On January 20, 2021, Amanda Gorman graced this Nation by reciting a poem written by her, especially for the Presidential Inauguration of the 46th President of the United States of America, Joe Biden.
She captivated the Nation, and her purpose was to bring hope worldwide.
The deeper meaning of The Hill We Climb symbolizes presenting all of us with a challenge. That challenge is building a more fair, accessible, and better America. The poem suggests that Americans searching for these improvements must accept that the hill is steep!
Now, some places have instituted restrictions upon reading this poetry of life.
Uppermost is in the State of Florida, where 1 parent objected to this writing being available to primary school students and succeeded in pulling it from the shelves at that level. This was in the Miami-Dade County Public Schools System. This parent claimed the poem was “not educational” and included indirect “hate messages.”
While the book remains available to Upper and Middle School students, it means that Elementary level students can have no exposure to it via the school system. Their access is diminished. This remarkable poem was written for all U.S. Citizens, from birth to death.
Gorman issued her own statement in response: “A school book ban is any action taken against a book that leaves access to a book restricted or diminished. This decision to move my book from its original place, taken after one parent complained, diminishes the access elementary schoolers would have had previously to my poem.”