On Wednesday, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris were sworn in to office as president and vice president.
Harris is the first woman, first black and first south Asian person to take office as vice president.
This year, the inauguration was like no other. Because of COVID-19, the large crowd of U.S. citizens that usually attend the inauguration was reduced significantly. Instead of having a big crowd, American flags were set in rows in place of people.
In addition to the inauguration, a national poet recited a poem. Youth poet Amanda Gorman recited an inauguration poem directed toward Joe Biden. The purpose of this poem was not only to give hope, but to show the power of words.
“We’ve seen over the past few years the way in which the power of words has been violated and misappropriated. And what I wanted to do was kind of reclaim poetry as that site in which we can re-purify, re-sanctify, not only the Capitol building that we saw violated, but the power of words and invest that in kind of the highest office of the land,” Gorman said before reading her poem.
On his first day in office, Biden signed a mandate for all people in any federal building to have to wear a mask in efforts to reduce the catching and spreading of COVID-19.
Also on his first day, he paused the Keystone Pipeline, wanting to hopefully create a better environment in the long-run. This act of cancelling the Pipeline could leave many jobless, but would be better for the world in the climate crisis.
