White House backs Amanda Gorman after a parent tried to ban her inaugural poem from a Florida school
- The White House is backing Amanda Gorman after a Florida parent challenged poetry.
- "The president and his administration certainly stand with her...," Karine Jean-Pierre said.
The White House is backing Amanda Gorman after a parent wanted to ban the poem she wrote for President Joe Biden's inauguration, "The Hill We Climb," from a Florida school.
"The president and his administration certainly stand with her...," White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said on Wednesday, adding that Biden was proud to have Gorman, the youngest inaugural poet, speak at his inauguration. "When you ban a book, you are censoring. It limits American freedom."
A Florida parent asked to ban Gorman's book of poetry at Bob Graham Education Center in Miami because "it is not educational and have indirectly hate messages" and it could "cause confusion and indoctrinate students," according to a copy of the parent's complaint obtained by the Florida Freedom to Read Project and shared by Gorman. The parent mistakenly wrote that the book was written by Oprah Winfrey, who a foreword for the book.
The school moved Gorman's poetry and three other titles to the library's section for middle schoolers.
Miami-Dade County Public Schools tweeted that the book wasn't banned or removed and is available in a media center as part of the middle grades collection.
At age 22, Gorman was the youngest inaugural poet ever, taking the stage outside the U.S. Capitol shortly after the January 6 insurrection by former President Donald Trump's supporters.
"I'm gutted," she wrote on Twitter Tuesday, saying she wrote the poem "so that all young people could see themselves in a historical moment."