1-20-2021

By J. Noel Espinoza/riograndeinfo.com

After a tumultuous election that led to a failed insurrection pushed by the former president, Joe Biden was sworn-in on Wednesday as the 46^th president of the United States with a surreal ceremony and shadowed by a world pandemic known as Covid-19.

The ceremony took place two weeks after former President Donald J. Trump instigated his followers to march to the U.S. Capitol in an effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election that gave Biden the victory. About half-a-dozen people, including two police men and four rioters, died in the failed insurrection.

Around 10:30 a.m. Biden climbed the steps of Capitol Hill accompanied by his wife and Kamala Harris his vice-president. Despite his age, 78, Biden didn’t seem to have a hard time climbing the steep steps of the domed building.

Joseph R. Biden, a vice-president under former President Barak Obama, promised to work for the whole nation whether blue or red, a chance to unite a country with so much division after Trump’s unsuccessful rebellion to stay in power. The former president didn’t attend the ceremony but former Vice-President Mike Pence who Trump tried to persuade to give him the election despite being unconstitutional, was present.

“Today we celebrate the triumph not of a candidate but of a cause,” Biden said. “The cause of Democracy…We must end this uncivil war…that pits red against blue. Rural vs. urban. Conservative vs. liberal.”

The new president spoke about half-an-hour remembering the call for racial justice for the past 400 years and vowed that “the dream of justice for all will be deferred no longer.”

Biden also warned about the threats of white supremacy and domestic terrorism. He added that the country “must confront” those threats, and “we will defeat” it. “My whole soul is in this,” Biden said. “Bringing America together, uniting our people, uniting our nation, and I ask every American to join me in this cause. With unity, we can do great things, important things.”