it simultaneously approaches a year within the COVID-19 pandemic that has now claimed the lives of more than 400,000 Americans.
Not only did President Biden speak of unity, but the presence of various political leaders at the inauguration symbolized unity. Former Vice President Mike Pence (R) attended the ceremony despite the absence of his 2020 running mate, 45th President Donald J. Trump (R). Moreover, former presidents Barack Obama (D), Bill Clinton (D), and George Bush (R) were also in attendance as well as other political figures from both the Democrat and the Republican Party.
The performances at the inauguration also echoed the newly sworn in President Biden’s sentiments. Singer Jennifer Lopez sang the song “This Land Is Your Land.” Lopez proceeded to close the song saying in Spanish “One nation, with liberty and justice for all.” While later in the program, 22-year-old poet/author Amanda Gorman delivered a poem in which she recited, “We must first put our differences aside.” She later continued, “We seek harm to none and harmony for all...Not because we will never again know defeat, but because we will never again sow division.”
The message of unification continued during the benediction as Rev. Doctor Silvester Beaman called for everyone at the Capitol that “slaves labored to build” to admit that America is everyone’s country. He said, “Let us all acknowledge from the Indigenous Native American to those who recently received their citizenship, from the African American to those who for parents came from Europe and every corner of the globe… that this is our country.” He later prayed, “Teach us, oh God, to live in it [America], love in it, be healed in it and reconcile to one another in it.”
Overall, the 2021 inauguration looked very different as areas around the Capitol and downtown were shut down and national security was heightened. Nevertheless attendees–in face coverings and socially distanced–witnessed former Senator (CA) Harris become the first woman, Black, and Asian vice president. They also watched as former Vice President Biden assumed the title of commander-in-chief and reminded America, “This is our historic moment of crisis and challenge, and unity is the path forward.”