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The 2021 version sparkled
with performances by Lady Gaga, J Lo and Garth Brooks, an
earnest address by President Biden and, above all, a
scene-stealing poem delivered with aplomb by Amanda Gorman,
a 22 year old Harvard student who, among other matters,
reminded the nation of the attempted coup on January 6 and
noted: “We’ve seen a force that would shatter our nation
rather than share it, would destroy our country if it meant
delaying democracy.”
She also offered words of
encouragement about the strength of that democracy: “But
while democracy can be periodically delayed, it can never be
permanently defeated.”
The evening’s activities
were also a departure from the usual 10 or so Inauguration
Balls that draw participants from all over the country to
dance the night away and in locations all over the nation’s
capital.
This year’s event,
Celebrating America, brought Tom Hanks to the Lincoln
Memorial to MC a diverse group of performers both live and
recorded.
In a display reflecting
the new president’s call for unity and keeping with the
theme of honoring the fallen and those who have worked so
hard to help, a number of the performances featured health
care professionals, such as Demi Lovato’s rendition of
“Lovely Day.”
Jon Bon Jovi, John Legend,
Justin Timberlake and Katy Perry were among the musical
performers.
At one point Hanks
introduced Sandra Lindsay, a Jamaican immigrant and critical
care nurse at the Long Island Jewish Medical Center in
Queens, New York, who was the first person in the US to
receive the Pfizer vaccine.
“Our nurses care for thousands of COVID patients daily.
We’re often the last people to hold their hands. It has
taken a toll on so many of us on the frontlines but I’m
proud of our work and honored to represent millions of
healthcare workers around the country,” she said.
Then she tossed it over to country music star Tim McGraw in
Nashville who, with Tyler Hubbard, sang “Undivided,” a song
Hubbard wrote while he was in the hospital recovering from
COVID-19. The song makes a plea for an end to the
divisiveness that has so plagued our national discourse.
Katy Perry closed out the evening performances as the
fireworks lit the sky and the two new first couples,
president, vice president and their mates, watched from the
White House.
The week’s significant events, however, were not concluded
on Wednesday evening, nor were the oaths of office. Still to
come on Thursday was a momentous occasion in the U.S. Senate
when the vice president – the first black vice president,
the first woman vice president, the first Asian-American
vice president – presided over the oath as the Senate
welcomed Georgia’s first black senator, Georgia’s first
Jewish senator and California’s first Latino senator.
“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.” – Amanda Gorman – the
Youth Poet Laureate
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