President Joe Biden’s inaugural poet, Amanda Gorman, recently released a fiery series of tweets in which she shined a new light on the racial injustices and inequalities in this country, even for someone as high-profile as herself — telling the world, “this is the reality of black girls” after she was harassed by a security guard who said she looked “suspicious” on her way home.
Gorman, who was the 2017 National Youth Poet Laureate, rose to household name status after delivering her powerful speech, The Hill We Climb, at President Joe Biden’s January 20th inauguration. However, her social status did nothing to stop her from experiencing the racial profiling and overall systemic racism that is rotting this country from the inside out.
On Twitter yesterday, she opened up about an experience she had with a security guard when she was making her way back to her home in Los Angles. Gorman revealed that she had to prove to the security guard that she lived in her apartment complex by showing him her keys and buzzing herself into the building. She stated, “‘one day you’re called an icon, the next day, a threat.”
“A security guard tailed me on my walk home tonight. He demanded if I lived there because ‘you look suspicious,'” Gorman tweeted. “I showed my keys & buzzed myself into my building. He left, no apology. This is the reality of black girls: One day you’re called an icon, the next day, a threat.”
A security guard tailed me on my walk home tonight. He demanded if I lived there because “you look suspicious.” I showed my keys & buzzed myself into my building. He left, no apology. This is the reality of black girls: One day you’re called an icon, the next day, a threat. https://t.co/MmANtQqpBs
— Amanda Gorman (@TheAmandaGorman) March 6, 2021
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Gorman did not specify the racial background of the security guard who harassed her in any of her social media posts, however, she did note that her experience was indicative of those experienced by POC all across the nation.
The inaugural poet followed up with a second tweet saying that, in a sense, the security guard was right — she is a threat.
“In a sense, he was right. I AM A THREAT: a threat to injustice, to inequality, to ignorance,” she wrote. “Anyone who speaks the truth and walks with hope is an obvious and fatal danger to the powers that be.”
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. https://t.co/hY9miR0b6J
— Amanda Gorman (@TheAmandaGorman) March 6, 2021
Gorman notes that she is just one of the millions of people of color who endure harassment like this on the daily — but she will not stand for it. And we won’t either.
Featured image via Flickr/Gage Skidmore, under Creative Commons license 2.0
