Amanda Gorman, the poet who was acclaimed for her performance in the possession of Joe Biden, said she was followed home and approached by a security guard who claimed she looked suspicious.
According to her, the incident, on Friday night, was emblematic of the “reality of black girls” in the United States, in which “one day you are called an icon”, but the next day you are considered a threat.
Gorman wrote on Twitter:
A security guard followed me on my walk home tonight. He asked if I lived there because “you look suspicious”. I showed my keys and zoomed into my building. He left, with no excuses. 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) March 6, 2021
She said in a tweet below: “In a sense, he was right. I AM A THREAT: a threat to injustice, inequality, ignorance. Anyone who speaks the truth and walks with hope is an obvious and fatal danger to the constituted powers. “
Gorman, 22, from Los Angeles, shared a post she made in February that said: “We live in a contradictory society that can honor a black poet and also pepper spray for a 9 year old child” – in reference to a recent incident in Rochester, New York, which led to protests and three police officers suspended pending the completion of an investigation.
A favorite of the Democratic establishment figures, the youngest inaugural poet in the history of the United States was named the country’s first laureate poet in 2017, when she was a student at Harvard. The Guardian contacted her for further comments. She did not indicate the ethnic origin of the security guard.
A Virginia state legislator, Mark Keam, tweeted: “Let this story penetrate. And notice how – although I am happy that it ended up safe for Amanda Gorman – this type of confrontation occurs every day for millions of our American compatriots. ”
In her opening poem, The Hill We Climb, Gorman described herself as “a skinny black girl descended from slaves and raised by a single mother [who] you can dream of becoming president, only to find yourself reciting for one ”.
She also spoke about “fighting to forge a union with purpose / To compose a country committed to all cultures, colors, characters and conditions of man”.
In an interview with the New York Times, Gorman said he had been struggling to write the inaugural poem. But she was forced to stay up all night and finish it after the January 6 attack on the United States Capitol.
“I am the daughter of black writers,” said Gorman after the inauguration. “We are descendants of freedom fighters who broke the chains and changed the world.”
Gorman also performed at this year’s Super Bowl and recently signed on to IMG Models. His upcoming books, the poetry collection The Hill We Climb and the children’s book Change Sings, shot to the top of the book charts after his inaugural presentation.
“I’M ON THE FLOOR MY BOOKS ARE # 1 AND # 2 IN AMAZON AFTER 1 DAY!” Is it over there wrote on Twitter. Gorman described herself as reading a moth as a child and overcoming a speech problem in her youth.
She is also the founder of charity One pen, one page, which supports underprivileged young people through writing.