Amanda Gorman ‘gutted’ after Florida school bans Biden inauguration poem

[Still Waters]

Amanda Gorman, the American poet who shot to international stardom when she recited The Hill We Climb at Joe Biden’s presidential inauguration, has vowed to defeat book bans in Florida after the poem was removed for reading by elementary school children in an educational institution in Miami-Dade county.

Gorman, 25, said she was “gutted” to learn that a complaint from a single parent led to her inaugural poem being banned from Bob Graham education center in Miami Lakes.

The poem was one of five books challenged by a parent of children at the school, including The ABCs of Black History and books on Cuba.

In the complaint, the parent mistakenly listed Oprah Winfrey as the author of The Hill We Climb, and said she objected to the poem because it was “not educational and have indirectly hate messages”.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/may/24/amanda-gorman-poem-ban-florida-school

[darkmoonlady]

Another banned book seems appropriate to bring up, 1984. It covered all of where this leads to quite clearly. Identifying this poem as hate is actually promoting hate, because let's not be mistaken, bans are justified by hate. 

Edited May 24 by darkmoonlady

[Doug1066]

Kentucky banned "Uncle Tom's Cabin," it's sole claim to literary fame.

Hate knows no limits of time or space.

Doug

[spartan max2]

Books and poems continue to be banned by "freedom loving people". 

[Doug1066]

1 minute ago, spartan max2 said:

Books and poems continue to be banned by "freedom loving people". 

Apparently, their love of "freedom" does not include free speech.

Doug

[+OverSword]

When day comes, we ask ourselves, where can we find light in this never-ending shade?

The loss we carry. A sea we must wade.

We braved the belly of the beast.

We’ve learned that quiet isn’t always peace, and the norms and notions of what “just” is isn’t always justice.

And yet the dawn is ours before we knew it.

Somehow we do it.

Somehow we weathered and witnessed a nation that isn’t broken, but simply unfinished.

We, the successors of a country and a time where a skinny Black girl descended from slaves and raised by a single mother can dream of becoming president, only to find herself reciting for one.

And, yes, we are far from polished, far from pristine, but that doesn’t mean we are striving to form a union that is perfect.

We are striving to forge our union with purpose.

To compose a country committed to all cultures, colors, characters and conditions of man.

And so we lift our gaze, not to what stands between us, but what stands before us.

We close the divide because we know to put our future first, we must first put our differences aside.

We lay down our arms so we can reach out our arms to one another.

We seek harm to none and harmony for all.

Let the globe, if nothing else, say this is true.

That even as we grieved, we grew.

That even as we hurt, we hoped.

That even as we tired, we tried.

That we’ll forever be tied together, victorious.

Not because we will never again know defeat, but because we will never again sow division.

Scripture tells us to envision that everyone shall sit under their own vine and fig tree, and no one shall make them afraid.

If we’re to live up to our own time, then victory won’t lie in the blade, but in all the bridges we’ve made.

That is the promise to glade, the hill we climb, if only we dare.

It’s because being American is more than a pride we inherit.

It’s the past we step into and how we repair it.

We’ve seen a force that would shatter our nation, rather than share it.

Would destroy our country if it meant delaying democracy.

And this effort very nearly succeeded.

But while democracy can be periodically delayed, it can never be permanently defeated.

In this truth, in this faith we trust, for while we have our eyes on the future, history has its eyes on us.

This is the era of just redemption.

We feared at its inception.

We did not feel prepared to be the heirs of such a terrifying hour.

But within it we found the power to author a new chapter, to offer hope and laughter to ourselves.

So, while once we asked, how could we possibly prevail over catastrophe, now we assert, how could catastrophe possibly prevail over us?

We will not march back to what was, but move to what shall be: a country that is bruised but whole, benevolent but bold, fierce and free.

We will not be turned around or interrupted by intimidation because we know our inaction and inertia will be the inheritance of the next generation, become the future.

Our blunders become their burdens.

But one thing is certain.

If we merge mercy with might, and might with right, then love becomes our legacy and change our children’s birthright.

So let us leave behind a country better than the one we were left.

Every breath from my bronze-pounded chest, we will raise this wounded world into a wondrous one.

We will rise from the golden hills of the West.

We will rise from the windswept Northeast where our forefathers first realized revolution.

We will rise from the lake-rimmed cities of the Midwestern states.

We will rise from the sun-baked South.

We will rebuild, reconcile, and recover.

And every known nook of our nation and every corner called our country, our people diverse and beautiful, will emerge battered and beautiful.

When day comes, we step out of the shade of flame and unafraid.

The new dawn balloons as we free it.

For there is always light, if only we’re brave enough to see it.

If only we’re brave enough to be it.

[spartan max2]

6 minutes ago, OverSword said:

When day comes, we ask ourselves, where can we find light in this never-ending shade?

The loss we carry. A sea we must wade.

We braved the belly of the beast.

We’ve learned that quiet isn’t always peace, and the norms and notions of what “just” is isn’t always justice.

And yet the dawn is ours before we knew it.

Somehow we do it.

Somehow we weathered and witnessed a nation that isn’t broken, but simply unfinished.

We, the successors of a country and a time where a skinny Black girl descended from slaves and raised by a single mother can dream of becoming president, only to find herself reciting for one.

And, yes, we are far from polished, far from pristine, but that doesn’t mean we are striving to form a union that is perfect.

We are striving to forge our union with purpose.

To compose a country committed to all cultures, colors, characters and conditions of man.

And so we lift our gaze, not to what stands between us, but what stands before us.

We close the divide because we know to put our future first, we must first put our differences aside.

We lay down our arms so we can reach out our arms to one another.

We seek harm to none and harmony for all.

Let the globe, if nothing else, say this is true.

That even as we grieved, we grew.

That even as we hurt, we hoped.

That even as we tired, we tried.

That we’ll forever be tied together, victorious.

Not because we will never again know defeat, but because we will never again sow division.

Scripture tells us to envision that everyone shall sit under their own vine and fig tree, and no one shall make them afraid.

If we’re to live up to our own time, then victory won’t lie in the blade, but in all the bridges we’ve made.

That is the promise to glade, the hill we climb, if only we dare.

It’s because being American is more than a pride we inherit.

It’s the past we step into and how we repair it.

We’ve seen a force that would shatter our nation, rather than share it.

Would destroy our country if it meant delaying democracy.

And this effort very nearly succeeded.

But while democracy can be periodically delayed, it can never be permanently defeated.

In this truth, in this faith we trust, for while we have our eyes on the future, history has its eyes on us.

This is the era of just redemption.

We feared at its inception.

We did not feel prepared to be the heirs of such a terrifying hour.

But within it we found the power to author a new chapter, to offer hope and laughter to ourselves.

So, while once we asked, how could we possibly prevail over catastrophe, now we assert, how could catastrophe possibly prevail over us?

We will not march back to what was, but move to what shall be: a country that is bruised but whole, benevolent but bold, fierce and free.

We will not be turned around or interrupted by intimidation because we know our inaction and inertia will be the inheritance of the next generation, become the future.

Our blunders become their burdens.

But one thing is certain.

If we merge mercy with might, and might with right, then love becomes our legacy and change our children’s birthright.

So let us leave behind a country better than the one we were left.

Every breath from my bronze-pounded chest, we will raise this wounded world into a wondrous one.

We will rise from the golden hills of the West.

We will rise from the windswept Northeast where our forefathers first realized revolution.

We will rise from the lake-rimmed cities of the Midwestern states.

We will rise from the sun-baked South.

We will rebuild, reconcile, and recover.

And every known nook of our nation and every corner called our country, our people diverse and beautiful, will emerge battered and beautiful.

When day comes, we step out of the shade of flame and unafraid.

The new dawn balloons as we free it.

For there is always light, if only we’re brave enough to see it.

If only we’re brave enough to be it.

Not sure where the controversy even is. 

Like, there are some vague references to what I assume is Jan 6th. But I don't think talking trash about the people on Jan 6th should even be contraversal 

Edited May 24 by spartan max2

[pellinore]

Populism is the enemy of democracy.

[+OverSword]

36 minutes ago, spartan max2 said:

Not sure where the controversy even is. 

Like, there are some vague references to what I assume is Jan 6th. But I don't think talking trash about the people on Jan 6th should even be contraversal 

I agree but probably about 30% of Americans don't I'm guessing.  I think you're right and that's what the complaint was based on.

[+OverSword]

16 minutes ago, pellinore said:

Populism is the enemy of democracy.

Democracy exists because of populism.

Populism refers to a range of political stances that emphasize the idea of "the people" and often juxtapose this group against "the elite". 

[pellinore]

16 minutes ago, OverSword said:

Democracy exists because of populism.

Populism refers to a range of political stances that emphasize the idea of "the people" and often juxtapose this group against "the elite". 

You are quite wrong. It is counter intuitive, I know, but populism undermines the rule of law and the institutions of democracy.

 This is a good article which explains it:

Populist politicians and governments view the formal institutions of liberal democracy as corrupt creations spawned by crooked establishment elites – and so they systematically hollow out and undermine these institutions, such as the courts, regulatory agencies, intelligence services, the press, and so on. They justify these attacks as replacing discredited and corrupt institutions with ones that serves “the people” – or, in other words, populist parties and politicians. Moreover, precisely because populists claim to represent “the people,” they have to define the people first and that often means excluding vulnerable and marginalized populations, such as religious or ethnic minorities and immigrants.

Populism jeopardizes democracies around the world | Stanford News

Edited May 24 by pellinore

[HollyDolly]

 Well Ray Bradbury predicted this too, with  the book and later movie,Farenhite 451, with Oskar Werner, Julie Christie and Cyril Cusack. Where Oskar instead of burning books, decides to save them and joins Julie and the others in hiding, memorizing books  so that someday, they can be read again. I think The Twilight Zone did some episode with Burgess Merideth as a librarian, but can't quite remember the story line.You know him better as the Peguin from the Bat Man TV series.

 Back to the book burnings of the Nazis and others, like shown in old newsreels and in the movie,JoJo Rabbit. Nothing wrong with learning about Cuba, or Black History, as long as the history is  balanced. Few people are aware that blacks in Africa were captured and enslaved by other blacks, and sold to whites, like the Arab slave traders and others.

Frank Yerby, a black author wrote the book, The Dahomian, which touches on this subject. I have also seen on Youtube black leaders mention about this, of course most of them are older people. Also few talk about Marcus Garvey and Father Divine and  the movement of Back to Africa back in the 1900s. Yes Cubans are communists, but many people fought against them.

 As Professor Tom Lehr says in his song Smut, when correctly viewed, Everything is lewd.I could tell you things about Peter Pan and the Wizard of Oz , there's a dirty old man.

So anything and everything can be viewed  as racist,sexist, etc. Heck, in high school told my teacher I was going to do a book report on Tortilla Flats, to which she replied, Do your parents let you read it, and I said  yes. And this coming from a teacher back in the 1970s.! Now some of the new books   may not be age approprate, and don't belong in school, if they are  of a more sexual nature, especially gay or transgender and belong in high school libraries, NOT elementary to Junior High level. BUt then parents, you are supposed to talk about this to your children, no matter how uncomfortable you feel on these or other sex subjects, or drugs, etc. You are supposed to teach  your kid, NOT have the school districts  feed, cloth, teach them manners, etc.  They should not parent your kids, you should, because that's your job.

Some parents are really great and teach them right, others, regardless of race or standard of living suck at it. Tom Lehr is on Youtube, and I'm sure that song and some of his others are there.  He did one called The Vatican Rag, based on changes to the Catholic Church, this back in the 1950s, 60s, but i don't recall a big uproar, because the majority of us Catholics  just laughed along.

[Piney]

On 5/24/2023 at 12:15 PM, HollyDolly said:

 Well Ray Bradbury predicted this too, with  the book and later movie,Farenhite 451, with Oskar Werner, Julie Christie and Cyril Cusack. Where Oskar instead of burning books, decides to save them and joins Julie and the others in hiding, memorizing books  so that someday, they can be read again. I think The Twilight Zone did some episode with Burgess Merideth as a librarian, but can't quite remember the story line.You know him better as the Peguin from the Bat Man TV series.

 Back to the book burnings of the Nazis and others, like shown in old newsreels and in the movie,JoJo Rabbit. Nothing wrong with learning about Cuba, or Black History, as long as the history is  balanced. Few people are aware that blacks in Africa were captured and enslaved by other blacks, and sold to whites, like the Arab slave traders and others.

Frank Yerby, a black author wrote the book, The Dahomian, which touches on this subject. I have also seen on Youtube black leaders mention about this, of course most of them are older people. Also few talk about Marcus Garvey and Father Divine and  the movement of Back to Africa back in the 1900s. Yes Cubans are communists, but many people fought against them.

 As Professor Tom Lehr says in his song Smut, when correctly viewed, Everything is lewd.I could tell you things about Peter Pan and the Wizard of Oz , there's a dirty old man.

So anything and everything can be viewed  as racist,sexist, etc. Heck, in high school told my teacher I was going to do a book report on Tortilla Flats, to which she replied, Do your parents let you read it, and I said  yes. And this coming from a teacher back in the 1970s.! Now some of the new books   may not be age approprate, and don't belong in school, if they are  of a more sexual nature, especially gay or transgender and belong in high school libraries, NOT elementary to Junior High level. BUt then parents, you are supposed to talk about this to your children, no matter how uncomfortable you feel on these or other sex subjects, or drugs, etc. You are supposed to teach  your kid, NOT have the school districts  feed, cloth, teach them manners, etc.  They should not parent your kids, you should, because that's your job.

Some parents are really great and teach them right, others, regardless of race or standard of living suck at it. Tom Lehr is on Youtube, and I'm sure that song and some of his others are there.  He did one called The Vatican Rag, based on changes to the Catholic Church, this back in the 1950s, 60s, but i don't recall a big uproar, because the majority of us Catholics  just laughed along.

451 also predicted mind numbing social media, but the Burgess Meredith story was about a bookworm who was the only man left and broke his glasses. 

[RoofGardener]

This is not about "banning books". It's about not having innapropriate books in an ELEMENTRY school library.

That library has probably 'banned' Fifty Shades of Grey' as well. The  poem in question was presumably 'banned' because of its political content. Do we allow the Communist Party Manifesto in elementary   schools ? How about the Turner Diaries ?

[darkmoonlady]

11 minutes ago, RoofGardener said:

This is not about "banning books". It's about not having innapropriate books in an ELEMENTRY school library.

That library has probably 'banned' Fifty Shades of Grey' as well. The  poem in question was presumably 'banned' because of its political content. Do we allow the Communist Party Manifesto in elementary   schools ? How about the Turner Diaries ?

The poem was banned because a black woman wrote it. 

[Paranoid Android]

Is it banned? Really? Sounds like someone got just a little bit creative in their application of the truth!

Quote

"No literature (books or poem) has been banned or removed. 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. The book remains available in the media center."

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cbsnews.com/amp/miami/news/amanda-gorman-florida-school-poem-moved-the-hill-we-climb/

 

Edited May 26 by Paranoid Android

[darkmoonlady]

6 minutes ago, Paranoid Android said:

Is it banned? Really? Sounds like someone got just a little bit creative in their application of the truth!

 

Its banned from elementary students when there is nothing wrong with it. 

By the way the person who complained, attributed it to Oprah Winfrey a totally different black woman. So you can take your laughing comment off my previous post. You think it's funny and it isn't. It's the truth. 

Edited May 26 by darkmoonlady

[Doug1066]

Seems that the "dictatorship of the proletariat" has arrived in America.  Only 11 people have accounted for the majority of complaints that provoked the banning of books.

https://www.truthorfiction.com/only-11-people-responsible-for-majority-of-book-ban-requests/

I think school boards need to grow a backbone.  If parents don't like the book selection and think it so important, they have the option of withdrawing their kids from public school and either sending them to private school or home-schooling them.  Of course, home schooling, though it occasionally produces outstanding results, frequently results in uneducated kids.

Doug

[darkmoonlady]

https://www.npr.org/2023/05/24/1177877340/amanda-gorman-poem-restricted-miami-school

"Salinas also filed complaints about four other books: The ABCs of Black History; Cuban Kids; Countries in the News Cuba; and Love to Langston.

As part of its decision, the school committee ruled that The ABCs of Black History should also move to the middle school space, despite being intended for readers ages 5 and older."

The woman who complained has Proud Boy connections and posted anti Semetic memes. Based on her Facebook posts she is also a Christian Nationalist. 

[Paranoid Android]

  

12 minutes ago, darkmoonlady said:

Its banned from elementary students when there is nothing wrong with it. 

It's not banned, it's simply moved to a different section of the library. If Elementary students want to read it, they are allowed in the Middle School section of the library. 

 

12 minutes ago, darkmoonlady said:

By the way the person who complained, attributed it to Oprah Winfrey a totally different black woman. So you can take your laughing comment off my previous post. You think it's funny and it isn't. It's the truth. 

Nah, it's hilarious, I really have to leave the reaction there. 

[darkmoonlady]

Just now, Paranoid Android said:

  

It's not banned, it's simply moved to a different section of the library. If Elementary students want to read it, they are allowed in the Middle School section of the library. 

 

Nah, it's hilarious, I really have to leave the reaction there. 

No turns out I was right. Feel free to google the person who complained. She is a bigot. 

[Paranoid Android]

5 minutes ago, darkmoonlady said:

No turns out I was right. Feel free to google the person who complained. She is a bigot. 

Maybe she is a bigot,  I cannot speak for that. But whether she is a bigot or not is irrelevant to my argument! My argument was much simpler - the book is available in the same library,  just in a slightly different section no one is being stopped from accessing the book if they want it  No matter how you slice it,  that is NOT a ban! 

Edited May 26 by Paranoid Android

[darkmoonlady]

19 minutes ago, Paranoid Android said:

Maybe she is a bigot,  I cannot speak for that. But whether she is a bigot or not is irrelevant to my argument! My argument was much simpler - the book is available in the same library,  just in a slightly different section no one is being stopped from accessing the book if they want it  No matter how you slice it,  that is NOT a ban! 

Its age restricted material meaning to age thirteen it IS banned. You just have to be the contrarian. Curmudgeon participation trophy thirst trap. 

I just realized I described Archie Bunker. PA I can't ever unsee you as Archie haha. 

Edited May 26 by darkmoonlady

[Zebra3]

Liberal media falsely claimed Florida school banned book from Biden inauguration poet. Now that the truth is out, dozens of large outlets still refuse to correct the record.

https://www.theblaze.com/news/liberal-media-that-falsely-accused-school-of-banning-poetry-book-remain-committed-to-their-deceit

[Zebra3]

2 hours ago, darkmoonlady said:

The poem was banned because a black woman wrote it. 

That's one of the dumbest things I've ever read.