Poet Amanda Gorman claimed she was “gutted” after a Florida school restricted her work “The Hill We Climb” — which she read at president Biden’s inaguration — from elementary bookshelves.
The Bob Graham Education Center in Miami Lakes, FL, which is for students from kindergarten to eighth grade, reviewed five books after a complaint from a parent.
Following the panel’s review it was decided the poem and three other works would be moved to the middle school section of its library.
“I’m gutted,” now 25-year-old Gorman, who is the National Youth Poet Laureate, wrote on Instagram. She added book bans are on the rise in the US and that “all it takes to remove these works from our libraries and schools is a single objection.”
Miami-Dade County Public Schools later clarified in a statement that “no literature (books or poem) has been banned or removed,” and the poem is still available from the school’s media center.
The parent who complained, Daily Salinas, had pushed back against Gorman’s poem and four books: “The ABCs of Black History,” “Cuban Kids,” “Countries in the News: Cuba,” and “Love to Langston.”
Youth Poet Amanda Gorman reads her poem “The Hills We Climb” during President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’ inauguration at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 20, 2021, in Washington, DC. Getty ImagesSalinas — whose two kids attend the school — complained the texts had references of critical race theory, which is banned from being taught in Florida as well as “indirect hate messages,” gender ideology and indoctrination, according to the Miami Herald.
Salinas told the publication in Spanish that she’s “not for eliminating or censoring any books” but instead wants children to be taught “the truth” about Cuba.
According to the complainant datelined March 29, 2023, Gorman is mistaken for 69-year-old talk show host Oprah Winfrey as the poem’s author.
It is unclear what lines in “The Hill We Climb” Salinas objected to and the poem does not directly reference Cuba at any point.
The parent wrote the book was not educational and has hate messages in it, adding the poem’s intent is to “cause confusion and indoctrinate students.” Instagram
“The Hills We Climb” poem will only be available to middle school students and not elementary school students at Bob Graham Education Center in Miami Lakes, FL, the Miami Herald reports. Google MapsGorman revealed publisher Penguin Random House is joining forces with PEN America in challenging book restrictions with a lawsuit.
“Let’s be clear: most of the forbidden works are by authors who have struggled for generations to get on bookshelves,” she continued. “The majority of these censored works are by queer and non-white voices.”
Gorman said that banning her body of work is a way of “robbing children of the chance to find their voices in literature.”
Following up on Twitter, she wrote, “So they ban my book from young readers… fail to specify what parts of my poetry they object to, refuse to read any reviews, and offer no alternatives. Unnecessary #bookbans like these are on the rise, and we must fight back.”
