I still have yet to fact check this.

I don’t think she has gone from being poet laureate. She hasn’t exited that role.

Not that it’s right to mistreat anyone or to make assumptions based on their apparent race, gender, or whatever. But I don’t think being poet laureate has anything to do with the matter at all.

Shit happens. To ALL of us!

I kind of wonder if the creeper tailed her because she was a beautiful woman.

Doing anything while Black can get you in trouble in this country.

(And as a matter of accuracy, she is Youth Poet Laureate, not Poet Laureate who is Joy Harjo.)

If we survive the conservative attack on democracy, Amanda Gorman’s performance will be remembered as equal to the Gettysburg address in beauty and importance in American history.

Honestly, who cares?

The whole concept of a Poet Laureate is rather outdated. And narrow.

If we have that sort of position, we also need the following:

Comedian laureate
Speechmaker Laureate
Essayist Laureate
Fiction Author Laureate
Non-Fiction Author Laureate
Romance Author Laureate
and so on.

The whole concept is silly, regardless of gender, race, religion, sexual orientation, and so on.

@elbanditoroso I don’t think the issue has anything to do with that except to say she was in a position of prominence and now was racially targeted. Like Henry Louis Gates some years ago being stopped from going into his own house.

@elbanditoroso, the title of poet laureate has an ancient and venerable tradition behind it. It’s unbecoming to treat everything older than we are as necessarily worthless or obsolete. I happen to think it speaks well of us to honor some things we have inherited honestly.

Retrace your steps on Friday night, track that security guard home, get his name and write a clerihew.

@Dutchess_III You question her veracity? Because she is Black, or because she is a woman?

@janbb I love that man, he’s brilliant!

Neither @Zenvelo. What an odd comment to make.
I question it because it created a sensation. I question everything that creates a sensation.
Do you believe everything you hear?

@Dutchess_III

No, but your first reaction to what she said was, “I need to fact check her”. A blatant disregard for the veracity of someone’s recount of their own life.

But it had nothing whatsoever to do with her race or gender. I don’t know the woman. I don’t know if she’s capable or prone to making stuff up for attention. It’s just a little too pat for me.

@Dutchess_III After Jussie Smollett, it’s reasonable to be skeptical. But his story was theatrical where this isn’t.

If true, it’s a very sad statement about what it’s like to be black in this country.

@zenvelo, “Blatant disregard” strikes me as a pretty severe condemnation for the reasonable precaution of wanting to check and verify a statement before adopting it as truth. Why would it ever be bad to look for corroboration—unless you’re in a context where questioning is tantamount to attacking the faith?

I’m with @Dutchess_III. Verify everything.