The National Youth Poet Laureate, Amanda Gorman, tweeted a poem about Tuesday’s Texas elementary school shooting.
In several tweets, Gorman addressed gun violence, calling it “inhumanity.”
Gorman, 24, took to her Twitter following the mass shooting at a Texas elementary school with a poem dedicated to the tragedy. In the short tweet, Gorman refers to children being scared in school, hiding from a shooter, and parents asking where their children should live for safety.
“Schools scared to death. The truth is, one education under desks, Stooped low from bullets,” Gorman said. “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
The National Youth Poet Laureate followed the short poem with tweets on gun violence, calling shooters who kill children a “monster.”
“It takes a monster to kill children,” Gorman wrote. “But to watch monsters kill children again and again and do nothing isn’t just insanity—it’s inhumanity.”
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.
— Amanda Gorman (@TheAmandaGorman) May 24, 2022
Gorman referred to the acceptance of guns in America as replacing God with firearms in a rendition of the Pledge of Allegiance of the United States.
“The truth is,” Gorman wrote. “one nation under guns.”
The truth is, one nation under guns.
— Amanda Gorman (@TheAmandaGorman) May 24, 2022
Gorman concluded her tweets by asking what would happen if we only tried to end gun violence and if those in power listened.
“What might we be if only we tried,” Gorman said. “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
On Tuesday, the alleged gunman, Salvador Ramos, entered The Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, killing 19 children and two adults. Ramos, 18, opened fire in the school shortly after 11:30 a.m. CST.
Authorities have named 18-year-old, Salvador Ramos, as the shooter in Uvalde, TX. He reportedly killed his grandma and then drove straight to the elementary school. pic.twitter.com/C5PNnvO3cX
— 44vibe News (@44vibeTV) May 24, 2022
He allegedly shot his grandmother before entering the school. Ramos was gunned down by responding officers.