Richard Fernando
On January 20th, 2021 Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and his running mate Kamala Harris were sworn in to their respective positions of President and Vice president. The ceremony was held at the US capitol building in Washington D.C. and began at 11 am. The ceremony was very eventful as it was the most secure inaugural ceremony in US history, performances by popular celebrities, and the inaugural poem was delivered by the youngest inaugural poet in American history. However, former President Donald Trump didn’t attend.
2 weeks before the inauguration, a group of people had attacked the United States capitol to seemingly protest the election of Joe Biden over the republican candidate Donald Trump. The storming resulted in many members of the capitol police being injured. After the events of that many worried about an attack on Joe Biden during the Inauguration ceremony. So the national guard was on-site during the inauguration. The capitol building was also surrounded by a barbed-wire fence and concrete blockade. Many streets in D.C were also barricaded in an attempt to delay attackers. Many news stations claim that this was the most well-protected inaugural ceremony in American history. Other than Biden many public figures were involved in the inaugural ceremony.
Many popular celebrities performed at the inauguration of President Biden. One of which was Jennifer Lopez who had performed This Land is Your Land and America the Beautiful. Halfway through the performance, she said “One nation with liberty and justice for all” in Spanish. Another inaugural performer was Lady Gaga who performed the national anthem. This had received much attention from the LGBTQ community on social media. They had seen it as Joe Biden keeping his promises to the LGBTQ community as Gaga has made many songs that have been important to the LGBTQ community such as her 2010 hit Born This Way. However, despite all the performances by popular singers, much attention was given to the inaugural poet Amanda Gorman.
During the inauguration of the president, sometimes the president will invite a poet to recite a poem. Such as when John F Kennedy invited Robert Frost in 1961. In this inauguration, Amanda Gorman was invited to be the inaugural poet. Amanda Gorman is only 22 years old making her the youngest inaugural poet in American history. The poem Gorman read was one she wrote herself called The Hill We Climb. After she did her poem recital Gorman received a modeling offer from WME. Sales of her book had increased and made them bestsellers on Amazon. However, while Gorman was at the inauguration President Trump was not.
Typically the day of the inauguration the president leaving office attends the inaugural ceremony and gives the new first family the tour of The White House. The Trumps did none of this. Trump had left The White House a few hours before Biden moved in. Many believe that this is because of Trump’s refusal to accept election results. After it was announced Biden won, Trump accused the Democrats of voter fraud and had his lawyer Rudy Giuliani bring in witnesses to testify in multiple states. However, his attempts failed and on January 6th congress confirmed Joe Biden as president-elect.
