America's Sunrise

For many, the inauguration of Joe Biden is seen as a close on the era of chaos. No longer does the man ruling our country use derogatory terms towards women and immigrants. No longer does the ever-climbing temperatures, and warnings of science go ignored and dismissed by a man who sees nothing but a price tag. No longer does the man in charge, spread nothing but lies to feed his ego and further sicken the easily misled and ever-growing population of the uneducated. 

However, to think that with a simple switch from one white man to another, is all that it takes to end this plague of suffering and injustice, would be just as ignorant as to believe the lies of Donald Trump. The Trump era did not end when he left the white house. Millions and millions of Americans still idolize this man. America is not identified by merely the beliefs of the current executive branch, but rather the values of the country's population as a whole. Joe Biden wishes for nothing more than to unite this country, but the divide between Democrats and Republicans and Trump supporters is a deep and constantly widening gap that cannot be mended by only legislation. The problems with this country are sewn deep into its existence. We are a country that is built on entitlement. What began with the mass genocide of Indigenous peoples by European colonizers, morphed into the Civil war of white landowners fighting to keep their black slaves, and most recently an angry mob (of white people) armed with guns and malicious intent, attempted to murder the sacred practice of our democracy simply because they didn't get their way. 

The divide in our country runs much deeper than the laws put in place by our leader, it stems from the way we view our country and the history that we've come from. To support America blindly is to choose the side of the oppressors. The timeframe for indifference is coming to a close and those who truly know America, realize that the constitution continues to be an aspiration, not a reality, that freedom and justice for all, has not arrived yet.

Perhaps the inauguration of Joe Biden is a small step in the right direction, but the era of darkness is yet to draw a close. The sun will not rise until every citizen of this country accepts how our troubled past still runs rampant in our present society. The sun will not rise until equity has been distributed and equality has been achieved. Only then, will the sun rise and we may bask in the newfound pride of being the United States of America.
 

madeleinec0

VT

19 years old

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