It Is Time to Re-Write the Constitution
It’s time to heal.
By Rita Sinorita Fierro, Ph.D. and Karla Cruel, Esq.
“I always take two sets of notes,
one set to ace the test
and
one set I call the truth,
and when I find historical contradictions
I used the first set as proof “— M.K. Asante Jr.
I heard the poem Two Sets of Notes, about the African American experience in white classrooms, at a conference when I was about 28 years old. It prompted me to recognize an aspect of privilege I had never seen before. I was born and raised in the US, a white girl, in public school in the predominantly Italian and Jewish North Bronx. I never felt cognitive dissonance in grade school. I never had to take two sets of notes.
As part of the 70s-80s busing programs, there were (only) three Black children in my very predominantly white classroom. I never visited their homes, I never asked why not. They never came to my birthday parties. I didn’t think they had a different experience of our classroom. When we recited the pledge of allegiance, one of the Black students never stood up. I asked her why one day…
