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As a young black woman, I notice at times in the mainstream media framing of the ‘me too’ movement you see a white female face or a white male face, and that type of questioning and interrogation needs to happen.

Amanda Gorman

We know. We believe. And we act, because it is our civic duty.
AMANDA GORMAN

Act Believe Ourselves
I did a lot of sitting back and thinking about what I wanted for myself and what I wanted for my country: more unity, more support for the arts and more opportunities for young writers from marginalized groups.
AMANDA GORMAN

Art Myself Opportunity Support Thinking Unity Writing Young
As a public poet, people often don’t see the reality of my life.
AMANDA GORMAN

Life People Poet Reality See
We’ve learned that quiet isn’t always peace and the norms and notions of what just is, isn’t always justice.
AMANDA GORMAN

Justice Learning Peace Quiet
I don’t want it to be something that becomes a cage, where to be a successful Black girl, you have to be Amanda Gorman and go to Harvard. I want someone to eventually disrupt the model I have established.
AMANDA GORMAN

Black Establishment Girl Myself Success
When you are learning through poetry how to speak English, it lends to a great understanding of sound, of pitch, of pronunciation, so I think of my speech impediment not as a weakness or a disability, but as one of my greatest strengths.
AMANDA GORMAN

Greatness Learning Poetry Sound Strength Thinking Understand Weakness Yourself
No matter how you say it, the hill we climb is a hill we climb together.
AMANDA GORMAN

Struggle Togetherness Yourself
Let each dawn find us courageous, brought closer, heeding the lights before the fight is over.
AMANDA GORMAN

Courage Fight Inspirational Light Morning
Poetry is – it’s an art form, but, to me, it’s also a weapon, it’s also an instrument. It’s the ability to make ideas that have been known, felt and said. And that’s a real, I think, type of duty for the poet.
AMANDA GORMAN

Ability Art Ideas Poet Poetry Reality Thinking Weapon
Writing wasn’t just a form of expression. It was a form of pathology by embarking on spoken word over and over and over again and reciting my poems.
AMANDA GORMAN

Expression Myself Poem Word Writing
I grew up at this incredibly odd intersection in Los Angeles, where it felt like the black ‘hood met black elegance met white gentrification met Latin culture met wetlands.
AMANDA GORMAN

Feeling Growth Myself Place
I close my eyes and I am with this army of young women standing in a line and I imagine us walking forward together.
AMANDA GORMAN

Eyes Imagination Myself Togetherness Walk Women Young
Poetry is the lens we use to interrogate the history we stand on and the future we stand for.
AMANDA GORMAN

Future History Poetry
When you have to teach yourself how to say sounds, when you have to be highly concerned about pronunciation, it gives you a certain awareness of sonics, of the auditory experience.
AMANDA GORMAN

Experience Sound Teaching Yourself
I am the daughter of Black writers who are descended from Freedom Fighters who broke their chains and changed the world. They call me.
AMANDA GORMAN

Black Break Change Fight Freedom Myself World Writing
The oration of poetry, I consider to be its own art form and tradition.
AMANDA GORMAN

Art Myself Poetry

As a young black woman, I notice at times in the mainstream media framing of the ‘me too’ movement you see a white female face or a white male face, and that type of questioning and interrogation needs to happen.

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As a young black woman, I notice at times in the mainstream media framing of the ‘me too’ movement you see a white female face or a white male face, and that type of questioning and interrogation needs to happen.

Related Topics

Popular Authors

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