US poet Amanda Gorman reveals she was racially profiled, guard called her 'suspicious'

US’ African-American poet Amanda Gorman who performed at the presidential inauguration of Joe Biden on Saturday said that she was racially profiled recently.  A security guard, who claimed that she looked “suspicious” followed her back home. "This is the reality of black girls: One day you're called an icon, the next day, a threat," she tweeted. "He demanded if I lived there because 'you look suspicious'. I showed my keys and buzzed myself into my building. He left, no apology," Gorman continued. The 22-year-old Black American poet did not disclose where exactly the incident occurred. Her profile’s location listed that she was in Los Angeles. 

Expressing outrage at the incident, Gorman said, in a sense, the guard 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," she tweeted. Gorman had narrated the incident sharing a Washington Post profile that listed disparity between her and the other Black girls. "We live in a contradictory society that can celebrate a black girl poet & also pepper spray a 9 yr old," the poet wrote in a separate tweet. "Yes see me, but also see all other black girls who've been made invisible. I can not, will not, rise alone,” she added. 

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Most talked-about 22-year-old

During a virtual chat on The Ellen DeGeneres Show on January 26, Gorman, who created history by performing ‘The Hill We Climb’ on January 20 and is also one of the most talked-about 22-year-old in the country, revealed that she hopes to be present on another swearing-in ceremony, that would be hers. She also revealed that she had been dreaming about acquiring the White House since sixth grade. When asked about her running for US president, Amanda Gorman explained, “This was a dream that I think came into existence around 6th grade,” she said, adding that the idea was born after her maths teacher jokingly said that she could run for president as she was a very passionate and feisty girl. She added what she told her teacher: “You know what? That tracks. Let’s put that on the bulletin board for the future.”

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