Amanda Gorman speaks on stage during the third day of the Democratic National Convention at the United Center on August 21, 2024, in Chicago. | Source: Andrew Harnik / Getty
National Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman on Wednesday night graced the stage at the Democratic National Convention by reciting a previously unheard poem that emphasized the official theme for the night, “A Fight for our Freedoms.”
Gorman’s new poem addressed the concept of freedom and what it truly means in a world where her now-iconic poem she recited at President Joe Biden’s inauguration is among the pieces of literature that are banned in at least one Florida school over concerns over critical race theory.
It was in that context that Gorman received her new poem at the United Center in Chicago in front of an audience hanging on to her every word.
Keep reading to find Amanda Gorman’s poem that she recited at the DNC Wednesday night.
Source: Andrew Harnik / Getty
We face a race that tests if this country we cherish shall perish from the earth
and if our earth shall perish from this country.
It falls to us to ensure that we do not fall for a people that cannot stand together,
cannot stand at all.
We are one family regardless of religion, class, or color
for what defines a patriot is not just our love of liberty, but our love for one another.
This is loud in our country’s call because while we all love freedom, it is love that frees us all.
Empathy emancipates, making us greater than hate or vanity. That is the American promise, powerful and pure.
Divided we cannot endure but united we can endeavor to humanize our democracy and endear democracy to humanity.
And make no mistake, cohering is the hardest task history ever wrote,
but tomorrow is not written by our odds of hardship, but by the audacity of our hope by the vitality of our vote.
Only now, approaching this rare air are we aware that perhaps the American dream is no dream at all, but instead a dare to dream together.
Like a million roots tethered, branching up humbly, making one tree.
This is our country from many, one, from battles won,
our freedoms sung, our kingdom come has just begun.
We redeem this sacred scene ready for our journey from it.
Together we must birth this early republic and achieve an unearthly summit.
Let us not just believe in the American dream. Let us be worthy of it.
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