Florida school limits access to Amanda Gorman’s inaugural poem

A Miami-based school has limited access to the poem “The Hill We Climb,” which was recited by Amanda Gorman at President Joe Biden’s inauguration, following a parent’s complaint. Gorman, who was 22 years old at the time, gained widespread recognition after reading her poem to an audience of almost 34 million people on January 21, 2021.

Gorman expressed her disappointment in a statement, saying that she was “gutted” by the decision to restrict her work. She took to Twitter, stating, “Because of one parent’s complaint, my inaugural poem, ‘The Hill We Climb,’ has been banned from an elementary school in Miami-Dade County, Florida.” Gorman argued that denying children the opportunity to discover their voices in literature violated their right to free thought and free speech.

Florida’s Governor, Ron DeSantis, who announced his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination, has been known for attacking what he refers to as “woke” culture. This includes passing laws to limit instruction on sex education and gender identity in schools and eliminating diversity programs in state-funded universities, reports Bangkok Post.

Numerous books have been removed from Florida’s school library shelves in recent months, deemed unsuitable for children by conservative parents and school boards. The Bob Graham Education Center targeted Gorman’s poem after a mother of two students raised concerns. The school subsequently banned the poem in its elementary school, relocating it to the library for children over 11 years old.

Gorman’s poem, a call for unity and hope in a divided America, gained even more attention as she is Black and spoke in the aftermath of Donald Trump’s polarizing presidency. The parent’s complaint, shared by Gorman, claimed the poem was “not educational and have indirectly hate messages.”

In response to the incident, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre stated that Biden “was very proud to have her (Gorman) at his inauguration. Banning books is censorship — period.” Gorman holds the distinction of being the youngest poet to perform at a US presidential inauguration and the first individual named National Youth Poet Laureate.

This news comes a week after publisher Penguin Random House and writers’ group PEN America filed a lawsuit against a Florida school district over the removal of books addressing race and LGBTQ issues from public school libraries.