The Hill We Climb

After the appalling assault on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, I was worried about what might happen two weeks later at the Inauguration. Calmer voices prevailed. The twice-impeached President absented himself. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris took office without violence, thanks to the presence of 25,000 National Guard members. The ceremony was a welcome and refreshing change from the negative tone of 2017. Many thanks to Amy Klobuchar and all those who designed a compact presentation that heralded a new beginning. Biden’s speech was truthful, direct and dignified.

Music and poetry filled my heart with joy. Consider these six outstanding women:

• “Jennifer Lopez, wearing suffragist white, crescendoed from a soft-rock “This Land Is Your Land” to a fervent “America the Beautiful,” shouting part of the Pledge of Allegiance in Spanish and slipping in a phrase from her own ‘Let’s Get Loud.’” [Thanks for getting all that right, Jon Pareles.]
• “Lady Gaga wore a voluminous red dress, a navy jacket and large brooch with a dove holding an olive branch as she sang “The Star-Spangled Banner,” starting it with a foursquare declamation and grand vibrato hinting at Kate Smith but making her way toward gospel-R&B melismas before she was done.” [Thanks again, Jon Pareles.]
• Dr. Jill Biden, in blue, the President’s strong, supportive wife, plans to continue teaching English at Northern Virginia Community College. She will be the first First Lady to hold a remunerative job.
• Kamala Harris, in purple. Just Wow! Like Biden she was accompanied by wonderfully diverse family members. I liked her in the Primaries; I like her even better now.
• Michelle Obama, in maroon, inspiring author of Becoming, a stylish model of empathy and care. Her presence, along with the wives of past-Presidents Clinton and Bush, underscored the vital role women play in supporting each other and our nation.

Amanda Gorman, the 22-year-old star of the show, in yellow, read her poem, “The Hill We Climb,” referring not only to the Capitol where she was speaking, but also to the dangerous assault on Capitol Hill two weeks before, and to the steep challenges that lie ahead. I’m posting her poem here so that I can find it and listen to it again and again.

Here are a few of my favorite lines:

We’ve learned that quiet isn’t always peace,
and the norms and notions of what “just” is isn’t always justice.

We, the successors of a country and a time where a skinny Black girl descended from slaves and raised by a single mother can dream of becoming president, only to find herself reciting for one.

That even as we grieved, we grew.
That even as we hurt, we hoped.
That even as we tired, we tried.
That we’ll forever be tied together, victorious.
Not because we will never again know defeat, but because we will never again sow division.

If we merge mercy with might, and might with right, then love becomes our legacy and change, our children’s birthright.

I pray every day for Biden and Harris and our country.