INAUGURATION HIGHLIGHTS
MICHELLE OBAMA. AND THATS THE POST/QUOTE - OH AND BARACK TOO
Michelle Obama wore an all burgundy look by Sergio Hudson complete with a turtleneck sweater, belt, slacks and a peacoat, and wore her tresses down her back; becoming one of the major takeaways from the 59th Presidential Inauguration.
Former President, Barack Obama, George Bush and Bill Clinton with First Lady Michelle Obama and Hilary Clinton gather in solidarity at the Presidential Inauguration. What even was these last 4 years?
Sen. Bernie Sanders, sitting on a folding chair watching President Joe Biden’s inauguration; bundled up with a coat and mittens, and sitting socially distanced from everyone became a highlight and a mood as the memes rolled out; placing Sanders in various alternative locations.
First Lady Dr. Jill Biden.
Joe Biden was sworn in and became the 46th president of the United States. "Politics doesn't have to be a raging fire destroying everything in its path," Biden said. "We have to be different than this. America has to be better than this."
"I will be a president for all Americans," Biden said. "I will fight as hard for those who did not support me as those who did."
President Joe Biden walked to the White House, alongside first lady Jill Biden and their family.
Vice President Kamala Harris emerged just minutes behind President Joe Biden, walking with her family to the White House grounds, for her first time as vice president.
Photo by Tom Brenner/Reuters
President Joe Biden, first lady Jill Biden, and their family watch fireworks from the White House after his inauguration as the 46th President of the United States
Amanda Gorman Inspires with Inauguration Poem
Amanda Gorman, 22 recited her poem "The Hill We Climb" after Joe Biden and Kamala Harris were sworn in as president and vice president, at the 59th presidential inauguration, becoming the youngest inaugural poet in U.S. History. “I wanted it to be a message of hope and unity. And I think that Wednesday for me really just underscored how much that was needed,” Gorman told CBS of her poem. “But to not turn a blind eye to the cracks that really need to be filled.”
“For there is always light, if only we’re brave enough to see it, if only we’re brave enough to be it”
Read a transcript of her remarks below:
When day comes we ask ourselves,
where can we find light in this never-ending shade?
The loss we carry,
a sea we must wade
We've braved the belly of the beast
We've learned that quiet isn't always peace
And the norms and notions
of what just is
Isn’t always just-ice
And yet the dawn is ours
before we knew it
Somehow we do it
Somehow we've weathered and witnessed
a nation that isn’t broken
but simply unfinished
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
And yes we are far from polished
far from pristine
but that doesn’t mean we are
striving to form a union that is perfect
We are striving to forge a union with purpose
To compose a country committed to all cultures, colors, characters and
conditions of man
And so we lift our gazes not to what stands between us
but what stands before us
We close the divide because we know, to put our future first,
we must first put our differences aside
We lay down our arms
so we can reach out our arms
to one another
We seek harm to none and harmony for all
Let the globe, if nothing else, say this is true:
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
Scripture tells us to envision
that everyone shall sit under their own vine and fig tree
And no one shall make them afraid
If we’re to live up to our own time
Then victory won’t lie in the blade
But in all the bridges we’ve made
That is the promise to glade
The hill we climb
If only we dare
It's because being American is more than a pride we inherit,
it’s the past we step into
and how we repair it
We’ve seen a force that would shatter our nation
rather than share it
Would destroy our country if it meant delaying democracy
And this effort very nearly succeeded
But while democracy can be periodically delayed
it can never be permanently defeated
In this truth
in this faith we trust
For while we have our eyes on the future
history has its eyes on us
This is the era of just redemption
We feared at its inception
We did not feel prepared to be the heirs
of such a terrifying hour
but within it we found the power
to author a new chapter
To offer hope and laughter to ourselves
So while once we asked,
how could we possibly prevail over catastrophe?
Now we assert
How could catastrophe possibly prevail over us?
We will not march back to what was
but move to what shall be
A country that is bruised but whole,
benevolent but bold,
fierce and free
We will not be turned around
or interrupted by intimidation
because we know our inaction and inertia
will be the inheritance of the next generation
Our blunders become their burdens
But one thing is certain:
If we merge mercy with might,
and might with right,
then love becomes our legacy
and change our children’s birthright
So let us leave behind a country
better than the one we were left with
Every breath from my bronze-pounded chest,
we will raise this wounded world into a wondrous one
We will rise from the gold-limbed hills of the west,
we will rise from the windswept northeast
where our forefathers first realized revolution
We will rise from the lake-rimmed cities of the midwestern states,
we will rise from the sunbaked south
We will rebuild, reconcile and recover
and every known nook of our nation and
every corner called our country,
our people diverse and beautiful will emerge,
battered and beautiful
When day comes we step out of the shade,
aflame and unafraid
The new dawn blooms as we free it
For there is always light,
if only we’re brave enough to see it
If only we’re brave enough to be it
National youth poet laureate Amanda Gorman recites her inaugural poem during the 59th Presidential Inauguration at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on January 20. Patrick Semansky/Pool/AP
BLACK LIVES MATTERS AND BLACK VOTES MATTER
Black Lives Matter.
Black Creatives Matter.
Black Art Matters.
Black Voices Matter.
Black Freedom Matters.
A Democratic win for the presidential election is just the beginning. Highlighted by both Biden and Harris in their speeches following becoming the president and vice president elect, was how Black Women have shown up again; this time to carry democracy. Biden highlighted his plans to unify a nation and what that means for America; touching on the need to come together no matter if you are Black, White, Asian, Hispanic, Native American, Gay, Straight, Male, Female... And the need for America to have an administration that reflects that.
It’s important to include the most marginalized, the most misrepresented, the most under appreciated. Its important to note that without Black voices, importantly Black Women the results would have been different and this applies across a number of spaces; professionally and personally.
A country built off the backs of its Black citizens continues to thrive because of us, yet continues to ignore the systemic racism, the high incarcerations, the missed opportunities, the police brutalities, the inequities… and the energy has to remain the same that,
Black Lives Matter. Black Creatives Matter. Black Art Matters. Black Voices Matter. Black Freedom Matters and the Election Day reminded everyone that Black Votes Matter.
As we have been heavily effected by a system built against us; a virus that continues to ravish Black Communities, an economy that fails to bring support these Black Communities and Black Owned Businesses; we must push for changes, actual changes and not promises that prop up these elected officials until they make it in. The work must continue. We all have work to do and we must do our parts.
MASSIVE CELEBRATIONS ERUPTS WITH BIDEN-HARRIS WIN
From California to New York, people are celebrating President-elect Joe Biden's projected win today.
Kamala Harris becomes the first female, first Black and first South Asian Vice President-Elect
Kamala Harris, on Saturday becomes the first female, the first Black and the first South Asian Vice President-Elect. In a historic election which saw several battleground states flip for the first time in years; with mail-in-ballots pushing the Biden-Harris campaign to a projected victory taking Pennsylvania, Georgia, Nevada, Michigan and Wisconsin.
Harris tweeted a video of herself on the phone with President-elect Joe Biden shortly after CNN projected their win.
"We did it, we did it, Joe. You're going to be the next president of the United States," she said with a signature laugh.
Harris attended Howard University, a historically Black university in Washington. Her time at Howard shaped her political vision. She served as California Senator since elected in 2017.
Joe Biden Projected Presidential Winner
Joe Biden will become the 46th president of the United States, as The Associated Press, Reuters/NEP/Edison, ABC News, CNN, NBC News, CBS News, USA Today, The New York Times, Fox News, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal projects, after a victory in the state where he was born put him over the 270 electoral votes needed to win.
With Pennsylvania's 20 electoral votes, Biden now has a total of 273 electoral votes.
Before becoming the Democratic presidential nominee, Biden served as vice president under former President Barack Obama. He is also Delaware's longest-serving senator.
Throughout his campaign, Biden has argued that the "soul of the nation" is at stake, and has promised that he would seek to heal a country fractured by Trump's presidency.
MAIL-IN BALLOTS SHIFT THE HISTORIC 2020 ELECTION
“Stop the count”
Trump tweeted as polls closed on Election night
"ANY VOTE THAT CAME IN AFTER ELECTION DAY WILL NOT BE COUNTED," Trump added shortly after, prompting Twitter to flag the message as potentially misleading. Twitter then applied warning labels to more than a third of Trump’s tweets since the final polls closed Tuesday evening, reflecting how Trump and his allies continue to spout misinformation on social media days after Americans cast their ballots.
Many battleground states hadn’t finished counting votes making this Election Day end with no projected winner. Former Vice President and Democratic Candidate Joe Biden urged Americans to "stay calm." "Each ballot must be counted, and that's what we're going to see going through now, and that's how it should be," Biden said Thursday.
