Amanda Gorman, the poet who gained recognition for her actions during the inauguration of Joe Biden, said he was followed home and afforded by a security guard who allegedly claimed she looked suspicious.
According to her, the incident on Friday night was indicative of ‘the reality of black girls’ in the US, in which ‘one day an icon is called’, but the next day is a threat.
Gorman posted on Twitter:
A security guard took me home on my hike tonight. He asked if I lived there because ‘you look suspicious’. I showed my keys and moved into my building. He’s gone, no excuse. This is the reality of black girls: one day you are called an icon, the next day a threat. https://t.co/MmANtQqpBs
– Amanda Gorman (@TheAmandaGorman) 6 March 2021
She said in a subsequent tweet: “In a sense, he was right. I AM A THREAT: a threat to injustice, to inequality, to ignorance. Anyone who speaks the truth and walks with hope is an obvious and fatal danger to the powers that be. ‘
Gorman, 22, of Los Angeles, shared a report she made in February: “We live in a conflicting society that can celebrate a black girl poet and also spray a 9-year-old pepper spray” – with reference to a recent incident in Rochester, New York, which led to the suspension of protests and three police officers pending the completion of an investigation.
The youngest opening poet in American history is a favorite with Democratic-based figures and was named the country’s first youth poet winner in 2017, when she was a student at Harvard. The Guardian contacted her for further comment. She did not indicate the ethnic origin of the security guard.
Virginia State Attorney Mark Keam tweeted: “Let this story sink in. And realize how – although I’m glad it ended safely for Amanda Gorman – this kind of confrontation happens daily to millions of fellow Americans.”
In her inaugural poem, The Hill We Climb, Gorman describes herself as “a skinny black girl descended from slaves and raised by a single mother” [who] can dream of becoming president, but only of telling herself for one.
She also spoke of “striving to create a union with the goal / to put together a country that is committed to all cultures, colors, characters and conditions of man.”
Gorman spoke to the New York Times and said she struggled to write the introductory poem. But she was forced to stay up all night and finish it off after the January 6 attack on the American Capitol.
“I’m the daughter of black writers,” Gorman said after the inauguration. “We are descended from freedom fighters who broke through chains and changed the world.”
Gorman also performed at the Super Bowl this year and was recently signed by IMG Models. Her forthcoming books, the poetry collection The Hill We Climb and the children’s book Change Sings, appeared at the top of the book charts after her inaugural performance.
“I AM ON THE FLOOR MY BOOKS ARE AFTER 1 DAY # 1 & # 2 ON AMAZON!” his posted on Twitter. Gorman describes herself as a bookworm as a child and overcame a speech impediment in her youth.
She is also the founder of charity One pen one page, which supports underprivileged young people through writing.