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Home · Culture

Poet Amanda Gorman Pens Poem After Texas School Mass Shooting

Gorman, the first National Youth Poet Laureate, took to social media to call for an end to gun violence.
Amanda Gorman Pens Poem After Texas School Mass Shooting
By Ashlee Banks · Updated May 31, 2022

Amanda Gorman wrote a poem spotlighting the issues of gun violence in the U.S. in response to the Texas elementary school mass shooting.

In a tweet, the 2017 National Youth Poet Laureate wrote, “Schools scared to death. The truth is, one education under desks, Stooped low from bullets; That plunge when we ask Where our children Shall live & how & if.”

The 24-year-old poet said, “It takes a monster to kill children. But to watch monsters kill children again and again and do nothing isn’t just insanity – it’s inhumanity.”

Schools scared to death.

The truth is, one education under desks,

Stooped low from bullets;

That plunge when we ask

Where our children

Shall live

& how

& if

Schools scared to death.
The truth is, one education under desks,
Stooped low from bullets;
That plunge when we ask
Where our children
Shall live
& how
& if

— Amanda Gorman (@TheAmandaGorman) May 24, 2022

She continued in another tweet, “What might we be if only we tried. What might we become if only we’d listen.” 

What might we be if only we tried.
What might we become if only we’d listen.

— Amanda Gorman (@TheAmandaGorman) May 24, 2022

Gorman first made headlines after reading an original poem during President Joe Biden’s swearing-in ceremony in Jan. 2022, as previously reported.

Her remarks come after Tuesday’s shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde where 18-year-old Salvador Ramos killed 19 students and two teachers, and his grandmother beforehand. 

On Twitter, Gorman also shared how Everytown for Gun Safety, one of the largest gun prevention organizations in the U.S., had raised more than $500,000 in online donations. After the shooting in Texas, the organization started encouraging people to sign up and donate toward gun violence prevention efforts.

Y’all we have raised almost 1 MILLION dollars for @everytown to help end gun violence in just 2 days. This is what the beginning of change looks like. Let’s keep giving https://t.co/1HXsp0oBGH https://t.co/WcFw2EBi6S

— Amanda Gorman (@TheAmandaGorman) May 26, 2022

Many including former President Barack Obama, President Joe Biden, Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr and many others have condemned gun violence and demanded Congress take action to prevent mass shootings from taking place in the future.

To date there have been more than 200 mass shootings in the U.S. this year and 27 of those have taken place at schools, NPR reported.

According to the Gun Violence Archive, in 2021 there were 693 mass shootings, in 2020 there were 611 and in 2019 there were 417. As a May 26, a total of 17,329 people has died by gun violence. The total was 17,208 on May 25.

TOPICS:  Amanda Gorman Uvalde Shooting
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