Jan. 6, 2021  Amanda Gorman delivers her poem after the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Credit: Wikipedia Amanda Gorman was trying to finish her poem on national unity when scenes burst upon the television of insurrectionists attacking the U.S. Capitol.  The 22-year-old stayed up late, writing new lines into the night. Two weeks later, she became the youngest inaugural poet in U.S. history, joining a prestigious group that included Maya Angelou and Robert Frost. But few faced as difficult a task, searching for unity amid violence, a deadly pandemic and polarizing partisanship.  She described herself as a “skinny Black girl, descended from slaves and raised by a single mother” who can dream of being president one day, “only to find herself reciting for one.”  She shared the words she wrote in the wake of the nation’s first attack on the Capitol in more than two centuries: “We’ve seen a force that would shatter our nation rather than share it Would destroy our country if it meant delaying democracy And this effort very nearly succeeded But while democracy can be periodically delayed It can never be permanently defeated.” In the wake of the attack that resulted in five deaths and injuries to 138 officers, she penned that the nation would endure: Somehow we’ve weathered and witnessed a nation that isn’t broken but simply unfinished She reminded those present that “history has its eyes on us” and that this nation will indeed rise again: “We will rebuild, reconcile and recover And every known nook of our nation and Every corner called our country, Our people diverse and beautiful will emerge, Battered and beautiful… For there is always light, If only we’re brave enough to see it If only we’re brave enough to be it” The post On this day in 2021 appeared first on Mississippi Today.