By Santo Raggiri
On January 20th, 2021, at the Inauguration of President Joe Biden, Biden was not the only person to take the stage. On that day, we saw another figure present an equally powerful message. That figure is Amanda Gorman, a 22-year-old African-American woman. She read her poem, ‘The Hill We Climb’, speaking largely about our country’s past, our failures, and how we can use them to make a better future. It’s, as Chloe Jean, an eighth-grader, described it: “Where we are as a country and how we can get to be in a better country.”
However, the words spoken in Gorman’s poem were not the only inspiring part. Ms. Koomson-Davis, a sixth-grade ethics teacher said “I was struck by the image of seeing a young, African-American woman presenting to the American audience. As a young girl, I would have longed to see such an image.”
Chloe Jean, a young girl herself, felt a similar connection. She said: “[Amanda Gorman] was the first person I’ve seen who looks like me to say something so important at the inauguration…I see myself doing something as incredible as Amanda in the future. As a black girl, I always felt like I couldn’t do things because I’m black and I’m a girl, so it helped me realize that if Amanda can do it I can, too.”
Mr. Michael Moorse, an upper-school English teacher and poet, also described the moment similarly from an outside perspective. He called it “a monumental, paradigm-changing moment for women of color in this country.” Another poet, Mr. Ron Villanueva, a sixth-grade English teacher, summed up all of these inspirations well: “The field of play has now widened.”
Though these reactions seemed similar; these students, teachers, and poets also had their own personal thoughts as well. When thinking of the poem, Ms. Koomson-Davis said “it felt to me like progress, like all of the work has not been in vain.” To Mr. Villanueva, it was more of a reflective time. He depicted his emotional reaction as Amanda Gorman “making the wound come alive again and again.” Mr. Moorse himself was “giddy”. To him, this moment represented a relieving end to “four years of very difficult and often divisive politics.” Here, though, he was ecstatic to see “a poem speaking to rebuilding, reconciliation, and recovery.”
The significance of the poem comes largely from inspirations and epiphanies like these. Ms. Koomson-Davis described it as being “activated”. She envisioned “a young Dr. King being activated in his late-teens, early twenties by his poem.” Mr. Villanueva came to the realization that “if we’re going to make any headway we have to acknowledge, and honor, and mourn, and celebrate.” Mr. Moorse discovered that “we might not know where we’re going when we start, but we trust that we’ll arrive somewhere.” If we have learned anything from this poem though it’s that that somewhere is entirely dependent on the way we act now. In his interview, Mr. Villanueva always emphasized the word “we”. “It’s the hill WE climb,” he said. “It’s something we do together.”
All in all, as Ms. Koomson-Davis described it, The Hill We Climb is “a chronicle, a part of our footprint.” This is why students should listen to this poem. “There has been a shift, and wherever we are, in thinking about what that shift means, that shift has an impact on every single one of us. Amanda Gorman’s poem lies right within the cut of that shift.” That very shift is one that we will all remember, perhaps something that has forever changed the way countless people see and believe in this very nation.
