Amanda Gorman, the youngest inaugural poet in history, claims she was racially profiled by a security guard who “Tonight I got in line when I got home.”
Gorman, a Harvard graduate and National Youth Poet Laureate, said the incident occurred Friday night.
“He asked me if I lived there because ‘you look suspicious.’ Gorman tweeted. “I showed my keys and entered my building. He left, without apology.
Gorman, who will celebrate his 23rd birthday on Sunday, called the incident “the reality of black girls.”
“One day you’re called an icon, the next day, a threat,” he wrote in the tweet.
“In a sense, he was right,” Gorman said in another tweet. “I AM A THREAT: a threat to injustice, to inequality, to ignorance. Anyone who tells the truth and walks with hope is an obvious and fatal danger to the powers that be. ”
The Los Angeles native captivated viewers during President Biden’s swearing-in ceremony with her poignant performance of “The Hill We Climb,” a play about unity, healing, and perseverance.
“When the day comes, we ask ourselves: where can we find light in this endless shadow?” Gorman began his inaugural poem.
She continued: “And yet the dawn is ours before we know it. Somehow we do. In a way, we resisted and witnessed a nation that is not broken, but simply unfinished. ”