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[ringing bell tones]

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[audience clapping]
[audience cheering]

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<v ->Mr. President, Dr. Biden,</v>

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Madam Vice President, Mr. Emhoff,

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Americans, and the world.

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When day comes we ask ourselves,

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"Where can we find light in this never-ending shade?"

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The loss we carry, a sea we must wade.

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We've braved the belly of the beast.

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We've learned that quiet isn't always peace,

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and the norms and notions of what just is

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isn't always justice.

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And yet the dawn is ours before we knew it,

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somehow we do it, somehow we've weathered

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and witnessed a nation that isn't broken

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but simply unfinished.

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We, the successors of a country

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and a time where a skinny black girl

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descended from slaves and raised by a single mother

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can dream of becoming president

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only to find herself reciting for one.

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And yes, we are far from polished, far from pristine,

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but that doesn't mean

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we are striving to form a union that is perfect.

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We are striving to forge our union with purpose,

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to compose a country committed to all cultures,

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colors, characters, and conditions of man.

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And so we lift our gazes not to what stands between us,

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but what stands before us.

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We close the divide because we know to put our future first,

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we must first put our differences aside,

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we lay down our arms

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so we can reach out our arms to one another.

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We seek harm to none and harmony for all.

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Let the globe, if nothing else, say this is true.

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That even as we grieved, we grew,

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that even as we hurt, we hoped,

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that even as we tired, we tried,

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that we'll forever be tied together victorious,

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not because we will never again know defeat,

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but because we will never again sow division.

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Scripture tells us to envision

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that everyone shall sit under their own vine and fig tree

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and no one shall make them afraid.

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If we're to live up to our own time,

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then victory won't lie in the blade,

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but in all of the bridges we've made.

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That is the promised glade,

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the hill we climb if only we dare it,

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because being American is more than a pride we inherit,

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it's the past we step into and how we repair it.

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We've seen a force that would shatter our nation

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rather than share it,

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would destroy our country if it meant delaying democracy,

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and this effort very nearly succeeded.

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But while democracy can be periodically delayed,

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it can never be permanently defeated.

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In this truth, in this faith we trust,

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for while we have our eyes on the future,

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our history has its eyes on us.

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This is the era of just redemption.

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We feared it at its inception,

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we did not feel prepared

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to be the heirs of such a terrifying hour,

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but within it, we found the power to author a new chapter,

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to offer hope and laughter to ourselves.

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So while once we asked,

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"How could we possibly prevail over catastrophe?"

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Now we assert,

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"How could catastrophe possibly prevail over us?"

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We will not march back to what was

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but move to what shall be,

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a country that is bruised but whole,

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benevolent but bold,

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fierce and free.

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We will not be turned around

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or interrupted by intimidation

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because we know our inaction and inertia

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will be the inheritance of the next generation.

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Our blunders become their burdens,

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but one thing is certain.

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If we merge mercy with might

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and might with right,

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then love becomes our legacy

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and change our children's birthright.

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So let us leave behind a country

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better than the one we were left with.

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Every breath from my bronze-pounded chest,

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we will raise this wounded world into a wondrous one.

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We will rise from the gold-limbed hills of the West,

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we will rise from the windswept Northeast

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where our forefathers first realized revolution.

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We will rise from the lake-rimmed cities

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of the Midwestern states,

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we will rise from the sunbaked South.

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We will rebuild, reconcile, and recover,

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in every known nook of our nation.

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In every corner called our country,

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our people, diverse and beautiful, will emerge

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battered and beautiful.

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When day comes we step out of the shade

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aflame and unafraid.

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The new dawn blooms as we free it

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for there is always light,

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if only we're brave enough to see it,

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if only we're brave enough to be it.

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[muffled chattering]