WEBVTT 00:00:14.040 --> 00:00:17.020 From New York, this is Democracy Now! 00:00:18.040 --> 00:00:21.580 We’ve learned again that democracy is precious. 00:00:22.480 --> 00:00:24.180 Democracy is fragile. 00:00:24.900 --> 00:00:28.890 And at this hour, my friends, democracy has prevailed. 00:00:29.930 --> 00:00:32.040 Joe Biden has been sworn in 00:00:32.040 --> 00:00:35.660 as the 46th president of the United States. 00:00:35.660 --> 00:00:38.830 Kamala Harris has made history as the first woman, 00:00:38.830 --> 00:00:42.070 first African American and first Asian American 00:00:42.070 --> 00:00:43.790 to become vice president. 00:00:45.220 --> 00:00:49.700 I, Kamala Devi Harris, do solemnly swear... 00:00:49.700 --> 00:00:52.100 I, Kamala Devi Harris, do solemnly swear... 00:00:52.780 --> 00:00:55.030 We’ll get reaction to the inauguration 00:00:55.030 --> 00:00:57.620 and Biden’s sweeping executive actions 00:00:57.620 --> 00:00:59.920 from Harvard professor Cornel West 00:00:59.920 --> 00:01:02.710 and the pioneering journalist Maria Hinojosa. 00:01:02.710 --> 00:01:08.510 Plus, we hear the inaugural poem by 22-year-old Amanda Gorman, 00:01:08.510 --> 00:01:11.800 the youngest inaugural poet in U.S. history. 00:01:13.110 --> 00:01:16.260 When day comes, we step out of the shade, 00:01:16.260 --> 00:01:18.110 aflame and unafraid. 00:01:18.110 --> 00:01:21.350 The new dawn blooms as we free it, 00:01:21.350 --> 00:01:23.240 for there is always light, 00:01:23.240 --> 00:01:25.950 if only we’re brave enough to see it, 00:01:25.950 --> 00:01:29.580 if only we’re brave enough to be it. 00:01:30.120 --> 00:01:32.140 All that and more, coming up. 00:01:37.000 --> 00:01:40.770 Welcome to Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, 00:01:40.770 --> 00:01:43.400 The Quarantine Report. I’m Amy Goodman. 00:01:43.910 --> 00:01:47.380 Joe Biden was sworn in as the 46th president 00:01:47.380 --> 00:01:49.330 of the United States Wednesday, 00:01:49.330 --> 00:01:53.150 ending the Trump era with a call for national unity. 00:01:53.150 --> 00:01:55.680 Speaking on the steps of a Capitol building 00:01:55.680 --> 00:01:58.820 that just two weeks prior was mobbed 00:01:58.820 --> 00:02:00.880 by a group of right-wing extremists 00:02:00.880 --> 00:02:02.960 trying to overturn the election, 00:02:02.960 --> 00:02:05.370 President Biden said the U.S. faces 00:02:05.370 --> 00:02:08.190 an unprecedented combination of challenges 00:02:08.190 --> 00:02:13.190 posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, mass unemployment, 00:02:13.190 --> 00:02:16.770 racial injustice, white supremacist violence 00:02:16.770 --> 00:02:19.650 and the existential threat of climate change. 00:02:19.650 --> 00:02:22.120 And he warned against the spread of lies — 00:02:22.120 --> 00:02:25.210 in a thinly veiled reference to the Trump administration’s 00:02:25.210 --> 00:02:29.050 constant stream of falsehoods over the past four years. 00:02:29.050 --> 00:02:30.320 President Joe Biden: 00:02:30.320 --> 00:02:33.590 "Recent weeks and months have taught us a painful lesson. 00:02:34.470 --> 00:02:36.820 There is truth, and there are lies, 00:02:37.950 --> 00:02:40.910 lies told for power and for profit. 00:02:42.130 --> 00:02:44.590 And each of us has a duty and a responsibility, 00:02:45.290 --> 00:02:48.690 as citizens, as Americans, and especially as leaders — 00:02:49.290 --> 00:02:51.900 leaders who have pledged to honor our Constitution 00:02:52.480 --> 00:02:54.260 and protect our nation — 00:02:54.260 --> 00:02:57.330 to defend the truth and defeat the lies." 00:02:57.900 --> 00:03:00.180 Biden was administered the oath of office 00:03:00.180 --> 00:03:02.530 by Chief Justice John Roberts. 00:03:02.530 --> 00:03:06.890 The Supreme Court’s first Latina justice, Sonia Sotomayor, 00:03:06.890 --> 00:03:10.500 administered the oath to Vice President Kamala Harris. 00:03:10.500 --> 00:03:13.660 Harris is the first woman, first African American, 00:03:13.660 --> 00:03:16.320 first Asian American and first Indian American 00:03:17.820 --> 00:03:19.390 to hold the office. 00:03:19.390 --> 00:03:23.050 We’ll have excerpts from the inauguration after headlines. 00:03:23.730 --> 00:03:27.480 President Biden signed 17 executive orders 00:03:27.480 --> 00:03:31.190 Wednesday in his first official act from the Oval Office. 00:03:31.190 --> 00:03:33.680 Among other things, the orders strike down 00:03:33.680 --> 00:03:37.520 Trump’s ban on travelers from majority-Muslim nations, 00:03:37.520 --> 00:03:41.040 end construction of Trump’s border wall and strengthen 00:03:41.040 --> 00:03:43.520 DACA, the Deferred Action for Childhood 00:03:43.520 --> 00:03:45.920 Arrivals program for young immigrants. 00:03:45.920 --> 00:03:48.450 Biden rejoined the Paris climate accord 00:03:48.450 --> 00:03:51.300 and canceled the Keystone XL pipeline, 00:03:51.300 --> 00:03:54.190 put a moratorium on oil and gas permits 00:03:54.190 --> 00:03:56.740 in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge 00:03:56.740 --> 00:03:58.960 and ordered a review of Trump’s actions 00:03:58.960 --> 00:04:01.890 undermining public health and the environment. 00:04:01.890 --> 00:04:05.210 Biden extended a federal moratorium on evictions 00:04:05.210 --> 00:04:09.010 and a pause on student loan payments and interest. 00:04:09.010 --> 00:04:13.110 He also ordered the U.S. to reengage 00:04:13.110 --> 00:04:14.820 with the World Health Organization 00:04:14.820 --> 00:04:18.000 and ordered a mask mandate for interstate travelers 00:04:18.000 --> 00:04:21.340 and visitors to federal buildings during the pandemic. 00:04:22.100 --> 00:04:25.120 Biden’s mask mandate came as the United States 00:04:25.120 --> 00:04:28.620 recorded one of the deadliest days of the pandemic, 00:04:28.620 --> 00:04:31.050 with nearly 4,400 deaths. 00:04:31.050 --> 00:04:32.770 The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 00:04:32.770 --> 00:04:36.790 forecasts the U.S. death toll will pass a half-million 00:04:36.790 --> 00:04:40.240 in February, with 100,000 more deaths 00:04:40.240 --> 00:04:42.680 predicted in just the next month. 00:04:42.680 --> 00:04:44.490 Biden is set to sign 00:04:44.490 --> 00:04:48.420 10 new executive orders on the pandemic today 00:04:48.420 --> 00:04:53.180 and will release a new national strategy to combat COVID-19, 00:04:53.180 --> 00:04:56.560 after the White House said the Trump administration 00:04:56.560 --> 00:05:00.640 left behind no national strategy on vaccinations. 00:05:01.150 --> 00:05:03.740 The Biden plan calls for funding states’ 00:05:03.740 --> 00:05:06.050 testing and vaccination programs; 00:05:06.050 --> 00:05:08.030 improvements in data collection; 00:05:08.030 --> 00:05:10.910 research into new therapies for COVID-19; 00:05:10.910 --> 00:05:13.970 and the establishment of a Pandemic Testing Board. 00:05:14.890 --> 00:05:17.980 Biden will also order the Occupational Safety 00:05:17.980 --> 00:05:19.300 and Health Administration 00:05:19.300 --> 00:05:23.220 to develop workplace protections against the coronavirus. 00:05:24.590 --> 00:05:27.690 Democrats took narrow control of the Senate Wednesday 00:05:27.690 --> 00:05:31.270 after Vice President Harris swore in three new 00:05:31.270 --> 00:05:32.960 Democratic senators: 00:05:32.960 --> 00:05:36.580 Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff of Georgia, 00:05:36.580 --> 00:05:38.580 and Alex Padilla, who will replace 00:05:38.580 --> 00:05:41.410 Harris in the Senate, representing California. 00:05:42.000 --> 00:05:46.540 Republicans control 50 seats, as does the Democratic Caucus, 00:05:46.540 --> 00:05:50.240 with Vice President Harris serving as a tiebreaker. 00:05:50.240 --> 00:05:52.750 New York Democrat Chuck Schumer has become 00:05:52.750 --> 00:05:55.070 Senate majority leader, replacing 00:05:55.070 --> 00:05:57.500 Republican Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. 00:06:08.360 --> 00:06:23.040 The Senate on Wednesday approved 00:06:23.040 --> 00:06:26.470 Avril Haines as director of national intelligence. 00:06:26.470 --> 00:06:29.050 Eighty-four senators voted to confirm Haines, 00:06:29.050 --> 00:06:31.290 and 10 voted against — all of them 00:06:31.290 --> 00:06:34.080 Republicans. Haines was President Barack 00:06:34.080 --> 00:06:36.590 Obama’s top lawyer on the National Security 00:06:36.590 --> 00:06:40.390 Council from 2010 to 2013 00:06:40.390 --> 00:06:45.290 and CIA deputy director from 2013 to 2015, 00:06:45.290 --> 00:06:47.030 where she authorized using drone 00:06:47.030 --> 00:06:50.580 strikes to carry out extrajudicial assassinations. 00:06:51.460 --> 00:06:54.150 The House of Representatives is set to vote today 00:06:54.150 --> 00:06:56.990 on whether to grant a waiver to allow retired 00:06:56.990 --> 00:07:00.640 Army General Lloyd Austin to become Pentagon chief. 00:07:00.640 --> 00:07:04.820 General Austin is on the board of the weapons contractor 00:07:04.820 --> 00:07:08.620 Raytheon and is a partner in the venture capital fund 00:07:08.620 --> 00:07:10.490 Pine Island Capital. 00:07:10.490 --> 00:07:12.920 Critics say his nomination contravenes 00:07:12.920 --> 00:07:16.590 the principle of civilian control of the military. 00:07:16.590 --> 00:07:19.260 Joe Biden is the first president in recent history 00:07:19.260 --> 00:07:22.150 to come into office before any of his key 00:07:22.150 --> 00:07:24.220 advisers are installed. 00:07:24.220 --> 00:07:26.270 As President Biden’s other Cabinet 00:07:26.270 --> 00:07:29.510 nominees await their hearings and confirmations, 00:07:29.510 --> 00:07:32.550 he has appointed nearly two dozen acting officials 00:07:32.550 --> 00:07:35.230 to temporarily lead agencies. 00:07:35.230 --> 00:07:38.430 President Biden has fired Peter Robb, 00:07:38.430 --> 00:07:40.690 the general counsel of the National Labor 00:07:40.690 --> 00:07:44.160 Relations Board, after Robb refused to resign. 00:07:44.160 --> 00:07:47.340 Robb was a Trump appointee, a former management lawyer 00:07:47.340 --> 00:07:49.930 and fierce union foe who infamously helped 00:07:49.930 --> 00:07:51.460 President Ronald Reagan 00:07:51.460 --> 00:07:55.930 break the air traffic controllers’ union in 1981. 00:07:57.200 --> 00:07:59.820 Donald and Melania Trump boarded Air Force 00:07:59.820 --> 00:08:03.330 One for one final flight on the presidential aircraft 00:08:03.330 --> 00:08:04.660 Wednesday morning. 00:08:04.660 --> 00:08:08.280 Before flying to his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida, 00:08:08.280 --> 00:08:10.750 Trump addressed the crowd of several hundred 00:08:10.750 --> 00:08:12.730 gathered at Joint Base Andrews. 00:08:12.730 --> 00:08:16.810 Donald Trump: "So, just a goodbye. 00:08:17.820 --> 00:08:19.350 We love you. 00:08:19.350 --> 00:08:21.100 We will be back in some form. ... 00:08:24.510 --> 00:08:28.590 So, have a good life. We will see you soon. 00:08:28.590 --> 00:08:33.140 Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you." 00:08:33.680 --> 00:08:37.660 Trump walked off the stage to the 1970s disco anthem 00:08:37.660 --> 00:08:40.460 "YMCA." Frank Sinatra’s "My Way" 00:08:40.460 --> 00:08:42.680 played from the loudspeakers as Air Force 00:08:42.680 --> 00:08:45.960 One rolled down the runway and lifted off. 00:08:45.960 --> 00:08:48.470 Massachusetts Senator Ed Markey, tweeted, 00:08:48.470 --> 00:08:51.000 "Goodbye and good riddance Donald Trump. 00:08:51.000 --> 00:08:52.700 See you at your trial." 00:08:53.860 --> 00:08:56.440 This comes as Politico reports lawmakers 00:08:56.440 --> 00:08:58.850 have privately discussed the possibility 00:08:58.850 --> 00:09:01.210 of a three-day impeachment trial for 00:09:01.210 --> 00:09:03.050 Trump, which would be the fastest 00:09:03.050 --> 00:09:06.320 of any such procedure for a president. 00:09:07.310 --> 00:09:08.780 Proud Boys leader Joe 00:09:08.780 --> 00:09:11.530 Biggs was arrested in Florida Wednesday 00:09:11.530 --> 00:09:15.110 and charged with helping to lead the attack on the U.S. 00:09:15.110 --> 00:09:17.670 Capitol on January 6. 00:09:17.670 --> 00:09:21.130 The FBI says Biggs and other members of his far-right group 00:09:21.130 --> 00:09:23.810 used radios with earpieces to coordinate 00:09:23.810 --> 00:09:25.940 "real-time communication" 00:09:25.940 --> 00:09:28.870 as they smashed their way into the building. 00:09:30.090 --> 00:09:32.460 In international news, the United Kingdom now 00:09:32.460 --> 00:09:35.770 has the highest COVID-19 death rate in the world. 00:09:35.770 --> 00:09:40.720 On Wednesday, a record 1,820 people died across the U.K. 00:09:40.720 --> 00:09:43.800 as hospitals report being overwhelmed with patients — 00:09:43.800 --> 00:09:46.260 and the worst may still be to come. 00:09:46.260 --> 00:09:47.490 This is Kelly Clarke, 00:09:47.490 --> 00:09:51.070 an ICU nurse in England’s Royal Derby Hospital. 00:09:51.070 --> 00:09:52.340 Kelly Clarke: 00:09:52.340 --> 00:09:54.510 "We’ve got staff here who are absolutely exhausted 00:09:54.510 --> 00:09:56.410 and traumatized. 00:09:56.410 --> 00:09:58.720 A lot of staff are struggling with their mental health. 00:09:58.720 --> 00:10:01.000 The nurses are coming in and working extremely hard. 00:10:01.000 --> 00:10:02.980 A lot of them are doing extra shifts." 00:10:02.980 --> 00:10:06.380 In other international news, Zimbabwe’s foreign minister, 00:10:06.380 --> 00:10:10.030 Sibusiso Moyo has died of COVID-19. 00:10:10.580 --> 00:10:13.740 The former Army general played a key role 00:10:13.740 --> 00:10:17.070 in the 2017 coup that toppled Robert Mugabe. 00:10:17.070 --> 00:10:18.440 Meanwhile, in Brazil, 00:10:18.440 --> 00:10:22.010 deaths are rising in the Amazonian city of Manaus 00:10:22.010 --> 00:10:24.510 after hospitals ran out of oxygen. 00:10:24.510 --> 00:10:26.910 The Bolsonaro government is facing criticism 00:10:26.910 --> 00:10:28.760 for not helping avert the crisis 00:10:28.760 --> 00:10:32.020 despite warnings of looming oxygen shortages. 00:10:32.650 --> 00:10:35.370 In news from Iraq, at least 28 people died 00:10:35.370 --> 00:10:39.030 and 73 were injured when two suicide bombers 00:10:39.030 --> 00:10:42.230 attacked a busy market in Baghdad earlier today. 00:10:42.230 --> 00:10:44.190 No one has taken responsibility 00:10:44.190 --> 00:10:47.100 for what is the first suicide attack in the city 00:10:47.100 --> 00:10:48.860 in nearly two years. 00:10:48.860 --> 00:10:51.740 Earlier this week, Iraq’s Cabinet voted to delay 00:10:51.740 --> 00:10:55.750 the upcoming general election by four months, until October. 00:10:56.750 --> 00:10:59.950 Tony Blinken, Biden’s nominee for secretary of state, 00:10:59.950 --> 00:11:02.080 said Tuesday the new administration 00:11:02.080 --> 00:11:04.930 will continue to recognize Juan Guaidó 00:11:04.930 --> 00:11:07.090 as the president of Venezuela rather than 00:11:07.090 --> 00:11:10.370 the democratically elected president, Nicolás Maduro. 00:11:10.370 --> 00:11:13.080 Blinken also said the U.S. would continue 00:11:13.080 --> 00:11:14.690 to impose harsh sanctions, 00:11:14.690 --> 00:11:17.230 which have crippled the Venezuelan economy. 00:11:17.230 --> 00:11:21.020 In January 2020, Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó 00:11:21.020 --> 00:11:23.740 stormed parliament with a group of lawmakers 00:11:23.740 --> 00:11:26.350 in an effort to forcefully swear himself 00:11:26.350 --> 00:11:28.490 in as the country’s leader. 00:11:28.490 --> 00:11:31.920 Guaidó and his supporters were eventually pushed back by police 00:11:31.920 --> 00:11:34.980 with tear gas outside of government buildings. 00:11:34.980 --> 00:11:37.340 Guaidó has failed to consolidate power 00:11:37.340 --> 00:11:40.820 since 2019’s unsuccessful coup attempt. 00:11:40.820 --> 00:11:44.080 Ongoing U.S. sanctions have crippled the Venezuelan economy; 00:11:44.080 --> 00:11:46.820 research from the Center for Economic and Policy Research 00:11:46.820 --> 00:11:49.810 estimates as many as 40,000 Venezuelans 00:11:49.810 --> 00:11:51.980 have died due to sanctions. 00:11:52.820 --> 00:11:56.200 At least 43 refugees were killed in a shipwreck 00:11:56.200 --> 00:11:58.330 off Libya’s coast Tuesday. 00:11:58.330 --> 00:12:02.060 The deaths mark the first known tragedy of 2021 00:12:02.060 --> 00:12:03.350 in the Mediterranean Sea, 00:12:03.350 --> 00:12:07.760 where over 20,000 have drowned since 2014, 00:12:07.760 --> 00:12:09.600 according to the U.N. 00:12:09.600 --> 00:12:12.230 Ten survivors were brought back to land, 00:12:12.230 --> 00:12:15.260 including migrants from Ivory Coast, Nigeria, 00:12:15.260 --> 00:12:16.960 Ghana and Gambia. 00:12:17.770 --> 00:12:21.380 The U.N. says the journey by sea from Libya to Europe 00:12:21.380 --> 00:12:24.730 is the most dangerous migration route in the world, 00:12:24.730 --> 00:12:28.110 and one in six people who attempt it has died. 00:12:28.870 --> 00:12:31.440 Back in the United States, the Justice Department 00:12:31.440 --> 00:12:34.380 has dropped an insider trading probe 00:12:34.380 --> 00:12:37.220 against Republican Senator Richard Burr of North Carolina, 00:12:37.220 --> 00:12:40.900 who sold hundreds of thousands of dollars of stocks 00:12:40.900 --> 00:12:44.010 early last year after receiving privileged briefings 00:12:44.010 --> 00:12:46.260 about the threat of the coronavirus. 00:12:46.260 --> 00:12:49.200 The Justice Department informed Burr 00:12:49.200 --> 00:12:50.560 of its decision on Tuesday — 00:12:50.560 --> 00:12:53.900 the last full day of the Trump administration. 00:12:54.770 --> 00:12:56.690 President Biden has signed an executive 00:12:56.690 --> 00:13:01.380 order to impose stricter ethics rules on government workers. 00:13:01.380 --> 00:13:04.790 Biden has banned so-called golden parachutes, 00:13:04.790 --> 00:13:07.030 when companies give bonuses to workers 00:13:07.030 --> 00:13:08.930 who leave to enter the government. 00:13:08.930 --> 00:13:10.670 The order will also bar 00:13:10.670 --> 00:13:13.980 Biden appointees from lobbying the administration 00:13:13.980 --> 00:13:17.680 if they leave office before his term ends. 00:13:18.760 --> 00:13:21.600 Government watchdogs are demanding transparency 00:13:21.600 --> 00:13:23.480 over donations to Joe Biden 00:13:23.480 --> 00:13:25.830 and Kamala Harris’s inaugural committee, 00:13:25.830 --> 00:13:28.440 after it accepted gifts of up to $1 million 00:13:28.440 --> 00:13:30.620 from corporations and wealthy individuals. 00:13:31.390 --> 00:13:33.890 Major donors to the inaugural include Amazon, 00:13:33.890 --> 00:13:38.590 Boeing, Capital Group, Comcast, Fidelity Financial, Google, 00:13:38.590 --> 00:13:42.970 Microsoft, Qualcomm, UPS, United Airlines and Verizon. 00:13:42.970 --> 00:13:47.000 In 2019, House Democrats proposed an ethics bill 00:13:47.000 --> 00:13:50.610 that would cap inaugural donations at $50,000, 00:13:50.610 --> 00:13:54.450 while requiring the online disclosure of major donors. 00:13:55.340 --> 00:13:58.740 The family of Reality Winner is urging President Biden 00:13:58.740 --> 00:14:01.790 to free the NSA whistleblower, who has been behind bars 00:14:01.790 --> 00:14:03.580 for over three-and-a-half years 00:14:03.580 --> 00:14:05.590 for leaking documents to The Intercept 00:14:05.590 --> 00:14:09.130 about Russian meddling in the 2016 elections. 00:14:09.130 --> 00:14:11.840 The ongoing campaign to free Reality Winner 00:14:11.840 --> 00:14:15.450 has gained renewed urgency as The Intercept reported this week 00:14:15.450 --> 00:14:17.650 Winner recently faced threats from a guard 00:14:17.650 --> 00:14:21.130 after she made a report of abuse against him last March. 00:14:21.130 --> 00:14:24.230 This is Reality Winner’s mother, Billie Winner-Davis. 00:14:24.230 --> 00:14:25.470 Billie Winner-Davis: 00:14:25.470 --> 00:14:29.400 "Mr. President, my daughter was jailed, denied bail 00:14:29.400 --> 00:14:32.570 and has been imprisoned for over three-and-a-half years. 00:14:33.130 --> 00:14:34.830 She has suffered tremendously. 00:14:35.460 --> 00:14:39.280 She has been beaten, injured, sexually assaulted by her jailer 00:14:39.280 --> 00:14:41.290 and denied compassionate release. … 00:14:42.240 --> 00:14:46.630 Please, Mr. President, bring my daughter home." 00:14:47.590 --> 00:14:50.060 And those are some of the headlines this is Democracy 00:14:50.060 --> 00:17:06.730 Now, Democracynow.org, the War and Peace Report. 00:17:06.730 --> 00:17:08.430 I’m Amy Goodman. 00:17:17.710 --> 00:17:20.960 AMY GOODMAN: Joe Biden was sworn in as 46th president 00:17:20.960 --> 00:17:23.010 of the United States Wednesday, 00:17:23.010 --> 00:17:26.910 ending the Trump era with a call for national unity 00:17:26.910 --> 00:17:29.290 and urging Americans to come together 00:17:29.290 --> 00:17:31.430 during a period of turbulence. 00:17:31.430 --> 00:17:34.180 Biden spoke on the Capitol steps, 00:17:34.180 --> 00:17:36.540 that building that just two weeks ago 00:17:36.540 --> 00:17:40.970 prior was mobbed by a group of right-wing extremists 00:17:40.970 --> 00:17:43.280 trying to overthrow the election. 00:17:44.360 --> 00:17:46.780 PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: This is America’s day. 00:17:48.130 --> 00:17:51.790 This is democracy’s day, a day of history 00:17:51.790 --> 00:17:54.680 and hope, of renewal and resolve. 00:17:55.910 --> 00:17:59.630 Through a crucible for the ages, America has been tested anew, 00:18:00.470 --> 00:18:03.060 and America has risen to the challenge. 00:18:04.140 --> 00:18:07.950 Today, we celebrate the triumph not of a candidate, 00:18:08.550 --> 00:18:11.730 but of a cause, the cause of democracy. 00:18:12.870 --> 00:18:16.740 The people — the will of the people has been heard, 00:18:17.480 --> 00:18:19.750 and the will of the people has been heeded. 00:18:20.830 --> 00:18:24.410 We’ve learned again that democracy is precious. 00:18:25.290 --> 00:18:26.990 Democracy is fragile. 00:18:27.720 --> 00:18:31.710 And at this hour, my friends, democracy has prevailed. 00:18:36.310 --> 00:18:42.110 So, now on this hallowed ground, where just days ago violence 00:18:42.110 --> 00:18:44.760 sought to shake the Capitol’s very foundation, 00:18:45.670 --> 00:18:50.390 we come together as one nation, under God, indivisible, 00:18:51.180 --> 00:18:54.240 to carry out the peaceful transfer of power 00:18:54.880 --> 00:18:57.250 as we have for more than two centuries. ... 00:18:57.780 --> 00:19:01.210 This is a great nation. We are good people. 00:19:01.990 --> 00:19:04.440 And over the centuries, through storm and strife, 00:19:05.320 --> 00:19:08.560 in peace and in war, we’ve come so far. 00:19:09.450 --> 00:19:11.200 But we still have far to go. 00:19:13.350 --> 00:19:15.930 We’ll press forward with speed and urgency, 00:19:15.930 --> 00:19:19.490 for we have much to do in this winter of peril 00:19:20.340 --> 00:19:23.780 and significant possibilities, much to repair, 00:19:24.320 --> 00:19:29.060 much to restore, much to heal, much to build and much to gain. 00:19:31.080 --> 00:19:32.800 Few people in our nation’s history 00:19:33.970 --> 00:19:35.670 have been more challenged 00:19:36.990 --> 00:19:39.940 or found a time more challenging or difficult 00:19:40.540 --> 00:19:42.240 than the time we’re in now. 00:19:43.170 --> 00:19:46.600 Once-in-a-century virus that silently stalks the country 00:19:47.540 --> 00:19:49.970 has taken as many lives in one year 00:19:50.750 --> 00:19:56.100 as America lost in all of World War II. 00:19:56.100 --> 00:19:57.910 Millions of jobs have been lost, 00:19:58.620 --> 00:20:00.910 hundreds of thousands of businesses closed. 00:20:01.970 --> 00:20:05.210 A cry for racial justice some 400 years 00:20:05.210 --> 00:20:07.060 in the making moves us. 00:20:07.930 --> 00:20:12.150 The dream of justice for all will be deferred no longer. 00:20:15.810 --> 00:20:18.780 A cry for survival comes from the planet itself, 00:20:19.550 --> 00:20:23.040 a cry that can’t be any more desperate or any more clear. 00:20:23.040 --> 00:20:26.250 And now a rise of political extremism, 00:20:26.790 --> 00:20:29.350 white supremacy, domestic terrorism, 00:20:30.080 --> 00:20:33.240 that we must confront and we will defeat. 00:20:37.300 --> 00:20:40.620 To overcome these challenges, to restore the soul 00:20:40.620 --> 00:20:42.320 and secure the future of America, 00:20:43.070 --> 00:20:45.260 requires so much more than words. 00:20:45.950 --> 00:20:50.420 It requires the most elusive of all things in a democracy: 00:20:51.340 --> 00:20:54.150 unity. Unity. 00:20:56.950 --> 00:20:59.820 AMY GOODMAN: That was President Joe Biden 00:20:59.820 --> 00:21:01.960 in his first address to the nation. 00:21:02.610 --> 00:21:04.960 Shortly before his speech, 00:21:04.960 --> 00:21:08.260 Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, 00:21:08.260 --> 00:21:11.220 the first Latinx Supreme Court justice, 00:21:11.220 --> 00:21:13.670 a Puerto Rican daughter of the Bronx, 00:21:13.670 --> 00:21:17.270 swore in Kamala Harris as the first-ever woman, 00:21:17.270 --> 00:21:19.970 South Asian and Black vice president, 00:21:19.970 --> 00:21:21.670 a daughter of Oakland. 00:21:22.500 --> 00:21:24.270 JUSTICE SONIA SOTOMAYOR: Please raise your right hand 00:21:24.270 --> 00:21:25.970 and repeat after me. 00:21:26.640 --> 00:21:31.410 I, Kamala Devi Harris, do solemnly swear ... 00:21:31.410 --> 00:21:32.850 VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS: I, Kamala Devi Harris, 00:21:32.850 --> 00:21:34.070 do solemnly swear ... 00:21:34.070 --> 00:21:35.930 JUSTICE SONIA SOTOMAYOR: ... that I will support and defend 00:21:35.930 --> 00:21:38.060 the Constitution of the United States ... 00:21:38.060 --> 00:21:38.060 VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS: ... 00:21:38.060 --> 00:21:39.830 that I will support and defend 00:21:39.830 --> 00:21:41.610 the Constitution of the United States ... 00:21:41.610 --> 00:21:43.340 JUSTICE SONIA SOTOMAYOR: ... against all enemies, 00:21:43.340 --> 00:21:44.640 foreign and domestic. 00:21:44.640 --> 00:21:46.030 VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS:... against all enemies, 00:21:46.030 --> 00:21:47.660 foreign and domestic. 00:21:47.660 --> 00:21:49.630 AMY GOODMAN: Later on Wednesday afternoon, 00:21:49.630 --> 00:21:54.290 Vice President Harris swore in three barrier-breaking 00:21:54.290 --> 00:21:56.020 new Democratic U.S. 00:21:56.020 --> 00:21:59.910 senators, giving Democrats narrow control of the Senate. 00:22:00.480 --> 00:22:02.160 Reverend Raphael Warnock 00:22:02.160 --> 00:22:05.620 is the first African American senator from Georgia 00:22:05.620 --> 00:22:08.370 and the first African American Democratic 00:22:08.370 --> 00:22:10.490 senator from the South. 00:22:10.490 --> 00:22:13.930 Jon Ossoff is the first Jewish senator from Georgia. 00:22:13.930 --> 00:22:17.020 He’s also the youngest member of the Senate. 00:22:17.020 --> 00:22:19.950 Alex Padilla, who replaces Harris 00:22:19.950 --> 00:22:22.410 in the Senate representing California, 00:22:22.410 --> 00:22:26.130 is the first Latinx senator to represent California. 00:22:27.050 --> 00:22:28.330 VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS: The chair lays 00:22:28.330 --> 00:22:30.740 before the Senate two certificates of election 00:22:30.740 --> 00:22:32.440 for the state of Georgia 00:22:33.080 --> 00:22:36.360 and a certificate of appointment to fill the vacancy 00:22:36.360 --> 00:22:41.330 created by the resignation of former Senator Kamala D. 00:22:41.330 --> 00:22:43.030 Harris of California. 00:22:44.750 --> 00:22:48.750 AMY GOODMAN: President Biden signed 17 executive orders 00:22:48.750 --> 00:22:53.280 in his first official act from the Oval Office on Wednesday, 00:22:53.280 --> 00:22:56.370 striking down Trump’s ban on travelers 00:22:56.370 --> 00:22:58.620 from majority-Muslim nations, 00:22:58.620 --> 00:23:01.440 ending construction of Trump’s border wall 00:23:01.440 --> 00:23:02.940 and strengthening DACA, 00:23:02.940 --> 00:23:05.270 the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals 00:23:05.270 --> 00:23:07.140 program for young immigrants. 00:23:07.140 --> 00:23:09.630 Biden rejoined the Paris climate accord 00:23:09.630 --> 00:23:12.950 and canceled the Keystone XL pipeline, 00:23:12.950 --> 00:23:15.000 put a moratorium on permits 00:23:15.000 --> 00:23:17.470 in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, 00:23:17.470 --> 00:23:19.880 ordered a review of Trump’s actions 00:23:19.880 --> 00:23:22.730 undermining public health and the environment. 00:23:22.730 --> 00:23:26.690 President Biden extended a federal moratorium on evictions 00:23:26.690 --> 00:23:29.800 and a pause on student loan payments and interest. 00:23:29.800 --> 00:23:31.520 Biden also ordered the U.S. 00:23:31.520 --> 00:23:34.480 to reengage with the World Health Organization 00:23:34.480 --> 00:23:36.000 and ordered a mask mandate 00:23:36.000 --> 00:23:38.100 for interstate travelers and visitors 00:23:38.100 --> 00:23:40.220 to federal buildings during the pandemic. 00:23:40.840 --> 00:23:42.710 AMY GOODMAN: For more on these actions 00:23:42.710 --> 00:23:44.630 of the Biden administration, 00:23:45.170 --> 00:23:50.480 on the overall inauguration and Inauguration Day itself, 00:23:50.480 --> 00:23:54.800 and what comes next, not to mention what came before, 00:23:54.800 --> 00:23:56.640 we’re joined by two guests. 00:23:57.160 --> 00:23:58.850 Dr. Cornel West is with us, 00:23:58.850 --> 00:24:01.720 professor of the practice of public philosophy 00:24:01.720 --> 00:24:04.580 at Harvard University, author of many books, 00:24:04.580 --> 00:24:08.260 including Race Matters and Black Prophetic Fire. 00:24:08.260 --> 00:24:11.260 His new podcast is called The Tight Rope. 00:24:11.860 --> 00:24:15.500 And Maria Hinojosa joins us, award-winning journalist 00:24:15.500 --> 00:24:19.180 and author of the new memoir, Once I Was You. 00:24:19.180 --> 00:24:23.370 She’s founder of Futuro Media, host of Latino USA 00:24:23.370 --> 00:24:26.370 and co-host of the podcast In the Thick. 00:24:26.370 --> 00:24:29.250 We welcome you both back to Democracy Now! 00:24:29.890 --> 00:24:33.120 Maria Hinojosa, let’s begin with you. 00:24:33.120 --> 00:24:35.890 If you can talk about what we watched yesterday, 00:24:37.530 --> 00:24:41.510 from — and later in the day, the executive orders, 00:24:41.510 --> 00:24:43.650 a number of them dealing with immigration, 00:24:43.650 --> 00:24:47.960 not to mention a not exactly perfectly formed 00:24:47.960 --> 00:24:51.600 immigration plan, or defined, but some outlines of it, 00:24:52.220 --> 00:24:58.500 but also the swearing in of the first woman vice president, 00:24:58.500 --> 00:25:01.440 first Caribbean American, Indian American, 00:25:01.440 --> 00:25:04.640 African American vice president, 00:25:04.640 --> 00:25:09.110 daughter of Oakland, by Sonia Sotomayor, 00:25:09.110 --> 00:25:12.500 the first Latinx Supreme Court justice? 00:25:13.820 --> 00:25:15.520 MARIA HINOJOSA: Yeah, it was pretty mind-blowing 00:25:16.490 --> 00:25:18.050 to see that moment, Amy. 00:25:18.050 --> 00:25:20.800 And it’s great to be here with you and with Cornel on — 00:25:21.410 --> 00:25:23.050 you know, on a new day, 00:25:23.050 --> 00:25:25.390 really, when we’re saying that it really is a new day. 00:25:25.390 --> 00:25:27.120 And I’m so thrilled to be here with you 00:25:27.120 --> 00:25:30.800 and your audience and Dr. West to talk about all of this. 00:25:30.800 --> 00:25:35.420 Now, like you, there were a lot of mixed emotions. 00:25:35.420 --> 00:25:38.130 I mean, I was getting very emotional, 00:25:38.740 --> 00:25:40.240 which I was catching myself, 00:25:40.240 --> 00:25:42.200 because I had that level of emotion — 00:25:42.200 --> 00:25:43.430 of course, we all did — 00:25:43.430 --> 00:25:46.690 when Barack Obama was elected and brought into office, 00:25:46.690 --> 00:25:49.000 and we all had these extraordinary expectations, 00:25:49.000 --> 00:25:51.270 and then things didn’t turn out that way. 00:25:51.270 --> 00:25:53.000 So everything was just kind of like, 00:25:53.000 --> 00:25:54.230 "Oh my god, this is so beautiful! 00:25:54.230 --> 00:25:55.440 Oh my god, the United States of America! 00:25:55.440 --> 00:25:56.680 Oh my god, we’re back!" 00:25:56.680 --> 00:25:59.390 And then it was just like, "Wow! What just happened?" 00:25:59.390 --> 00:26:02.060 My husband kept on saying to me, "It was by a hair." 00:26:02.060 --> 00:26:03.560 He just looked at me at one point, 00:26:03.560 --> 00:26:05.780 and he said — he just went like this. 00:26:05.780 --> 00:26:09.550 By this much, we didn’t lose this democracy. 00:26:09.550 --> 00:26:11.060 And so, that is real. 00:26:11.060 --> 00:26:14.010 I mean, they were coming to murder people. 00:26:14.010 --> 00:26:17.400 This was an attempted coup d’état in the United States, 00:26:17.400 --> 00:26:19.100 and the entire world saw it. 00:26:19.830 --> 00:26:21.440 On the other hand, 00:26:21.440 --> 00:26:24.970 we are breathing more freely as journalists. 00:26:25.520 --> 00:26:28.150 We knew that what we could be facing 00:26:28.150 --> 00:26:30.570 was an even more targeted assault on us. 00:26:30.570 --> 00:26:33.160 As a journalist who’s Mexican, an immigrant, 00:26:33.160 --> 00:26:34.990 not born in this country, 00:26:34.990 --> 00:26:37.440 I didn’t know what was going to come next for me. 00:26:38.010 --> 00:26:39.450 Like that. 00:26:39.450 --> 00:26:42.110 At the same time, Kamala is vice president. 00:26:42.720 --> 00:26:44.410 This is incredible. This is extraordinary. 00:26:44.410 --> 00:26:47.590 Dr. Jill Biden continued working in community colleges. 00:26:47.590 --> 00:26:50.020 So, you know, it was here in my household. 00:26:50.020 --> 00:26:51.560 My daughter, you know, who I was just like, 00:26:51.560 --> 00:26:53.310 "Aren’t you emotional?" And she was like — 00:26:53.310 --> 00:26:56.100 and she very much active in electoral politics 00:26:56.100 --> 00:26:58.199 for the first time ever in her life at 22. 00:26:59.290 --> 00:27:00.520 But she just kept on saying, 00:27:00.520 --> 00:27:02.250 "I don’t want people to just walk away now. 00:27:02.250 --> 00:27:04.470 I don’t want people to just think it’s all good." 00:27:04.470 --> 00:27:07.680 And so, the work continues. La luta continúa. 00:27:09.590 --> 00:27:10.850 NERMEEN SHAIKH: And, Dr. Cornel West, 00:27:10.850 --> 00:27:13.520 if you could respond to what happened 00:27:13.520 --> 00:27:15.850 yesterday at the inauguration, 00:27:15.850 --> 00:27:20.400 and your sense of what this new administration might hold? 00:27:22.540 --> 00:27:24.240 CORNEL WEST: Well, again, I’m just blessed any time 00:27:24.240 --> 00:27:27.490 to be with you, my dear sister, and Sister Amy, Sister Maria. 00:27:27.490 --> 00:27:30.530 But I was just thinking about this fundamental pattern 00:27:30.530 --> 00:27:31.840 of American history, 00:27:31.840 --> 00:27:36.600 where 200,000 Black soldiers had to join the Union Army, 00:27:36.600 --> 00:27:39.180 break the back of white supremacist slavery, 00:27:39.180 --> 00:27:41.200 Black freedom movement in the '60s, 00:27:41.200 --> 00:27:43.499 break the back of white supremacist apartheid. 00:27:44.020 --> 00:27:46.270 Here again, you've got Black folk coming to keep us 00:27:46.270 --> 00:27:49.980 going off the neofascist cliff with the gangster Trump. 00:27:50.910 --> 00:27:52.290 And yet, at the same time, 00:27:52.290 --> 00:27:55.360 Black folk often, in the end, end up recrucified, 00:27:55.360 --> 00:27:57.870 especially Black poor, especially Black working class. 00:27:57.870 --> 00:27:59.340 This is a point I think that Sister Maria 00:27:59.340 --> 00:28:01.820 was making about the disappointment, 00:28:02.830 --> 00:28:05.590 that there’s a rot in the system. 00:28:06.390 --> 00:28:11.820 And the rot is corporate greed and Pentagon militarism. 00:28:11.820 --> 00:28:16.390 And no matter how many people of color you sprinkle around, 00:28:16.390 --> 00:28:17.700 even in high places, 00:28:17.700 --> 00:28:20.980 if they can’t reshift that trajectory of the empire, 00:28:21.690 --> 00:28:26.210 then, in fact, you end up with a deep, 00:28:26.210 --> 00:28:28.360 deep disappointment, you see? 00:28:28.360 --> 00:28:30.010 So, it is a new day. 00:28:30.010 --> 00:28:33.270 I’m so glad we stopped the neofascist threat. 00:28:33.270 --> 00:28:36.350 I want to thank Aimee Allison with She the People. 00:28:36.350 --> 00:28:39.180 I want to thank Stacey Abrams, of course, with Fair 00:28:39.180 --> 00:28:44.370 Fight; Refuse Fascism with Sister Sunsara and Brother Andy 00:28:44.370 --> 00:28:47.530 — and, actually, I was part of that myself as a co-initiator. 00:28:47.530 --> 00:28:50.740 But it’s not just mixed emotions, 00:28:50.740 --> 00:28:55.310 but I’m just now suspicious of the capitulation 00:28:55.310 --> 00:28:59.910 to the neoliberal greed and lies and hatred, 00:28:59.910 --> 00:29:04.240 now that we’ve pushed back the neofascist forms of greed 00:29:04.240 --> 00:29:06.300 and lies and hatred. 00:29:06.300 --> 00:29:08.420 And so, the issue of poor people, 00:29:08.420 --> 00:29:10.120 the issue of working people, 00:29:10.690 --> 00:29:13.170 that’s going to be the crucial thing for me. 00:29:13.170 --> 00:29:14.740 And when you look at Biden, you know, you say, 00:29:14.740 --> 00:29:18.220 "OK, the old Biden is tied to three crimes against humanity": 00:29:18.220 --> 00:29:20.180 the invasion and occupation of [Iraq], 00:29:20.180 --> 00:29:22.280 mass incarceration, especially for young 00:29:22.280 --> 00:29:24.300 Black and Brown brothers and sisters, 00:29:24.300 --> 00:29:27.360 and then you’ve got the Wall Street greed unleashed. 00:29:27.360 --> 00:29:29.970 And we haven’t even got to the vicious Israeli occupation. 00:29:29.970 --> 00:29:31.440 All of those, Biden, 00:29:31.440 --> 00:29:34.050 the old Biden, fundamentally tied to, 00:29:34.050 --> 00:29:36.410 used to brag about each and every one of them. 00:29:36.410 --> 00:29:37.710 We’ll see whether there’s a new Biden. 00:29:37.710 --> 00:29:40.350 I want to be open. You know, I’m a person of hope. 00:29:40.350 --> 00:29:44.330 But I wasn’t born at night, maybe — last night. 00:29:44.330 --> 00:29:46.150 I wasn’t born last night. Let me put it that way. 00:29:46.150 --> 00:29:47.820 I was born at night, but not last night. 00:29:47.820 --> 00:29:49.960 We’re going to see. 00:29:49.960 --> 00:29:51.900 NERMEEN SHAIKH: Dr. West, I’d like to ask you 00:29:51.900 --> 00:29:54.390 about comments that you made in a recent interview, 00:29:54.390 --> 00:29:56.100 saying that, effectively, 00:29:56.100 --> 00:29:59.260 there’s no democracy left in America 00:29:59.920 --> 00:30:01.990 because of the nihilism in the country, 00:30:01.990 --> 00:30:05.890 the various forms of nihilism. And you talk about the fact 00:30:05.890 --> 00:30:11.110 that the 74 million people who voted for Trump, 00:30:11.110 --> 00:30:14.320 of which a slim majority were both women 00:30:14.320 --> 00:30:16.030 and men, white women and men, 00:30:16.030 --> 00:30:19.460 but also one out of three Asians, 00:30:19.460 --> 00:30:20.850 one out of three Jews, 00:30:20.850 --> 00:30:23.170 more than one out of three Latinos, 00:30:23.170 --> 00:30:26.400 and even one out of five Black men. 00:30:27.020 --> 00:30:30.520 So, could you say a little bit more about that, 00:30:31.120 --> 00:30:33.160 the range of people who voted for Trump? 00:30:33.160 --> 00:30:35.250 And there are 74 million of them. 00:30:35.960 --> 00:30:37.180 What should happen to them? 00:30:37.180 --> 00:30:40.550 What will happen to them under this new administration? 00:30:40.550 --> 00:30:44.170 How should they be dealt with or engaged? 00:30:45.240 --> 00:30:46.470 CORNEL WEST: I think part of the problem, 00:30:46.470 --> 00:30:47.680 though, my dear sister, 00:30:47.680 --> 00:30:50.850 is that with the corporate duopoly of the two parties — 00:30:50.850 --> 00:30:52.240 so, you’ve got the Republican Party, 00:30:52.240 --> 00:30:53.680 you’ve got the Democratic Party, 00:30:53.680 --> 00:30:55.580 both of them tied to corporate greed, 00:30:55.580 --> 00:30:58.960 both of them tied to Pentagon militarism, 00:30:59.500 --> 00:31:01.810 and all of the criminality that goes with that, 00:31:01.810 --> 00:31:03.900 the drones and so forth and so on — 00:31:03.900 --> 00:31:06.170 that the deep desperation, 00:31:06.170 --> 00:31:09.010 along with the deep suffering of people, 00:31:09.010 --> 00:31:11.690 forces them to have to choose between the two. 00:31:12.240 --> 00:31:14.340 So, when neoliberal policies come along 00:31:14.340 --> 00:31:16.710 and you get all the rationalizers of globalization 00:31:16.710 --> 00:31:18.650 that don’t say a mumbling word about inequality, 00:31:18.650 --> 00:31:21.560 don’t say a mumbling word about mass incarceration and so forth, 00:31:21.560 --> 00:31:23.750 that they say, "OK, let’s try the Democrats." 00:31:23.750 --> 00:31:27.130 Then, boom, 1% walks off with most of the wealth. 00:31:27.650 --> 00:31:29.210 "Let’s try populism." 00:31:29.210 --> 00:31:31.870 Well, the populism was much more right-wing than left-wing. 00:31:31.870 --> 00:31:33.730 Many of us with Bernie tried left-wing. 00:31:33.730 --> 00:31:37.940 The neoliberals crushed us, unfairly, in many ways. 00:31:37.940 --> 00:31:39.560 So they try the alternative. 00:31:39.560 --> 00:31:42.790 Here comes Trump, the neofascist pied piper. 00:31:42.790 --> 00:31:45.210 What happened? They still get crushed. 00:31:45.210 --> 00:31:48.850 How do poor and working people ever get their voices heard? 00:31:48.850 --> 00:31:50.510 And we know. You know, you’ve got social scientists 00:31:50.510 --> 00:31:52.040 like Brother Dylan and others 00:31:52.040 --> 00:31:55.180 who say that the voices of ordinary people are not heard. 00:31:55.180 --> 00:31:57.510 Seventy-two percent of American citizens 00:31:57.510 --> 00:32:00.170 want Medicare for All. 00:32:00.170 --> 00:32:03.030 Biden, the exemplar of empathy 00:32:03.030 --> 00:32:06.190 and common humanity and compassion, 00:32:06.190 --> 00:32:09.510 he says he’ll veto that bill in the middle of a pandemic. 00:32:10.200 --> 00:32:13.270 That doesn’t look like too much empathy for me at all. 00:32:13.270 --> 00:32:14.830 What are we talking about here? 00:32:14.830 --> 00:32:17.590 As long as you’ve got a system with this rot — 00:32:17.590 --> 00:32:20.610 the neoliberal form of the rot, the neofascist form of the rot — 00:32:20.610 --> 00:32:22.920 we’ve got to have much more either left populist, 00:32:22.920 --> 00:32:24.260 much more radical, 00:32:24.260 --> 00:32:27.500 or we’re going to be right back where we were four years ago, 00:32:27.500 --> 00:32:30.380 because the neoliberal policy of the old Biden won’t work. 00:32:30.380 --> 00:32:32.190 But I’m giving the new Biden a chance. 00:32:32.190 --> 00:32:35.680 He might be FDR. We’ll see. He’s got to be bold. We’ll see. 00:32:35.680 --> 00:32:37.250 I’m not holding my breath, but we shall see. 00:32:37.250 --> 00:32:39.210 History has a mystery to it. 00:32:39.940 --> 00:32:41.460 AMY GOODMAN: Former President Donald Trump 00:32:41.460 --> 00:32:45.180 did not attend the Biden-Harris inauguration, 00:32:45.180 --> 00:32:48.180 but three of his predecessors did: 00:32:48.890 --> 00:32:54.070 Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama. 00:32:54.070 --> 00:32:58.270 They filmed a video message to President Biden Wednesday 00:32:58.270 --> 00:33:00.760 while standing in the Memorial Amphitheater 00:33:00.760 --> 00:33:03.250 at the Arlington National Cemetery. 00:33:04.500 --> 00:33:06.200 BARACK OBAMA: Obviously, there was a personal element 00:33:06.200 --> 00:33:10.420 to see my former vice president become the 46th president, 00:33:10.940 --> 00:33:16.640 to see Kamala Harris as our first woman vice president. 00:33:18.480 --> 00:33:22.330 But, more broadly, I think inaugurations signal 00:33:22.970 --> 00:33:25.930 a tradition of a peaceful transfer of power 00:33:25.930 --> 00:33:28.620 that is over two centuries old. 00:33:28.620 --> 00:33:30.720 GEORGE W. BUSH: Well, I think the fact that the three of us 00:33:30.720 --> 00:33:33.990 are standing here talking about a peaceful transfer of power 00:33:33.990 --> 00:33:37.850 speaks to the institutional integrity of our country. 00:33:37.850 --> 00:33:39.380 BILL CLINTON: So, this is an unusual thing. 00:33:39.380 --> 00:33:42.950 We are both trying to come back to normalcy, 00:33:43.750 --> 00:33:46.080 deal with totally abnormal challenges, 00:33:46.930 --> 00:33:48.460 and do what we do best, 00:33:48.460 --> 00:33:50.350 which is try to make a more perfect union. 00:33:50.350 --> 00:33:51.980 It’s an exciting time. 00:33:51.980 --> 00:33:54.260 AMY GOODMAN: So, I want to put this question each of you. 00:33:54.260 --> 00:33:57.370 That was President Clinton, before that, George W. Bush, 00:33:57.370 --> 00:34:01.040 and starting with President Obama. 00:34:01.040 --> 00:34:02.320 On the one hand, 00:34:02.320 --> 00:34:06.840 this sense that the country is returning to normalcy, 00:34:06.840 --> 00:34:11.260 to a bipartisan consensus, but you look at the men — 00:34:11.260 --> 00:34:15.440 you look at George W. Bush, responsible for how many deaths, 00:34:15.440 --> 00:34:18.110 invading Afghanistan and then Iraq; 00:34:18.680 --> 00:34:22.170 you look at President Clinton, the welfare, so-called, 00:34:22.170 --> 00:34:25.930 reform bill that led to the impoverishment 00:34:25.930 --> 00:34:27.900 of so many and mass incarceration, 00:34:27.900 --> 00:34:32.050 which, of course, Joe Biden was very much a part of; 00:34:32.050 --> 00:34:33.760 and then President Obama, 00:34:33.760 --> 00:34:36.750 called by his closest immigrant rights 00:34:36.750 --> 00:34:41.200 allies the "deporter-in-chief." Now, on the other hand, 00:34:41.200 --> 00:34:45.110 you have this slew of executive orders on the first day. 00:34:45.110 --> 00:34:46.400 As they were recording this, 00:34:46.400 --> 00:34:51.550 you had President Biden signing off on the executive orders. 00:34:51.550 --> 00:34:55.450 And the executive orders include fortifying DACA. 00:34:55.450 --> 00:34:57.520 They include, at least for now, 00:34:57.520 --> 00:34:59.640 halting border wall construction. 00:35:00.160 --> 00:35:02.550 They approve reversing the travel ban 00:35:02.550 --> 00:35:06.740 on Muslim-majority countries and undoing Trump’s expansion 00:35:06.740 --> 00:35:09.810 of immigration enforcement within the U.S. 00:35:09.810 --> 00:35:11.420 If you can talk about this, 00:35:11.420 --> 00:35:15.430 what a return to so-called normalcy means, 00:35:15.430 --> 00:35:16.680 and if at this point, 00:35:16.680 --> 00:35:20.080 at this kind of breaking point in American history, 00:35:20.080 --> 00:35:21.500 does there need to be a break? 00:35:21.500 --> 00:35:23.950 And I’d like to put that question to both of you, 00:35:25.300 --> 00:35:27.490 starting with professor Cornel West. 00:35:29.330 --> 00:35:32.150 CORNEL WEST: Well, no, when I see those three brothers, 00:35:32.150 --> 00:35:34.050 they’re tied to crimes against humanity — 00:35:34.050 --> 00:35:35.360 there’s no doubt about that — 00:35:35.360 --> 00:35:37.420 from drones dropped on innocent people, 00:35:37.940 --> 00:35:40.470 from a Wall Street greed that crushes poor people 00:35:40.470 --> 00:35:43.540 and actually kills them concretely and symbolically, 00:35:44.920 --> 00:35:47.520 when you look at the role that the occupations 00:35:47.520 --> 00:35:49.220 and invasions have played both — 00:35:49.970 --> 00:35:53.800 not just abroad, but even here at home, 00:35:53.800 --> 00:35:55.860 military occupations in our cities. 00:35:56.570 --> 00:35:59.440 You see? So that anytime you’re head of an empire, 00:35:59.440 --> 00:36:00.670 no matter what color, 00:36:00.670 --> 00:36:02.950 no matter what — either Democrat or Republican, 00:36:02.950 --> 00:36:04.920 you’re head of an empire, 00:36:04.920 --> 00:36:06.830 you’re going to be tied to crimes against humanity. 00:36:06.830 --> 00:36:08.920 And I refuse to normalize that. 00:36:08.920 --> 00:36:11.600 You know, I refuse to just look at Bill Clinton 00:36:11.600 --> 00:36:16.990 and say nothing about a vicious, vicious crime bill 00:36:16.990 --> 00:36:20.760 and a withdrawal of resources for people who are hungry. 00:36:21.500 --> 00:36:23.280 You see, just morally and spiritually, 00:36:23.280 --> 00:36:25.640 that is — that’s wrong. 00:36:26.190 --> 00:36:30.650 And Obama dropping these drones and bailing out Wall Street 00:36:30.650 --> 00:36:32.390 rather than working people, 00:36:32.390 --> 00:36:35.450 and killing, assassinating American citizens 00:36:35.450 --> 00:36:37.890 with no no due process at all, 00:36:37.890 --> 00:36:40.170 and he walks around like he’s some grand progressive. 00:36:40.170 --> 00:36:43.800 Please, get off the crack pipe. We’ve got to tell the truth. 00:36:43.800 --> 00:36:45.530 The truth is bigger than all of us. 00:36:45.530 --> 00:36:48.870 Bush, we won’t even get into, in terms of the Iraq War 00:36:48.870 --> 00:36:51.110 and so on, and the lies and so forth. 00:36:51.110 --> 00:36:52.840 This is what we don’t hear on corporate media. 00:36:52.840 --> 00:36:54.550 Thank God for Democracy Now! 00:36:54.550 --> 00:36:57.930 That God for what you all do, because we can’t normalize 00:36:57.930 --> 00:37:00.260 this kind of mistreatment of our fellow human beings. 00:37:00.260 --> 00:37:02.600 So it doesn’t make any difference what color they are. 00:37:02.600 --> 00:37:03.870 We’re going to check with Sister Harris 00:37:03.870 --> 00:37:05.460 and see whether she falls right in step. 00:37:05.460 --> 00:37:08.460 There’s a good chance she will. Then we have to be critical. 00:37:09.210 --> 00:37:10.910 AMY GOODMAN: And Maria Hinojosa? 00:37:11.790 --> 00:37:14.810 MARIA HINOJOSA: Look, yes to all of that. 00:37:14.810 --> 00:37:17.560 I mean, for me, everything that — 00:37:18.090 --> 00:37:19.740 well, let me just start with the three presidents, 00:37:19.740 --> 00:37:21.030 because I’m right with you. 00:37:21.030 --> 00:37:25.080 I think that — that is what America is. 00:37:26.590 --> 00:37:32.720 America is that country that forgets willingly. 00:37:33.260 --> 00:37:37.700 We were all alive. We covered what happened with Gore v. 00:37:37.700 --> 00:37:39.400 Bush and the Supreme Court 00:37:40.140 --> 00:37:41.960 deciding who was going to be president. 00:37:41.960 --> 00:37:45.580 That is not a democracy. You know, in my book, Once I Was 00:37:45.580 --> 00:37:48.250 You, everybody is so just kind of — their minds are blown, 00:37:48.250 --> 00:37:50.560 because it turns out, yes, it was 00:37:50.560 --> 00:37:53.300 Bill Clinton, in fact, who started building the wall. 00:37:53.850 --> 00:37:56.950 It was Bill Clinton who in fact signed all of those laws 00:37:56.950 --> 00:38:00.200 that led to where we are now, where people can be put into 00:38:00.200 --> 00:38:02.000 detention, prison-like conditions, 00:38:02.000 --> 00:38:03.899 simply not being born in this country. 00:38:04.460 --> 00:38:08.260 So, and George W. Bush, please, 00:38:08.260 --> 00:38:12.410 the largest liar, por favor. Colin 00:38:12.410 --> 00:38:14.560 Powell, we lived through this, the lies. 00:38:15.670 --> 00:38:17.630 But, on the other hand, 00:38:17.630 --> 00:38:19.640 I actually disagree with professor, 00:38:19.640 --> 00:38:21.330 my brother, Cornel West in this. 00:38:21.330 --> 00:38:23.480 I don’t believe that democracy is dead yet. 00:38:24.470 --> 00:38:27.020 And I think this is the tricky part, right? 00:38:28.000 --> 00:38:30.820 Because, for example, more Latinos came out to vote 00:38:30.820 --> 00:38:32.740 than we have ever seen before. 00:38:32.740 --> 00:38:34.520 And this was extraordinarily important 00:38:34.520 --> 00:38:37.650 because they are the second-largest voting bloc 00:38:37.650 --> 00:38:39.430 in the United States of America. 00:38:39.430 --> 00:38:41.420 So, the fact that I’m here talking about this 00:38:41.420 --> 00:38:42.710 is really important, 00:38:42.710 --> 00:38:46.120 because the other side of the Latino coin for the last, 00:38:46.680 --> 00:38:49.510 what, 50 years is our invisibility, right? 00:38:50.140 --> 00:38:52.600 Which ties into what Dr. West was talking about, 00:38:52.600 --> 00:38:54.899 and this is where I completely agree with him. 00:38:55.610 --> 00:38:58.940 The empire, which needs the militarization, 00:38:58.940 --> 00:39:01.820 which was built on mass incarceration, 00:39:01.820 --> 00:39:06.090 which is slowly being — slowly being deconstructed — 00:39:06.090 --> 00:39:09.380 slowly, OK, slowly — but what is it going to be replaced with? 00:39:10.650 --> 00:39:15.020 The immigration-industrial mass complex, that’s what it’s being. 00:39:15.020 --> 00:39:18.520 So, the immigration plan that Joe Biden said, 00:39:18.520 --> 00:39:21.610 it’s amazing that he is going to cut off the "Remain in Mexico" 00:39:21.610 --> 00:39:25.190 policy for refugees. But he said, 00:39:25.190 --> 00:39:26.950 "But if you’re there, you have to remain there now. 00:39:26.950 --> 00:39:28.880 You can’t move." It’s like, what does this mean? 00:39:28.880 --> 00:39:30.580 We’re going to have immigration reform; 00:39:30.580 --> 00:39:32.480 it’s just going to take eight years. 00:39:32.480 --> 00:39:35.050 In eight years, there could be a new administration. 00:39:35.050 --> 00:39:37.520 Everybody knows that. Eight years? 00:39:38.500 --> 00:39:44.260 So, I’m only hoping that what I want to see around me 00:39:44.260 --> 00:39:46.110 is more people understanding that democracy 00:39:46.110 --> 00:39:47.950 is not just about a vote. 00:39:47.950 --> 00:39:50.520 It is about everything. It is about Democracy Now! 00:39:50.520 --> 00:39:52.330 It’s about Cornel West and his professorship. 00:39:52.330 --> 00:39:54.570 It’s about the work that I do at Futuro Media, 00:39:54.570 --> 00:39:57.450 the books we write, the conversations we have. 00:39:57.450 --> 00:39:59.590 I’m a little bit in Trump territory 00:39:59.590 --> 00:40:03.080 here in Bethlehem, Connecticut, and I’m having to find my way 00:40:03.080 --> 00:40:06.360 to have these conversations with my neighbors. 00:40:07.190 --> 00:40:10.050 And I do that because that’s my job 00:40:11.030 --> 00:40:12.280 and because it’s my civic duty, 00:40:12.280 --> 00:40:14.490 because I chose to become an American citizen. 00:40:14.490 --> 00:40:15.820 So, all of this, 00:40:15.820 --> 00:40:18.340 for someone who chose to become an American citizen, 00:40:18.340 --> 00:40:20.490 oh, hell, yes, but who was also around 00:40:20.490 --> 00:40:23.050 when Nixon was the first one who I saw impeached. 00:40:23.050 --> 00:40:24.430 So, we’re not going away. 00:40:24.430 --> 00:40:28.110 And this fire, this fire that we have for this dynamic, 00:40:28.110 --> 00:40:30.940 this capacity to not all be on the same page, 00:40:31.530 --> 00:40:34.770 that is what democracy looks like. We need more of it. 00:40:36.770 --> 00:40:39.030 NERMEEN SHAIKH: And I’d like to ask each of you — 00:40:39.030 --> 00:40:41.420 Maria, if you could begin — what do you think — 00:40:41.420 --> 00:40:46.660 now the Democrats are in control of the House and of the Senate. 00:40:46.660 --> 00:40:49.110 What do you think the priorities should be? 00:40:49.110 --> 00:40:53.010 And also, how can more progressive Democrats 00:40:53.010 --> 00:40:55.180 push the Biden-Harris administration 00:40:55.900 --> 00:41:00.440 to pursue policies that will differentiate 00:41:00.440 --> 00:41:04.170 this Democrat administration from the Obama one? 00:41:05.090 --> 00:41:06.710 Maria, if you could begin? 00:41:06.710 --> 00:41:08.370 MARIA HINOJOSA: Yeah. Well, look, if you ask me — 00:41:08.370 --> 00:41:10.730 and I suppose I’m a little bit of a radical on this — 00:41:10.730 --> 00:41:12.010 what I would do, 00:41:12.010 --> 00:41:15.330 because, you know, we are much stronger than we think, 00:41:15.330 --> 00:41:17.290 that we’ve been able to live through this pandemic 00:41:17.290 --> 00:41:19.780 and staying home and not seeing anyone, 00:41:19.780 --> 00:41:21.710 not hugging people, not seeing our family, 00:41:21.710 --> 00:41:26.430 but I want it to stop. I would do a full shutdown. 00:41:26.430 --> 00:41:29.790 I would. And I would pay people. I would pay people. 00:41:29.790 --> 00:41:34.180 I would have checks going out so that people can be home, 00:41:35.090 --> 00:41:37.900 that we’re protecting the most essential workers, really, 00:41:37.900 --> 00:41:41.110 so that the economy and people can chill out and relax 00:41:41.110 --> 00:41:43.440 and not be freaking out at this point. 00:41:44.430 --> 00:41:47.250 And that takes care of COVID and the economy, 00:41:47.250 --> 00:41:49.760 I think, you know, inspiring the economy. 00:41:49.760 --> 00:41:51.320 Immigration reform, you know, 00:41:51.320 --> 00:41:54.690 people see it as kind of an issue. 00:41:54.690 --> 00:41:57.140 Do you understand that if you were to do massive immigration 00:41:57.140 --> 00:41:58.370 reform right now — 00:41:58.370 --> 00:42:00.650 and I’m talking like in three years — 00:42:00.650 --> 00:42:03.490 what that would do to boost the American economy 00:42:04.160 --> 00:42:05.810 across the board? 00:42:05.810 --> 00:42:09.480 So, I kind of feel like the neoliberalism stops 00:42:09.480 --> 00:42:11.280 this administration 00:42:11.280 --> 00:42:14.160 from being what they think is going to be called radical. 00:42:14.160 --> 00:42:16.700 And what I say — and I know what both of you say, too — 00:42:16.700 --> 00:42:18.600 is, this is not radical. 00:42:18.600 --> 00:42:22.080 What is radical is taking the uterus from a woman 00:42:22.080 --> 00:42:24.040 simply because she was not born in this country. 00:42:24.040 --> 00:42:26.920 What’s radical is putting children in cages. 00:42:26.920 --> 00:42:29.070 What’s radical is a police officer 00:42:29.070 --> 00:42:31.280 murdering a Black man for doing nothing, 00:42:31.880 --> 00:42:36.240 while being captured on camera. That is radical. The solutions — 00:42:36.240 --> 00:42:38.770 and the question here for the Biden administration — 00:42:38.770 --> 00:42:39.990 we’re on the same page here — is: 00:42:39.990 --> 00:42:42.080 Can you change the narrative? 00:42:42.080 --> 00:42:47.640 Can you take accountability, apologize in a very big way, 00:42:47.640 --> 00:42:51.190 the both of them, so that we can begin to trust 00:42:51.190 --> 00:42:52.700 that there will be a deeper commitment 00:42:52.700 --> 00:42:55.110 to this real new day that we want to get to? 00:42:57.500 --> 00:42:58.930 NERMEEN SHAIKH: And Dr. West? 00:42:58.930 --> 00:43:01.760 CORNEL WEST: Indeed. Yeah, no, I’m with my dear Sister Maria. 00:43:01.760 --> 00:43:05.940 In fact, I would even go further in embracing Sister Maria here 00:43:05.940 --> 00:43:07.690 — and you tell me what you think, my sister — 00:43:07.690 --> 00:43:09.490 that, see, I would say, 00:43:09.490 --> 00:43:13.010 as long as there’s persons like all of us, 00:43:13.010 --> 00:43:16.250 as long as there’s artists like Yolanda 00:43:16.250 --> 00:43:19.240 Adams, as long as there’s poets like Sister Amanda 00:43:19.980 --> 00:43:21.460 and Gabrielle, her sister, 00:43:21.460 --> 00:43:25.410 and Joan, her mother, that democracy is alive 00:43:25.410 --> 00:43:27.510 in the hearts and minds of people. 00:43:28.580 --> 00:43:30.070 And as long as we’re willing to fight, 00:43:30.070 --> 00:43:31.560 as long as we’re willing to tell the truth, 00:43:31.560 --> 00:43:33.250 as long as we’re willing to hold onto integrity 00:43:33.250 --> 00:43:35.190 as opposed to superficial popularity, 00:43:36.070 --> 00:43:39.110 democracy is alive in the hearts and minds of people. 00:43:39.110 --> 00:43:42.520 But it’s our structures that are profoundly anti-democratic. 00:43:42.520 --> 00:43:44.990 It’s the big money. It’s the lobbyists. 00:43:44.990 --> 00:43:47.390 It’s the Wall Street greed. It’s Big Tech greed. 00:43:48.060 --> 00:43:50.210 That’s what stands in the way. It’s the white supremacy 00:43:50.210 --> 00:43:52.110 and the male supremacy and so forth and so on, 00:43:52.110 --> 00:43:55.340 the hatred of gays and lesbians and trans 00:43:55.340 --> 00:43:58.100 and nonbinaries and so forth, so that, in that way, 00:43:58.100 --> 00:44:00.330 there’s always a struggle going on. 00:44:00.330 --> 00:44:04.060 So, if I were asked what the Biden administration 00:44:04.060 --> 00:44:05.470 ought to do, they ought to look 00:44:05.470 --> 00:44:08.370 at the 14 points of the Poor People’s Campaign, 00:44:08.370 --> 00:44:11.320 that my dear Sister Theoharis and my dear Brother Barber, 00:44:11.930 --> 00:44:15.590 they lay it out — massive cuts in military, 00:44:15.590 --> 00:44:18.530 fundamental investment in schools, 00:44:18.530 --> 00:44:21.530 in housing, in jobs with a living wage, 00:44:21.530 --> 00:44:24.510 the empowerment of the trade union movement, 00:44:24.510 --> 00:44:26.670 the defense of rights and liberties. 00:44:26.670 --> 00:44:28.790 And this is very, very important, you see, 00:44:28.790 --> 00:44:30.490 because when Bidens talk about — 00:44:31.220 --> 00:44:33.290 critiquing white supremacy is a beautiful thing. 00:44:33.290 --> 00:44:36.050 We’ve never had a president talk about white supremacy like that. 00:44:36.050 --> 00:44:38.270 Even Obama, with two inaugural speeches, 00:44:38.270 --> 00:44:40.520 never talked about white supremacy like that. 00:44:41.390 --> 00:44:43.700 But when he talks about domestic terrorists, 00:44:43.700 --> 00:44:46.380 the next thing you know, I’m a domestic terrorist, 00:44:46.380 --> 00:44:48.610 because I’m critical of Israeli occupation. 00:44:48.610 --> 00:44:50.570 If I’m critical of any form of Zionism 00:44:50.570 --> 00:44:52.700 by using the very term "Zionism," 00:44:52.700 --> 00:44:54.820 that makes me an enemy of the state. 00:44:54.820 --> 00:44:56.160 So we have to be very clear 00:44:56.160 --> 00:44:59.480 that we’re not for massive repression and censorship 00:44:59.480 --> 00:45:01.160 and the defense of rights and liberties, 00:45:01.160 --> 00:45:04.090 even as we’re against white supremacy and male supremacy 00:45:04.090 --> 00:45:05.400 and any other ideology 00:45:05.400 --> 00:45:08.100 that leaves aside the humanity of people. 00:45:08.100 --> 00:45:10.560 And this is going to be a very important challenge, 00:45:10.560 --> 00:45:13.590 but we must raise our voices no matter what, 00:45:13.590 --> 00:45:16.260 based in part on what the Poor People’s Campaign 00:45:16.260 --> 00:45:18.050 and other progressives are doing, 00:45:18.050 --> 00:45:23.700 not the fashionable, glitzy neoliberals who trot around 00:45:23.700 --> 00:45:26.070 as if they are progressives 00:45:26.070 --> 00:45:29.730 but in fact are in the hip pocket of Wall Street 00:45:29.730 --> 00:45:33.740 and corporate greedy elites and Big Tech elites 00:45:33.740 --> 00:45:36.660 and military militaristic elites. 00:45:36.660 --> 00:45:37.990 That’s going to be the challenge. 00:45:37.990 --> 00:45:40.750 And that’s the legacy of our dear brother this week, 00:45:40.750 --> 00:45:42.180 Martin Luther King Jr. 00:45:42.180 --> 00:45:45.540 That’s what is so powerful in the poetry of Sister Gorman 00:45:45.540 --> 00:45:47.380 and the music of Yolanda Adams, 00:45:47.380 --> 00:45:50.610 if we listen very closely and let it touch our souls. 00:45:51.210 --> 00:45:54.400 AMY GOODMAN: Speaking of Martin Luther King and others, 00:45:55.280 --> 00:46:00.250 the new Oval Office decor has busts of Martin Luther King 00:46:00.250 --> 00:46:05.350 and César Chávez and Eleanor Roosevelt and Rosa Parks, 00:46:06.240 --> 00:46:10.000 among others, along with a portrait of FDR. 00:46:10.000 --> 00:46:12.560 We’re going to get final comments from Maria Hinojosa 00:46:12.560 --> 00:46:15.990 and Dr. Cornel West after break 00:46:15.990 --> 00:46:21.150 and after we play this remarkable five minutes 00:46:21.150 --> 00:46:22.960 during the inauguration, 00:46:22.960 --> 00:46:26.690 the youngest inaugural poet in U.S. history. 00:46:26.690 --> 00:46:27.980 Stay with us. 00:46:27.980 --> 00:47:43.330 [break] 00:47:43.330 --> 00:47:46.810 AMY GOODMAN: Texas band Black Pumas singing "Colors," 00:47:46.810 --> 00:47:49.530 from last night’s "Celebrating America" 00:47:49.530 --> 00:47:51.640 inaugural concert program. 00:47:51.640 --> 00:47:52.980 AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, 00:47:52.980 --> 00:47:56.610 democracynow.org, The Quarantine Report. 00:47:56.610 --> 00:47:59.120 I’m Amy Goodman, with Nermeen Shaikh. 00:47:59.120 --> 00:48:01.980 One of the most remarkable moments 00:48:01.980 --> 00:48:04.930 of Wednesday’s inaugural ceremony 00:48:05.440 --> 00:48:10.840 came from the inaugural poet, Amanda Gorman of Los Angeles. 00:48:10.840 --> 00:48:14.700 She’s the youngest poet in U.S. history 00:48:14.700 --> 00:48:18.480 to address a presidential inauguration. 00:48:18.480 --> 00:48:21.510 She became the youth poet laureate of Los Angeles 00:48:21.510 --> 00:48:24.770 at the age of 16 in 2014 00:48:24.770 --> 00:48:27.410 and then the first national youth poet laureate. 00:48:28.670 --> 00:48:34.190 The 22-year-old poet read her poem "The Hill We Climb." 00:48:34.890 --> 00:48:38.510 She finished it right after the riot 00:48:38.510 --> 00:48:40.720 at the Capitol earlier this month. 00:48:41.410 --> 00:48:45.740 Her words captured the nation. This is Amanda Gorman. 00:48:46.970 --> 00:48:51.630 AMANDA GORMAN: Mr. President, Dr. Biden, Madam 00:48:51.630 --> 00:48:58.030 Vice President, Mr. Emhoff, Americans and the world. 00:48:59.210 --> 00:49:01.660 When day comes, we ask ourselves, 00:49:01.660 --> 00:49:06.140 "Where can we find light in this never-ending shade, 00:49:06.920 --> 00:49:10.110 the loss we carry, a sea we must wade?" 00:49:10.110 --> 00:49:13.310 We’ve braved the belly of the beast. 00:49:13.310 --> 00:49:17.340 We’ve learned that quiet isn’t always peace, 00:49:17.340 --> 00:49:20.810 and the norms and notions of what "just is" 00:49:21.390 --> 00:49:23.810 isn’t always justice. 00:49:25.520 --> 00:49:29.340 And yet, the dawn is ours before we knew it. 00:49:29.340 --> 00:49:30.780 Somehow we do it. 00:49:30.780 --> 00:49:34.370 Somehow we’ve weathered and witnessed 00:49:34.370 --> 00:49:39.790 a nation that isn’t broken, but simply unfinished. 00:49:39.790 --> 00:49:43.650 We, the successors of a country and a time 00:49:43.650 --> 00:49:45.730 where a skinny Black girl, 00:49:45.730 --> 00:49:47.420 descended from slaves 00:49:47.420 --> 00:49:49.710 and raised by a single mother, 00:49:49.710 --> 00:49:52.240 can dream of becoming president, 00:49:52.860 --> 00:49:55.920 only to find herself reciting for one. 00:49:57.200 --> 00:50:01.440 And yes, we are far from polished, far from pristine, 00:50:01.440 --> 00:50:03.590 but that doesn’t mean we are striving 00:50:03.590 --> 00:50:06.060 to form a union that is perfect. 00:50:06.770 --> 00:50:11.990 We are striving to forge our union with purpose, 00:50:11.990 --> 00:50:16.380 to compose a country committed to all cultures, 00:50:16.380 --> 00:50:20.140 colors, characters and conditions of man. 00:50:20.740 --> 00:50:24.820 And so we lift our gazes not to what stands between us, 00:50:24.820 --> 00:50:27.580 but what stands before us. 00:50:27.580 --> 00:50:29.330 We close the divide, 00:50:29.330 --> 00:50:31.700 because we know, to put our future first, 00:50:31.700 --> 00:50:34.260 we must first put our differences aside. 00:50:34.260 --> 00:50:36.100 We lay down our arms 00:50:36.100 --> 00:50:39.100 so we can reach out our arms to one another. 00:50:39.100 --> 00:50:42.530 We seek harm to none and harmony for all. 00:50:42.530 --> 00:50:47.790 Let the globe, if nothing else, say this is true: 00:50:48.840 --> 00:50:51.530 that even as we grieved, we grew; 00:50:51.530 --> 00:50:53.660 that even as we hurt, we hoped; 00:50:53.660 --> 00:50:55.950 that even as we tired, we tried; 00:50:55.950 --> 00:50:59.430 that we’ll forever be tied together victorious, 00:50:59.430 --> 00:51:03.150 not because we will never again know defeat, 00:51:03.860 --> 00:51:08.290 but because we will never again sow division. 00:51:09.190 --> 00:51:10.900 Scripture tells us to envision 00:51:10.900 --> 00:51:15.360 that "Everyone shall sit under their own vine and fig tree. 00:51:15.360 --> 00:51:17.670 And no one shall make them afraid." 00:51:18.500 --> 00:51:20.810 If we’re to live up to our own time, 00:51:20.810 --> 00:51:23.180 then victory won’t lie in the blade, 00:51:23.180 --> 00:51:25.700 but in all the bridges we’ve made. 00:51:25.700 --> 00:51:28.040 That is the promise to glade, 00:51:28.040 --> 00:51:31.000 the hill we climb, if only we dare it, 00:51:31.000 --> 00:51:36.320 because being American is more than a pride we inherit. 00:51:36.320 --> 00:51:40.550 It’s the past we step into and how we repair it. 00:51:41.240 --> 00:51:44.320 We’ve seen a force that would shatter our nation 00:51:44.320 --> 00:51:46.000 rather than share it, 00:51:46.000 --> 00:51:47.630 would destroy our country 00:51:47.630 --> 00:51:49.920 if it meant delaying democracy. 00:51:50.790 --> 00:51:53.380 And this effort very nearly succeeded. 00:51:54.410 --> 00:51:57.950 But while democracy can be periodically delayed, 00:51:58.480 --> 00:52:01.620 it can never be permanently defeated. 00:52:02.410 --> 00:52:05.120 In this truth, in this faith, we trust, 00:52:05.120 --> 00:52:07.440 for while we have our eyes on the future, 00:52:07.440 --> 00:52:10.600 history has its eyes on us. 00:52:10.600 --> 00:52:13.590 This is the era of just redemption 00:52:13.590 --> 00:52:15.770 we feared at its inception. 00:52:15.770 --> 00:52:17.300 We did not feel prepared 00:52:17.300 --> 00:52:20.280 to be the heirs of such a terrifying hour, 00:52:20.280 --> 00:52:22.330 but within it we found the power 00:52:22.330 --> 00:52:24.470 to author a new chapter, 00:52:24.470 --> 00:52:27.080 to offer hope and laughter to ourselves. 00:52:27.080 --> 00:52:30.780 So while once we asked, 00:52:30.780 --> 00:52:34.610 "How could we possibly prevail over catastrophe?" 00:52:35.200 --> 00:52:37.430 now we assert, 00:52:38.220 --> 00:52:43.060 "How could catastrophe possibly prevail over us?" 00:52:43.060 --> 00:52:45.430 We will not march back to what was, 00:52:45.430 --> 00:52:47.430 but move to what shall be: 00:52:47.430 --> 00:52:49.870 a country that is bruised but whole, 00:52:49.870 --> 00:52:51.580 benevolent but bold, 00:52:51.580 --> 00:52:53.040 fierce and free. 00:52:53.040 --> 00:52:57.950 We will not be turned around or interrupted by intimidation, 00:52:57.950 --> 00:53:01.580 because we know our inaction and inertia 00:53:01.580 --> 00:53:04.370 will be the inheritance of the next generation. 00:53:04.370 --> 00:53:06.990 Our blunders become their burdens. 00:53:06.990 --> 00:53:08.830 But one thing is certain: 00:53:10.240 --> 00:53:12.750 If we merge mercy with might, 00:53:13.290 --> 00:53:14.990 and might with right, 00:53:15.510 --> 00:53:18.980 then love becomes our legacy 00:53:18.980 --> 00:53:22.220 and change, our children’s birthright. 00:53:22.920 --> 00:53:25.290 So let us leave behind a country 00:53:25.290 --> 00:53:27.120 better than the one we were left. 00:53:27.120 --> 00:53:29.910 With every breath from my bronze-pounded chest, 00:53:29.910 --> 00:53:33.650 we will raise this wounded world into a wondrous one. 00:53:33.650 --> 00:53:36.980 We will rise from the gold-limbed hills of the West. 00:53:36.980 --> 00:53:39.450 We will rise from the wind-swept Northeast, 00:53:39.450 --> 00:53:42.140 where our forefathers first realized revolution. 00:53:42.140 --> 00:53:44.620 We will rise from the lake-rimmed cities 00:53:44.620 --> 00:53:46.250 of the Midwestern states. 00:53:46.250 --> 00:53:48.190 We will rise from the sun-baked South. 00:53:48.190 --> 00:53:51.620 We will rebuild, reconcile and recover. 00:53:51.620 --> 00:53:53.840 In every known nook of our nation, 00:53:53.840 --> 00:53:56.290 in every corner called our country, 00:53:56.290 --> 00:53:58.900 our people, diverse and beautiful, 00:53:58.900 --> 00:54:00.890 will emerge battered and beautiful. 00:54:00.890 --> 00:54:04.090 When day comes, we step out of the shade, 00:54:04.090 --> 00:54:05.940 aflame and unafraid. 00:54:05.940 --> 00:54:09.180 The new dawn blooms as we free it, 00:54:09.180 --> 00:54:11.070 for there is always light, 00:54:11.070 --> 00:54:13.780 if only we’re brave enough to see it, 00:54:13.780 --> 00:54:17.430 if only we’re brave enough to be it. 00:54:24.230 --> 00:54:27.910 AMY GOODMAN: Twenty-two-year-old Amanda Gorman, 00:54:27.910 --> 00:54:31.890 the youngest inaugural poet in U.S. history. 00:54:32.970 --> 00:54:34.410 This is Democracy Now!, 00:54:34.410 --> 00:54:39.120 as we end our conversation with Dr. Cornel West, 00:54:39.120 --> 00:54:41.870 professor of the practice of public philosophy 00:54:41.870 --> 00:54:43.230 at Harvard University, 00:54:43.230 --> 00:54:46.230 and award-winning journalist Maria Hinojosa. 00:54:47.310 --> 00:54:50.930 In the last few minutes we have, Professor West, 00:54:50.930 --> 00:54:55.990 you were in Charlottesville, Virginia, when the Klan marched, 00:54:55.990 --> 00:54:58.330 when the white supremacists marched. 00:54:58.330 --> 00:55:02.700 Amanda was writing her poem through the riot, 00:55:02.700 --> 00:55:05.540 the white supremacist attack on the Capitol. 00:55:05.540 --> 00:55:07.240 Your final thoughts? 00:55:08.770 --> 00:55:10.810 CORNEL WEST: Just that we say to Brother Biden, you know, 00:55:10.810 --> 00:55:13.750 when he stood on the floor the Senate, November 18, 1993, 00:55:13.750 --> 00:55:16.570 and said, "These young Black folk are predators 00:55:16.570 --> 00:55:20.310 on the street beyond the pale, to be taken out of society," 00:55:20.940 --> 00:55:23.030 if you’re going to talk about empathy, 00:55:23.880 --> 00:55:28.590 you ought to extend your empathy to the cousins of the brilliant, 00:55:28.590 --> 00:55:32.340 visionary poet Amanda on that street. 00:55:32.340 --> 00:55:35.820 They’re human beings, even when they’re incarcerated. 00:55:35.820 --> 00:55:38.750 Extend your sympathy to the immigrants 00:55:38.750 --> 00:55:40.280 trying to make their way, 00:55:40.280 --> 00:55:42.850 often coming into a country that used to be theirs, 00:55:42.850 --> 00:55:46.530 our Mexican brothers. Extend your sympathy to poor, 00:55:46.530 --> 00:55:48.150 no matter what color, working-class, 00:55:48.150 --> 00:55:53.990 no matter what color — yes, Jewish folk hated in France, 00:55:54.560 --> 00:55:57.650 Palestinians hated on the West Bank. 00:55:57.650 --> 00:56:01.840 Where is your concrete empathy and compassion 00:56:01.840 --> 00:56:03.760 and acknowledging common humanity? 00:56:03.760 --> 00:56:06.710 That’s the kind of pressure that he’s going have to expect 00:56:06.710 --> 00:56:09.720 from love warriors, freedom fighters,, 00:56:09.720 --> 00:56:13.780 like both myself and the Amanda Gormans, 00:56:13.780 --> 00:56:19.020 with memories of Sojourner Truth and Harriet Tubman 00:56:19.020 --> 00:56:20.550 and Toni Morrison, 00:56:20.550 --> 00:56:22.250 and John Coltrane’s Love Supreme. 00:56:24.740 --> 00:56:26.800 NERMEEN SHAIKH: And, Maria, your final thoughts? 00:56:27.510 --> 00:56:30.320 MARIA HINOJOSA: Wow! Just also Frederick Douglass and Ida B. 00:56:30.320 --> 00:56:32.890 Wells, my founding fathers and founding mothers, right? 00:56:32.890 --> 00:56:34.180 That’s why we do this. 00:56:34.180 --> 00:56:37.460 Look, the only thing that I — and I’m trying to stay inspired. 00:56:37.980 --> 00:56:42.480 I really am. Because, otherwise, what happens? 00:56:42.480 --> 00:56:46.170 So, we just have to realize that those of us 00:56:46.170 --> 00:56:48.620 who have this understanding of what democracy 00:56:48.620 --> 00:56:52.240 looks like got to deepen it. OK, sometimes you can chill. 00:56:52.240 --> 00:56:54.120 You’ve got to take a — you know, relax, whatever. 00:56:54.120 --> 00:56:56.330 I understand. But we deepen it. 00:56:56.990 --> 00:56:58.910 That’s why I love being on with both you, Amy, 00:56:58.910 --> 00:57:00.930 who I’ve known for years, and Brother West, 00:57:00.930 --> 00:57:02.980 is because there’s such a humanity here. 00:57:02.980 --> 00:57:06.030 And I think that if Joe Biden and Kamala can do something, 00:57:06.030 --> 00:57:08.600 it would be to actually try to humanize, 00:57:08.600 --> 00:57:10.030 as Cornel was saying, 00:57:10.030 --> 00:57:13.590 the brothers and sisters of our dear poet, 00:57:14.100 --> 00:57:15.800 of Amanda, of so many — right? 00:57:16.390 --> 00:57:20.200 — to humanize those who were not born here, like myself. 00:57:20.200 --> 00:57:23.290 So, this is our challenge. As I tell my students — 00:57:23.290 --> 00:57:25.590 I’m about to start teaching any minute now at Barnard, 00:57:25.590 --> 00:57:26.930 and I’ll tell my students: 00:57:26.930 --> 00:57:28.430 There are some days when you cannot, 00:57:28.430 --> 00:57:33.030 in fact, be that unifier. So don’t try it on those days. 00:57:33.030 --> 00:57:34.940 On the days when you can have dialogue, yes. 00:57:34.940 --> 00:57:37.410 But you know what? At the same time now, 00:57:37.410 --> 00:57:40.950 maybe this isn’t a time for that right now. 00:57:40.950 --> 00:57:43.130 Give ourselves a little bit of a break 00:57:43.130 --> 00:57:46.430 also to take critical pause for what we’re seeing 00:57:46.430 --> 00:57:48.260 and to understand, finally, 00:57:48.260 --> 00:57:49.970 we are much stronger than we think. 00:57:49.970 --> 00:57:52.260 We never thought we could make it this far. 00:57:52.260 --> 00:57:54.950 But also, we did not all make it. 00:57:54.950 --> 00:57:56.650 We did not all make it. 00:57:57.360 --> 00:57:59.350 And so, for that, I’m very sorry. 00:57:59.350 --> 00:58:02.180 But I’m looking at the sun, and I’m incredibly hopeful. 00:58:02.180 --> 00:58:03.450 Nature is what grounds me, 00:58:03.450 --> 00:58:04.910 and I hope it grounds the both of you, too — 00:58:04.910 --> 00:58:06.150 the three of you. 00:58:06.150 --> 00:58:08.270 It’s been such a pleasure to be with all of you. 00:58:08.270 --> 00:58:10.180 AMY GOODMAN: We thank you so much for being here 00:58:10.180 --> 00:58:13.010 on this post-inauguration broadcast, 00:58:13.010 --> 00:58:15.850 Maria Hinojosa, award-winning journalist, 00:58:15.850 --> 00:58:19.180 author and professor, and Dr. Cornel West, 00:58:19.180 --> 00:58:22.020 professor of the practice of public philosophy 00:58:22.020 --> 00:58:24.020 at Harvard University. 00:58:24.020 --> 00:58:26.250 Democracy Now! is produced with Renée Feltz, 00:58:26.250 --> 00:58:28.930 Mike Burke, Deena Guzder, Libby Rainey, Nermeen Shaikh, 00:58:28.930 --> 00:58:32.800 María Taracena, Carla Wills, Tami Woronoff, Charina Nadura, 00:58:32.800 --> 00:58:36.070 Sam Alcoff, Tey-Marie Astudillo, John Hamilton, Robby Karran, 00:58:36.070 --> 00:58:38.580 Hany Massoud and Adriano Contreras. 00:58:38.580 --> 00:58:40.450 Our general manager is Julie Crosby. 00:58:40.450 --> 00:58:43.860 Special thanks to Becca Staley, Miriam Barnard, 00:58:43.860 --> 00:58:46.670 Paul Powell, Mike Di Filippo, Miguel Nogueira, Hugh Gran, 00:58:46.670 --> 00:58:50.640 Denis Moynihan, David Prude and Dennis McCormick. 00:58:50.640 --> 00:58:54.540 Remember, wearing a mask is an act of love. 00:58:54.540 --> 00:58:59.170 I’m Amy Goodman, with Nermeen Shaikh. Stay safe.