Some call me "Flem"

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I'm an elementary school teacher turned high school English teacher, School-Based Teacher Leader (SBTL), and adjunct professor here in Philly. These posts are the views, as I see them, from room 105, my first classroom number. Enjoy, engage, and share!

Thursday, August 14, 2014

I'm finally included...or am I?

"Earlier today, we heard the beginning of the preamble to the Constitution of the United States, "We, the people." It is a very eloquent beginning. But when the document was completed on the seventeenth of September 1787, I was not included in that "We, the people." I felt somehow for many years that George Washington and Alexander Hamilton just left me out by mistake. But through the process of amendment, interpretation, and court decision, I have finally been included in "We, the people.""

These are the words of, then, Representative Barbara Jordan out of Texas, who, I should point out, was the first black male or female to represent Texas in Congress.

How poignant and appropriate her words are today, especially given the unrest resulting from the recent slaughter of unarmed blacks by police (against Eric Garner, Michael Brown, and Ezell Ford) and by gun-toting vigilantes (against Trayvon Martin and Renisha McBride).

It seems like our inclusion is being tested by events like these, proposed voting laws, and often separate and unequal public school funding and resource quantities.

"We, the people" huh?
Yup.

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