Revisiting “The Hill We Climb”
April 18, 2025
Kaya Ilas
SDG 16: Peace, Justice, Strong Institutions
“When day comes, we ask ourselves, where can we find light in this never-ending shade?”
Amanda Gorman posed this question in the first line of “The Hill We Climb,” which she read at Biden’s Presidential Inauguration in 2021, following and in response to the January 6th pro-Trump riot at the Capitol Building. As Americans today, we might ask ourselves the same question. In a time of unprecedented political upheaval, this question can feel unanswerable. At this moment, I want to look perhaps for some solace in Gorman’s inspiring and poignant message. In her poem, she illustrates a beautiful argument on our American identity–its obligations, its burdens, and what hope it offers.
“If we’re to live up to our own time, the victory won’t lie in the blade, but in all the bridges we’ve made./That is the promise to glade, the hill we climb, if only we dare./It’s the past we step into and how we repair it” (Gorman).
Gorman develops much natural metaphor in “The Hill We Climb”, which is beautifully on theme with her title. I love this phrase, “the promise to glade”; she refers to this “glade” which is our nation–in all its youngness and unfinished story–and our promise as Americans to “live up to our own time.” To do this, she avows, we must focus not on the “blade”–that is, our legacy of hate and the divisions we create and perpetuate–but on the solidarity which we build between ourselves as Americans in the mutual pursuit of that promise. To the dismay of many Americans like me, our current administration fails to uphold the mission to which it is obligated by its American identity. At the 2021 Inauguration, Amanda Gorman pledged, “we will never again sow division.” And yet our government continues to make changes which threaten our “promise to glade.” As a young woman of color, I feel most devastated by those executive orders passed by the Trump administration which threaten the personal security and sovereignty of women and citizens of color in this nation.
On the day of his Inauguration, Trump issued executive order 14168: “Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government.” This order revoked 5 executive orders that Biden made throughout his presidency–orders 13988, 14004, 14020, 14021, and 14075–which protected many rights for American citizens on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation (Holland & Knight Eyes on Washington Blog). The order uses heavily charged language; the terms used–radical, wasteful, extremism–clearly connote an attitude of incredulity towards progressive ideology. It is clear that our nation’s leaders have no regard for the validity of trans people’s identities. The phrase, “protecting women from gender ideology extremism” implements this implicit–and familiar–argument that transness somehow threatens cisgender women. The order is also founded upon a grossly ironic idea, in that it criticizes ideological extremism on gender liberation, but utilizes extremist medicalist arguments against the validity of trans identity to justify the legislation.
In “The Hill We Climb,” perhaps most affectingly, Gorman alludes to an apt and important aspect of the U.S.: its past and the promise we should necessarily make to its resolution as a “free” and “democratic” nation. The metaphorical “hill” she presents refers to our huge and heavy–and as it sometimes feels, insurmountable–past. We climb it, “only if we dare”–if we find the audacity to challenge the impossible, if we force ourselves to confront the hate written into our legislation, running through our veins, and embedded in the stolen soil upon which we built this nation. On the day of this year’s Presidential Inauguration President Trump issued executive order 14151: “Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing.” This order revoked Executive Order 13985–“Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government”–which Biden issued January 20th of 2021 (Holland & Knight Eyes on Washington Blog). One of the most–as Trump ironically identified–radical ideological developments toward true American freedom has been Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion (DEI) programming and legislation in favor of racial and economic equity. Its explicit acknowledgement of the inherent inequities within this nation is perhaps what is most radical about it–DEI programming unabashedly attacks our American faults. This admission of America’s imperfection is perhaps what is so intimidating about DEI. This order proves our current administration’s failure and unwillingness to confront and combat the inequities created by our history. Instead, they continue to “sow division” and break our “promise to glade.” As such, they fail us.
Even in all this shade, I believe that Gorman’s words from four years ago maintain their relevance. Right now, more than anything, we as Americans must vow to our “promise to glade” and the tomorrow which we fight for. In 2021, Amanda Gorman vowed, “we will not march back to what was, but move to what shall be: a country that is bruised but whole, benevolent but bold, fierce and free./We will not be turned around or interrupted by intimidation because we know our inaction and inertia will be the inheritance of the next generation, become the future…The new dawn blooms as we free it./For there is always light, if only we’re brave enough to see it./If only we’re brave enough to be it” (Gorman). We must demonstrate our attitude towards the government’s disregard for our rights and our identities, in what ways we can.
Kaya Ilas
2024 Cohort– Editorial Committee Spring ’25
Gorman, Amanda, and Oprah Winfrey. The Hill We Climb: An Inaugural Poem for the Country. First Edition, Viking Books, 2021.
Liu, Jennifer. “Read the Full Text of Amanda Gorman’s Inaugural Poem ‘The Hill We Climb.’” CNBC, 20 Jan. 2021, https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/20/amanda-gormans-inaugural-poem-the-hill-we-climb-full-text.html.
Executive Order: Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government | Insights | Holland & Knight. https://www.hklaw.com/en/insights/publications/2025/01/executive-order-defending-women-from-gender-ideology-extremism. Accessed 25 Feb. 2025.
Executive Order: Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing | Insights | Holland & Knight. https://www.hklaw.com/en/insights/publications/2025/01/executive-order-ending-radical-and-wasteful-government-dei-programs. Accessed 25 Feb. 2025.
