The Hill We Climb
Ep 55
Introduction
Hello everyone,
Ivy here. This weeks podcast is entitled “The Hill We Climb” which is the poem that Amanda Gorman recited at the Inauguration of Joe Biden as the President of the USA and Kamala Harris as the Vice President.
I like many people was very impressed with that recital, and I had no hesitation to pre order her book last year. It was delayed by a few weeks, but I was more than happy to obtain that beautiful publication towards the end of 2021. I bought the Audible version, and to hear Amanda herself recite her poems makes it very special to me. The book, in case any of you want to know is called “Call Us What We Carry”.
Amanda Gorman is an American poet and activist from Los Angeles, California. Amanda’s work focuses on issues of oppression, feminism, race, and marginalization, as well as the African diaspora. Amanda Gorman is the first person to be named National Youth Poet Laureate.
I decided to use the poem as a backdrop for this week’s podcast and in particular look at how the British Royal Family (BRF) and its various Associates in Crime, and The Sussexes and their Global Support Network navigate these shark infested Royal waters every day, and the reasons why we will be here every day and night, for a lifetime.
First of all, I will read out the whole poem, and then use extracts from the poem to illustrate actions of certain groups, including the Sussexes and also the global support base approach the sentiment expressed in a particular section of the poem. So here is The Hill We Climb in full.
When day comes we ask ourselves,
‘Where can we find light in this never-ending shade,
the loss we carry, a sea we must wade?’
We’ve braved the belly of the beast,
we’ve learned that quiet isn’t always peace.
And the norms and notions of what just is
isn’t always justice.
And yet the dawn is ours before we knew it,
somehow we do it. Somehow we’ve weathered
and witnessed a nation that isn’t broken, but simply unfinished.
We, the successors of a country and a time
where a skinny Black girl descended from slaves
and raised by a single mother can dream of becoming president
only to find herself reciting for one.
And yes, we are far from polished, far from pristine,
but that doesn’t mean we are striving to form a union that is perfect.
We are striving to forge our union with purpose.
To compose a country committed to all cultures,
colors, characters and conditions of man.
And so we lift our gazes not to what stands between us,
but what stands before us. We close the divide,
because we know to put our future first,
we must first put our differences aside.
We lay down our arms so we can reach out our arms to one another.
We seek harm to none and harmony for all.
Let the globe, if nothing else, say this is true:
that even as we grieved, we grew;
that even as we hurt, we hoped;
that even as we tired, we tried;
that we’ll forever be tied together victorious,
not because we will never again know defeat
but because we will never again sow division.
Scripture tells us to envision that ‘everyone shall sit under their own vine
and fig tree and no one shall make them afraid.’
If we’re to live up to our own time,
then 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,
because being American
is more than a pride we inherit –
it’s the past we step into and how we repair it.
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 this truth, in this faith we trust
for while we have our eyes on the future,
history has its eyes on us.
This is the era of just redemption
we feared at its inception.
We did not feel prepared to be the heirs of such a terrifying hour,
but within it we found the power
to author a new chapter, to offer hope and laughter to ourselves.
So while once we asked ‘how could we possibly prevail over catastrophe,’
now we assert: ‘how could catastrophe possibly prevail over us?’
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.
Our blunders become their burdens
but one thing is certain:
If we merge mercy with might, and might with right,
then love becomes our legacy in change,
our children’s birthright.
So let us leave behind a country better than the one we were left.
With every breath from my bronze-pounded chest,
we will raise this wounded world into a wondrous one.
We will rise from the gold-limbed hills of the west,
we will rise from the winds swept north,
east where our forefathers first realized revolution.
We will rise from the lake-rinsed cities of the midwestern states.
We will rise from the sun-baked South.
We will rebuild, reconcile, and recover in every known nook of our nation
and every corner called our country, our people diverse and beautiful will emerge battered and beautiful.
When day comes, we step out of the shade,
aflame and unafraid.
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.
Let’s Talk About Facts
The Squad has gone from being considered as Bots, through a variety of comical names, to have ascended now to be described and seen as a threat in Royal circles. No longer are we dismissed out of hand. No longer do any of the BRF and Associates laugh about us now. We know we must be getting under their skin, when they start to tell lies about us, and when they say our name with venom, and when they feel so bold to speak about us in such terms, that make it clear, they are no longer laughing now. The Royal Associates Playbook that has been and continues to be used against the Sussexes, The Duchess of Sussex in particular, is now starting to be used on the Squad. Tell us how you all belong to the same gang – tell us all how you all belong to the same Cult, without having to do anything different to what you have been doing for years, as part of the job of being connected to UK media in any form. You pick a target and swarm in with your toxins. Your support base does the same with any charity that is regarded as having Sussex support. A really good look especially when none of the BRF itself, have ever spoken out against such antics, done in their name. Yet they have items removed from the internet, or other forms of media within hours, if the content is not positive in terms of any senior Royal, particularly the next two in Line for the Throne. The UK Royals have spoken about hair extensions though, and likewise entries in a society magazine when it does not give enough glow up for the people or person concerned. Apparently content like that is considered serious, therefore swift action is taken to rewrite history or by removing the said item completely. A magic wand is waved and all of a sudden, there is nothing to see here.
Article 8 came in quite handy for one member of the BRF in recent years, yet the same BRF is quite happy now to join forces with the UK government, and to withdraw from an international Human Rights Act, and have a Bill of Rights only for the UK. I am assuming that there will be special rules for some people, as per usual, but we will see.
The main themes of The Hill We Climb are Hope, Birth right and Legacy & Diversity and Unity. Seems apt wherever one is based in the world. I believe, that on the whole, all Sussex Supporters, consider those elements to be under threat to varying degrees in the locations where we all currently reside. In fact it is applicable to any society that oppresses any part of its population, and regards them as a lesser class than other groups in society, and treat them differently to others who also live in the same nation. Despite the mantra that all are treated the same under the law, we all know that is not the case, and in the same way, not everyone has access to or is afforded the same rights under the same piece of legislation. Responses to certain situations, often based on ethnic origin and skin colour, determine how certain nations respond to the crisis in front of them.
A few examples of groups have good reason to be concerned about Birthright and Legacy along with Diversity and Unity. People of colour all around the world have justified cause to be concerned about those same topics, but we have faith in ourselves and what we can do to be able to live in this world every day, and navigate life, in such a way that we will leave this world better than we found it. Hope is always there, and we are confident that there are powers beyond the understanding of some regimes, and groups, that will bring about a much more inclusive understanding about life and how we move forward on this planet.
“The promise of hope is alluded to in the opening line, when Amanda Gorman questions where “light” can be found in what seems to be a period of unending darkness. She quickly answers the question with the promise of a “dawn””
Amanda’s poem is very much concerned with America as a “birth right” and with being American as being a state of having inherited certain ideals and burdens from the country’s founders. The language used to describe America itself suggests that it is almost a living thing, something that can be “bruised” but has not yet been destroyed.
It can be argued that the UK is bruised and it is clear that only certain sections of society are cared for when they become bruised, and the rest of the population are left to get on with and find ways to heal their wounds, or ignore them completely and get up and battle to get through another day regardless of how one may be feeling. A sensible nation eventually realises that you can only back a person into a corner for so long. One day they will find the strength, and fight through their pain, in an effort to achieve a better standard of life. The strength that a maligned and hurt individual is experiencing at the hands of uncaring people, is much stronger than a healthy happy individual, and is always delivered in a powerful way. All nations beware of how you treat your citizens.
We need to recognise and respect all people, and come together to bring about a sea of change for the better. Living in a toxic environment day after day, week after week, or year after year, is not the way forward. Whether that applies to family dynamics, or a country, at some point boundaries will need to be created to allow space for people to heal and find a more conducive environment to try to simply exist in peace.
“country may not be truly committed to people of all cultures and colours, characters and conditions,, it is possible that it can become such a country if violent “arms” are laid down and loving “arms” are extended.”
The war on people of all cultures and colours needs to be acknowledged and a change in approach explored. In the UK the media is toxic every single day, not least because hate sells, and more money is made by every programme or news item, slanted against a particular section of society that the media barons wish to see portrayed in a particular way. The end result, is that that type of toxicity is fed into every home in the nation, and in nations with similar media barons, who have an agenda, usually unwritten, but the results are there to see. The ‘brand’ is clear and the golden chains that bind them to other similar entities in other nations, give it the weight, and in their eyes, the justification to continue. The love of the dollar or the pounds, or any nations currency, will eventually destroy itself, if there is no other counterbalance of a range of priorities in life. On a personal level, I choose to not read or listen to the juggernaut of negative and toxic news on my tv or radio systems. I don’t read any newspaper in the UK now, because even what used to be quality news publications, have now succumbed to the honeypot of hate drilled into the minds of the population every day. Media personnel used to report in an impartial way about real news, now they are well known personalities in their own right, and the new status has gone to their heads, so much so, the way they report on things, is so toxic and clearly aimed at certain sections of society, but done confidant in the knowledge that their media barons approve of this approach. By blocking them all out of my day to day life, and ensuring that none of them enter any timeline on any social media platform, I feel the increased strength to fight the good fight in a different way. I use the power of speech. I realise that I am not even a blip on their landscape, but like all the Squad media teams who have started platform these last 5 years, are making a difference, where once there was only one school of thought and approach being portrayed.
We are definitely making a difference, and we know by their metaphorical frothing at the mouth they do most days now compared to the ridicule that was directed at us in 2017.
Never ever forget the two brave women who stepped forward into this lions den in 2017 and told the world, all the lies and actions going on in a media frenzy by friends of the UK Royal Family will no longer be met in silence. The ladies made it clear that every lie would be challenged, and that in the case of the UK, Meghan the Duchess of Sussex was not alone, and that there was an army of people who recognised themselves in her, and from now on, all those involved in that activity to destroy a black women for daring to step into what was deemed a white space were put on warning, that they were no longer dealing with one women in a new country, but a whole army of people around the world who lived that kind of existence every day in their respective living spaces. Tina and Michelle stepped forward and took all the poison arrows, and the threats, and got up each time, pulled out each arrow and told the haters, we are going nowhere. Meghan is not alone. Over time, very quickly in fact, we could see how Harry, The Duke of Sussex stood by his wife’s side, and protected her and defended her against all comers with their hatred and racism, to name but just two of the toxins in play. Pretty soon, Harry was very clear that there was a growing support network and it was global, and that he and his wife and eventually his own family were covered and protected. It is as strong a movement now, because each of us, know exactly how it feels to be treated differently and be gaslighted every day, and we empathised with Meghan; her plight was made worse, because it was on a public platform, and she was up against a 1000 year institution, and government, and media (tv and printed) and the aristrocracy and the police. So, no matter how strong we are now, we must never forget, it started out by two brave ladies watching this cruelty and evil increase against one person, and treated like a slave, and Tina and Michelle put themselves in the line of fire and said ‘no more’. The Squad is led by no one, and we do not all get along, but the unifying tie that we have is to protect the Sussexes and to challenge lies and misinformation & disinformation. The Royal propaganda does not fly with us, and because of our global network, and time zones, we provide cover 24/7. Thank you Tina and Michelle for sowing the seeds for this now powerful force for good that continues to grow, and now raises telephone number size charitable funds within a few weeks, each time one is announced. All funds go direct to the charities concerned, we merely promote the fundraiser.
Sussex Squad is a peace loving group of people, based around the world, and its numbers grow each day, with each toxic act carried out by those with hate in their hearts. We join arms across the world (as in Amanda’s poem), and use love and respect for to provide positive outcomes and help to those who are vulnerable and in need.
Some are out there focussed on earning more and more income from inciting hatred. At least one individual from a toxic family, is seemingly trying to make a career out of destroying his brother. I see no other activity being done for the benefit of the people of the UK or any other nation that he wishes to covet. I see lots of launches of things, and the bombardment of by the propaganda teams to let the world know, but in the last 20 years, I have yet to see one completed project. Not one. Where there was progress made, it was when the brother that is treated like a traitor now, was involved in the project. Truth be known he did all the work, because since he has moved out and got a new job and bought a home, he is still producing, outcome focussed projects with huge successes. I see no completion of anything by those left behind. The ribbon cutting and robotic smiles are in full swing.
The copying and pasting of the irrelevant brother and his wife is now comedic to the global audience, and they only know about it, because they know about the philanthropic work of the target for the ire of the UK nation, in particular the UK RF and its aristocracy. It used to be cringeworthy but now it is just funny. Instead of deciding on your own identity, and writing a credible workforce plan for the future of the Monarchy, which in turn would guide activities in the future, with the ‘workforce you have’ you are intent on destroying the couple who if they continue to succeed, highlights how irrelevant the BRF is actually is in a modern society. It is naïve to believe that both of you dressing the same, and visiting places the successful have visited, and copying mannerisms and décor etc., it would be better to develop your own identity and blue print, and move forward with that. Use your propaganda media to promote your good works, with measurable outcomes, rather than use them like weapons of mass destruction against a couple and their children who are out here doing good in the world, and do not cost UK taxpayers anything. Copying and pasting the successful couple will not bring you the glory you think – quite the opposite reactions are occurring, world wide.
“When day comes, we ask ourselves where can we find light in this never ending shade? The loss we carry, a sea we must wade.”
Sussex supporters wade through muddy waters every day, so doing similar for the Sussexes is natural. We wade through the sea of toxins sent their/our way, and we deal with it, and get on with being Forces for Change in the world. Whilst some nations are devoting their times to turning back the clock in terms of legislation and how they view certain groups of the population. A higher power will create a rebalancing, helped by the feet on the ground, who will work actively to overturn certain decisions and actions, via the ballot box. Peace is the way forward, and peaceful activities will overcome.
“We’ve learned that quiet isn’t always peace and the norms and notions of what just is, isn’t always justice. And yet the dawn is hours before we knew it, somehow we do it, somehow we’ve weathered and witnessed a nation that isn’t broken but simply unfinished.”
Yes some nations are broken, but they are not decimated. The work goes on until they are whole again.
“We are striving to forge our union with purpose, to compose a country committed to all cultures, colors, characters, and conditions of man. And so we lift our gazes not to what stands between us but what stands before us. We close the divide because we know to put our future first. We must first put our differences aside.”
These are the goals. We strive to move forward together. It is the only way true peace and justice will occur. Until then, we strive towards it by positive actions.
“We lay down our arms so we can reach out our arms to one another We seek harm to none and harmony for all. Let the globe, if nothing else, say this is true, that even as we grieved, we grew. That even as we hurt, we hoped.”
Amen to this. Let it be so indeed. Always have hope in your heart and actions.
“That even as we tired, we tried. That we’ll forever be tied together, victorious, not because we will never again know defeat, but because we will never again sow division.”
“Scripture tells us to envision that everyone shall sit under their own vine and fig tree, and no one shall make them afraid.”
Our Duchess has said a similar phrase, describing it as a philosophy and a mantra to follow in life, whilst some people around you deliberately try to whip up drama, and look for any signs of how you might react to their manufactured news, and deliberately created distraction tactics, to take heat of others. Nothing aggravates people like that more, than to ignore their antics, and treat it like background ‘noise’ and to sit under your virtual tree, minding your business and let the crabs in a bucket, try to crawl over each other to get out of the bucket, and join in the clowns on the beach claiming to be experts at this and that, when all the time, the tide is coming in, and none of them have noticed. Whether you are one of the crabs in a bucket, or others eager to be with the Carnival of Clowns who believe that they are relevant, and fool themselves into thinking that they would be employed by anyone with a shred of moral fibre and ethics. This same group prancing on the beach looking for relevance by manufacturing so called expert opinion, based on their dream state than any reality that normal people reside in, and when called out for their behaviour, complain about the stress caused to them for a short period, and how traumatising it is lose ones eyelashes due to stress.
No thought to the 5 years and counting to the stress needlessly inflicted upon someone who they considered to be a threat to their way of life, and who they targeted in the most cruel way, and joined up with others to seek and destroy their target. This same group had the caucasity to refer to the place that Meghan The Duchess of Sussex came from in the USA as being “ghetto”, not recognising the way the various clusters of people hang on to and wish to be publicly known as being well in with UK Monarchy, along with the way they ganged up on The Duchess of Sussex and created stress and drama around her, on every media platform they could find. No concern about welfare or health of the Duchess. No regard for the various charities and professional organisations that they claimed to be figureheads for, whilst treating The Duchess of Sussex like something underneath their shoes. Meghan was told that she was not an employee and therefore not entitled to any medical intervention despite by informed of her suicidal ideation. Meghan was not allocated a budget when she married into the BRF and therefore met all of her expenses herself, unlike every other person who married into that institution. Tabloid personnel had regular dialogue with Royal HR and were informed of confidential information pertaining about The Duchess of Sussex’s health, and rather than back down from this co-ordinated hate campaign, they doubled down on the stress inducing behaviour, knowing that the Duchess was teetering on the edge of suicide.
Yet, we have so much time in the press supporting one of their own about how stressful it has been for being called out for lying and manufacturing statements in order to collect £300. The way these people are prepared to sell their soul, just to be part of the gang that tries to bring down The Duchess of Sussex. Someone who even in their dreams, none of that pack could even qualify to walk in the dust clouds Meghan leaves behind to lead a philanthropic life. You want to know how things can be put into perspective? One from the Carnival of Clowns, bleated on about losing sleep and feeling stressed, so much so, her eyelashes fell out apparently. Same individual has also lost her means of employment by one of the USA networks because of the incident regarding lies and being caught out. The way UK media came from under their respective stones, to plead and to expect sympathy for the individual from their gang who had been found out, was comical. One person lost a few eyelashes, and the Duchess lost a baby. I know right minded people from anywhere in the world, including parts of the UK, can see the huge difference. I spoke about the media coverage of the Duchess of Sussex’s miscarriage, in a podcast that year. The coverage provided nothing but shame to the UK, to respond for days with nothing but evil and cruel articles. It takes a certain type of individual to sink that low. The fact it was mainly female journalists who are the most toxic towards Meghan speaks volumes, and I stated it so that there is always a record. The coverage over the loss of an eyelash in comparison to the loss of a baby, both caused by stress. After what the Uk media did and continue to do in the content of their reporting of the only person of colour in the Royal family, I have zero interest in any losses that one of that media group incurred. Money or her eyelashes. Pleeeeze.
As always Royal Family and their Associates Slow Dance in their bubble, riding roughshod over people, and are totally oblivious and uncaring about what is going on and fail to notice that the room that they are occupying prancing about making themselves the centre of every story, ( usually when there is another launch of yet a product, or project which most likely take 10 years before we hear any more about it, and most likely will run true to form, and produce a set of questions that will take another 10 years to find the answers) fail to notice that there are flames approaching their feet.
Royal reporters think most of the UK population has had 10 years or more of memory loss, because they really should revisit some of those articles written about members of the Royal Family in those halcyon days. Pick any year. It wont matter. The message being sold for those ten years, is the complete opposite to what is written about the same individuals (one in particular) now and for the last 6 years. It appears if one sells their soul they receive good press – in the UK. It means zero outside of the UK, but carry on. The UK is still in that slow dance analogy, but is only a grain of sand in the wider world. That wider world is changing as the environment is changing. Most are choosing to recognise those shifting sands, but the UK remain in the small group that believes that they can sell sand to people that live in a desert and they have a media that sells that version of events as and when required, as long as each benefits in some way.
If we’re to live up to our own time, then victory won’t lighten the blade but in all the bridges we’ve made, that is the promise to glade, the hill we climb if only we dare,
more than a pride we inherit. It’s the past we stepped into and how we repair it.
We’ve seen a force that would shatter our nation rather than share it, would destroy our country if it meant delaying democracy.
while democracy can be periodically delayed, it can never be permanently defeated. In this truth, in this faith, we trust. For while we have our eyes on the future, history has its eyes on us.
So, while once we asked, “how could we possibly prevail over catastrophe?”, now we assert, “how could catastrophe possibly prevail over us?” 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. Our blunders become their burdens. But one thing is certain. If we merge mercy with might and might with right, then love becomes our legacy and change, our children’s birth right.
So let us leave behind a country better than one we were left with, every breath from my bronze pounded chest, we will raise this wounded world into a wondrous one.
We will rebuild, reconcile, and recover, in every known nook of our nation, in every corner called our country, our people diverse and beautiful, will emerge battered and beautiful.
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.
Summary
Main Themes
- Hope is one of the key themes of Amanda Gorman’s “The Hill We Climb,” perhaps the defining theme of the whole poem. The promise of hope is alluded to in the opening line, when Gorman questions where “light” can be found in what seems to be a period of unending darkness. She quickly answers the question with the promise of a “dawn” .
Podcast Ep 34: I Have a Dream
Podcast Ep 44:That Ship Sailed Bro
Podcast Ep53:The Lost Souls of Windsor
- Birth Right and Legacy
- Amanda Gorman’s poem is very much concerned with America as a “birth right” and with being American as being a state of having inherited certain ideals and burdens from the country’s founders. The language used to describe America itself suggests that it is almost a living thing, something that can be “bruised” but has not yet been destroyed.
Podcast Ep 18 The Dukes of Sussex
Podcast Ep45 A Thousand Years of UK Monarchy
- Next, Amanda Gorman turns directly to ‘scripture’ and the Bible: the word ‘division’, the last word of the previous line, becomes the empowering verb, ‘envision’. Gorman refers to a phrase from the book of Micah: ‘But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree, and none shall make them afraid; for the mouth of the Lord of hosts hath spoken it’ (4:4). This allusion is, in a sense, a double allusion: it is also strongly associated with George Washington, the inaugural President of the United States of America. Washington often used this phrase, especially in his letters: at one count, he used it some 50 times.
- This, Gorman tells us, is ‘the hill we climb’. All nations today need to acknowledge the past (good and bad) which they ‘inherit’, and ‘repair’ what needs improving.
Podcast 49-51 Let’s Talk About Reparation 3 Part Series
Podcast Ep 24 The Business of Royal Propaganda
Podcast Ep 29 Blurred Lines Between Monarchy and Government
Podcast Ep 39 You Do Not Know What You Have Until it is Gone
Podcast Ep 54 Slow Dancing in a Burning Room
Unity and Diversity
Podcast Ep16 7 stages of Grief
Podcast Ep13 Response from Freed Slave to Former Master
Podcast Ep42 California Princess to UK Cinderella to Global Princess
Podcast Ep43 Coercive Control Across Borders
Podcast Ep52 The Psychology of Resentment
Podcast Ep4 Herd Mentality – Are We programmed?
Hope you found that interesting, and using a slightly different approach this week. We have uses poetry before, but not for a while. That is all for this week. Speak to you all in the comments, and see you all next week for the next podcast.
Slides from the Podcast:-
