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Inaugural Poet Amanda Gorman Describes Being Racially Profiled

“This is the reality of Black girls,” she said in a tweet after a security guard said she looked suspicious.

Amanda Gorman may have national recognition, but not everyone recognizes her. The inaugural poet and scholar took to Twitter on Friday (March 5) and revealed she was followed by a security guard and labeled “suspicious.”

"A security guard tailed me on my walk home tonight,” she wrote in a tweet. “He demanded if I lived there because 'you look suspicious.’”

The 22-year-old, who lives in Los Angeles said she showed him her keys and buzzed herself into her building. It prompted the guard to leave, but he did not apologize.

RELATED: Amanda Gorman: Publisher Faces Backlash After Selecting White Dutch Writer To Translate Her Poems

"This is the reality of Black girls: One day you're called an icon, the next day, a threat," she wrote.

Gorman made history in January when she became the youngest person to perform a poem at a US presidential inauguration. Her reading her poem “The Hill We Climb” was one of the most talked about aspects of the event.

Gorman, the first US National Youth Poet Laureate, also performed at the Super Bowl in February and recited her poem "Chorus of the Captains," which is dedicated to a teacher, an ICU nurse, and a US Marine corps veteran.

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