As Joe Biden addressed the nation for the first time as president he had one plea: unity.
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00:00Few people in our nation's history have been more challenged or found a time more challenging
00:08or difficult than the time we're in now.
00:12Once-in-a-century virus that silently stalks the country has taken as many lives in one
00:18year as America lost in all of World War II.
00:25Millions of jobs have been lost.
00:28Tens of thousands of businesses closed.
00:31A cry for racial justice, some 400 years in the making, moves us.
00:37The dream of justice for all will be deferred no longer.
00:42A cry for survival comes from the planet itself, a cry that can't be any more desperate or
00:51any more clear.
00:52There is now a rise of political extremism, white supremacy, domestic terrorism that we
00:59must confront and we will defeat.
01:04To overcome these challenges, to restore the soul and secure the future of America requires
01:12so much more than words.
01:15It requires the most elusive of all things in a democracy, unity.
01:22Today, on this January day, my whole soul is in this, bringing America together, uniting
01:31our people, uniting our nation.
01:34And I ask every American to join me in this cause.
01:44Uniting to fight the foes we face, anger, resentment and hatred, extremism, lawlessness,
01:53violence, disease, joblessness and hopelessness.
01:57With unity, we can do great things, important things.
02:03We can right wrongs.
02:04We can put people to work in good jobs.
02:06We can teach our children in safe schools.
02:09We can overcome the deadly virus.
02:12We can reward work and rebuild the middle class and make health care secure for all.
02:18We can deliver racial justice and we can make America once again the leading force for good
02:24in the world.
02:27I know speaking of unity can sound to some like a foolish fantasy these days.
02:34I know the forces that divide us are deep and they are real.
02:39But I also know they are not new.
02:43Our history has been a constant struggle between the American ideal that we're all are created
02:49equal and the harsh, ugly reality that racism, nativism, fear, demonization have long torn
03:00us apart.
03:02The battle is perennial and victory is never assured.
03:07Through Civil War, the Great Depression, World War, 9-11, through struggle, sacrifice and
03:13setbacks, our better angels have always prevailed.
03:17And we can do that now.
03:19History, faith and reason show the way, the way of unity.
03:27We can see each other not as adversaries but as neighbors.
03:31We can treat each other with dignity and respect.
03:34We can join forces, stop the shouting and lower the temperature.
03:40For without unity there is no peace, only bitterness and fury.
03:46No progress, only exhausting outrage.
03:50No nation, only a state of chaos.
03:55This is our historic moment of crisis and challenge and unity is the path forward.
04:04And we must meet this moment as the United States of America.