I would like you to think about the first time you were invited to a birthday party how did you feel what did you feel and why it was Kindergarten when I received my first invitation I remember feeling so special seeing my name printed at the front of the envelope for the first time in my memory I felt the part of my school and community you see I grew up in Maine a predominantly white state in a kindergarten classroom with predominantly white students and me often times I felt other dinh the classroom from coloring activities consisting
of drawing your families and being confused do I pick up the peach crayon like everyone else in my classroom or the brown one commonly used to color in tree trunks or being the only one with kinky curly hair protected under braids each week as classmates we're discussing having to brush their stray hair every morning or maybe I really felt different during class discussions talking about our favorite food and classmates went around saying pizza macaroni and cheese and being self-conscious to sputter out my mother's traditional food of rice and Pandu recognizing that's so young that no
one had said anything similar to it than when it was my turn Pizza was the only thing that could come out of my mouth this situation in kindergarten was the first time I realized I'm split between my Congolese and Rwandan culture and my way of life at school but you see this invitation this golden ticket was what made me feel special my classmates they saw me they wanted me I remember feeling so excited to go home and share my golden ticket with my family when I got home no it's not in our culture my father
said after making sense of the word sleepover at the bottom of the invitation leaving my six-year-old self left with anger and confusion why was culture in my way of possible attendance and acceptance my Rwandan and Congolese culture is a component in my identity and my family's identity and it has norms that I've been able to differentiate since I could recognize the difference from my family's traditional food and the Lunchables I saw in my elementary school cafeteria so I knew this sleepover was a lost cause the next day I know I have to deliver bad news
I can't go I say to my classmates as I try to explain to them my identity and culture to other six-year-olds that's weird they said they didn't understand but I did a task often left upon the shoulders of underrepresented kids and this split that I was feeling has been coined by w e BD boy in double consciousness where a person's identity is divided into different components and his novel the souls of black folk he states one often feels they're tunas an American a negro two souls two thoughts two warring ideas in one dark body my
body and this Tunis or three nasur Faunus is how I have maneuvered all my life from having to coin from having to code switch into the Grecia I felt most necessary for my environment and having to be self aware on how I behave constantly having to advocate for all parts of my identity from English courses being the only black girl in the room and recognizing the awkward silence at the beginning of every conversation when race is brought up and feeling the stares as classmates look to me as though I know the answer or history lessons
when talking about black history and only hearing about the civil rights movement and slavery but never once about the life before and what still exists within Africa causing me each year to ask my teachers on what are we gonna get a little more in depth when discussing Africa and being left with the same two answers each year it'll be taught next year or it's not in the curriculum to me it's like saying your identity and culture is not important enough to be taught within the school and it's frustrating attending school each year and never hearing
your culture be taught to the fullest extent and then being expected to know the answers each time and it's unsatisfying and that makes me think back to when I was in kindergarten hearing it's not in our culture - now it's not in the curricula I'm unsatisfied with it not being in the curricula unsatisfied with being told it will be taught next year unsatisfied with being forced into the teacher role within the classroom unsatisfied with having to have an invitation be what makes me feel accepted so I did something about it this past summer I attended
girls nation a nationally recognized program or two girls from each day simulate a congressional process each bringing in a handcrafted bill My partner was Iraqi and I we created the cultural awareness Corps Sedition Act better known as the caca Act requiring grades K through 8 to take on a cultural awareness course or they would be taught a unit on each continent so students regardless of or lack of would be taught about the differing cultures and ways of life out there in the world at a time point where they are most receptive to new information and
like any congressional you know what there's always a debate and during the debate the only people who were able to talk to the affirmative were girls of color and what makes this so unique that they all had a common theme when talking it was about their experiences within the classroom you know like only talking about the civil rights movement and slavery during the shortest month of the year or only briefly touching upon Islam during the month of September this builds microaggressions within schools and communities because students are not being taught accurately and as this is
occurring it continuously makes students of color be other dwith in the classroom and after all of this had been said by girls of color across the nation the bill was denied and you see it was way more than just getting a bill passed or denied it was to make a point that our education system is failing us people are making opinions without knowing the facts people are made to feel not safe with who they are people are not listening to the differing of perspectives and quite frankly I'm not saying that there's one person or one
thing that can fix this or is at fault I'm simply saying that there's a problem and we need to address it I believe that cultural competence is something that we all need to invite into our lives seeing as my whole life has been an independent study of trying to understand my culture and world or worlds we all need to engage with people we've never talked with before listen to the other perspective be our own teachers because the education system is not going to tell us everything and quite frankly if we don't start now we're going
to continue a system where we do not hear voices of all students and we cannot be satisfied that with a you cannot be satisfied with that we need to do something thank you [Applause] you
