Poet Amanda Gorman: "I'm gutted" after Florida bans inauguration poem

[In It to Win It]

Axios

Poet Amanda Gorman said Tuesday that she's "gutted" to learn that her book, "The Hill We Climb," was banned from a Florida school.

Driving the news: Gorman, 25, who performed the spoken word poem at President Biden's inauguration, said on Twitter that she wrote "The Hill We Climb," so that "young people could see themselves in a historical moment."

What she's saying: "So they ban my book from young readers, confuse me with [Oprah], fail to specify what parts of my poetry they object to, refuse to read any reviews, and offer no alternatives," she said in a tweet.

Gorman added that "unnecessary" book bans are on the rise, "and we must fight back."

“The majority of these censored works are by queer and non-white voices,” she said.

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

[AllaN01Bear]

1. usual, no name . grrr

[Deuxcents]

2. My first thought..a coward's signature

[AllaN01Bear]

3. yeppers . i wonder if they even read the book.

[reymega life]

5. INDEED

PEOPLE ARENT GONNA PUT UP WITH THESE BOOK BANS

[In It to Win It]

4. Her name is Daily Salinas. I posted about it here

https://www.democraticunderground.com/104517703


Her name is most likely at the top of the form but that part is likely cropped out of what I posted above.

[madaboutharry]

6. This bullshit has to stop.

Someone fills out a nonsensical complaint, refuses to put a real signature, and the school pulls the material. This is simply ridiculous.

I read an article that a great majority of this book banning wave is targeting Black authors and books with LGBTQ+ character and subject matter.

It is all about bigotry and hate.

[Deuxcents]

8. It has to stop and now.. .. it's already gotten out of bounds

If we, as voters, don’t make a real difference in this next election, I’m so scared we’ve passed the point of no return.

[Initech]

10. I really wonder why this shit isn't being investigated as crimes against humanity.

Because that's exactly what all this book banning bullshit is. The right wing is planning a genocide and if we don't stop them now, they will get away with it. Genocides don't start with gas chambers, they end there. It starts with banning books, bullying, and demonizing the other side.

[DET]

7. Pathetic

“Is not educational and have indirectly hate messages.”

“Cuban is a Communist country because Castros are the Dictators.”

“1st page start wit CRT and more page have the same.”

This person isn’t even literate. Why are they listening to this loon?

[Hieronymus Phact]

20. My first thought also. -nt

[Buns_of_Fire]

9. So, umm... are these forms available online to download?

Not that I'm thinking of any books in particular to "recommend" to them, of course...

[Blue Owl]

11. The person who wrote this complaint is America's Fucking Shithead Laureate

[Initech]

12. +10000000000000000000

Whoever did this is definitely a professional troll and this was meant to stir shit up. Fuck whoever did this.

[NoMoreRepugs]

13. So the whims of the ONE outweigh the potential knowledge of the MANY??

WTheSeriousFUCK???

[yardwork]

14. This is a nightmare.

[CTyankee]

15. Wear it like a badge of honor, Amanda! Think of the legions of young people like yourself who

will not let this go unnoticed and unchallenged. You are winning this battle.

[Sympthsical]

16. Except it wasn't banned

The school district noted:

"It was determined at the school that “The Hill We Climb” is better suited for middle school students and, it was shelved in the middle school section of the media center," spokesperson Elmo R. Lugo said. "The book remains available in the media center."

So, they put it in the section for 11-13 year olds.

This is hardly a banning. It actually strikes me as a wonderful poem for kids around that age.

But publicity, I guess. One parent's an asshole, the book doesn't get banned, and the headline is "Florida bans book."

I get Florida's kind of a shitshow. No argument there.

But this is all very clickbaity.

[In It to Win It]

17. I don't disagree. I posted that guidance in the Florida group in a Miami Herald article but

personally, I think the move in its entirety was unnecessary, and especially so because only one parent, out of an entire school of students and their parents, complained. In the grand scheme of things, this one thing may not be a big deal but it’s an overreaction by the county to one parent IMO.

I’ve lived in South Florida my entire life (and still do). The county government in Miami-Dade is usually moderate to liberal. They tend not to be the crazy republican book-banning type. I understand that the officials in the county and on the school board may feel like their hands are tied because the bullshit coming out of Tallahassee.

[Sympthsical]

18. I don't disagree

Parent is a transparently racist fuckwad. And a school board that didn't immediately respond with, "Oh for fuck's sake . . ." is being a touch limp. The Hill We Climb is absolutely something I could see being taught in 7th grade English. I studied it in a public speaking course I took not too long ago because it is just so utterly well done.

Just feels like a lot of cortisol being spread around without an understanding of the situation.

Ah well.

Now. I have to go be angry at someone because Awkwafina is rapping to the Chocobo song from Final Fantasy on the new Little Mermaid soundtrack.

The fuck are these people doing to my childhood . . .

[elias7]

19. A lot of something going around, not sure it's cortisol

I’ve been seeing folks in all types of circles throwing around hormonal and neurotransmitter terms lately. Serotonin, Dopamine, now Cortisol. As a physician, I find most of these applications of terms to be, well, perhaps a little off. Nothing personal, just a pet peeve. Ignore me.

[Sympthsical]

21. Was reaching for anger/stress hormone

I'm still in school for nursing (just finished my adv. physio final on Monday) so I'm open to corrections!

But online seems to be a very stressed out and angry place at all times.

[The Wizard]

22. More people will now want to read her words.