5 years old I would spend my Saturday
afternoons watching my brothers shuffle
to long stacks of index cards and study
guides asking questions about American
history on these days they were tasked
with studying for the American
citizenship test with my parents now
since I on the other hand already
assumed the title of citizen since I was
born in this country I had the pleasure
of spending this time breaking
McDonald’s toys crying and spilling
cereal all over their work now I didn’t
think it was that big a deal because
they were obviously over prepared for
the test it got to a point where they
easily got 100 on every single practice
exam and do every single flashcard by
heart to this day I have not seen
anybody prepare for a test more
thoroughly no not even here I and over
but somehow they still weren’t prepared
to fully pass the test and attain the
status of a citizen which by definition
is a legally recognized person by the
state one day I was walking by my
parents room and I overheard them
talking with my brothers my dad said
okay so you’re gonna need some really
nice shoes
that new dress pants I got you some
really well I insert but most
importantly you’re gonna need a really
nice tie he then went on a tutorial on
how to tie a tie with my brothers
kind of like this over-under doesn’t do
obviously I didn’t learn along with them
and then he went on and he said and now
English has to be really nice like like
like those people on TV how does this
sound he would then go on to try his
best to hide his Nigerian accent and
assumed the American speech patterns we
had seen on lifetime and Nickelodeon why
did he have to assume a tie for the test
that wasn’t one of the questions I saw
on the study guide and I never
understood how that would be used to
achieve the status of a legally
recognized person of this thing I was in
this moment that I realized the nature
of this test and how it was carried out
it wasn’t an objective legal test like
the study guys has claimed but instead
it was a culturally charged after to
test one with this secret study guide
that included the lifetime accent and
the really good tie some years later I
had my own experience with this cultural
aptitude test I walked into this stuffy
train station I usually took on my way
home from school I was we were three of
my friends and one of them was Nigerian
and a dark-skinned like me and then the
other two were very light-skinned a
school usually wore ties and shirts and
pants and shoes and full uniforms where
we took off our ties and replace our
suits with sneakers on the way home so
we’re all comfortable in our half
uniform going on and on about some
dodgeball game we got played in gym when
we had this really deep voice behind the
stop us and say hey you two get over
here
my two friends up front didn’t hear him
so me under the light-skinned kids
quickly turn around and we see these two
police officers standing at a table we
walk towards him obviously scared
halfway through he stopped us he said to
my friend no not you but call your
friend up there and then pointed to the
other black kid who’s now just as scared
and confused as I was we got to the
table and he said how old are you and
where are you going
I said we were both 12 and we were on
our way home he access where we were
coming from we said we were just coming
from school school ended at 4:00 it’s
6:00 right now I tried to explain to him
that sometimes after school we stayed to
help the teachers with their work in the
after-school activities and sometimes
just to clean up and when he stopped us
and he said I’m going to need to see
your bag he grabbed my bag opened up one
of the pockets and pulled all the
contents out on the table he took a
metal detector and stuck it into every
single pocket I had when he was done all
he said was okay go on
I felt the eyes of people watching as I
tried my best to pick up all the items
in my bag as fast as I could
stumbling over everything but I locked
eyes with this one woman and now there’s
only two things I can remember about her
the first was this look of disgust as he
gave me and the second is what she was
wearing she had on this bright pink hat
so she looks at me gives me this look of
disgust and quickly turns her head away
and speeds up her walk having into the
train station I finish getting the rest
of the things from my bag and avoid eye
contact the rest of the way home that
was my first time talking to a police
officer when I went to school and I told
them what happened we had a whole school
meeting about it my principal he
explained to us the fear that he had
that one of us might not return to
school the next day
he talked about how we needed to all
know our rights but even more
importantly answer our safety most
importantly he told us that we would
each have teachers coaches on what to do
if we ever ended up in that situation
now the teacher who calls me mr.
Da’Ville he was known for giving the
hardest test at the school and he always
prepared us well for these tests and to
be honest I use either one on them but
as you know I still hated them but now
who’s preparing me for a test that I
barely knew existed the cultural
aptitude test
he helped me study how to tie a tie
Gong of the same step-by-step tutorial
that I saw my parents and my brothers do
that one day he said David you’re going
to need to keep this tie on after school
even if you wear that hoodie because I
know how cold the New York trains please
make sure that tie is visible we
rehearse the introduction that I will
give whenever stopped by the police in
the same voice I used to speak in my
English class hi my name is David on a
banjo I am 12 years old and I attend the
George Jackson Academy and then I was on
my student medical card which had my
full name written now say our school
name he said make sure you say George
Jackson Academy and then the student
MetroCard and please let him see your
nicely tie tie like any great teacher
mr. Duvall was preparing me for the hard
test that I would have to face out in
the world he was getting me up to speed
with this cultural aptitude test that I
would have to go through as a black man
in order to enjoy the full rights of
citizenship in order to have some sort
of freedom from fair of the police and
institutional failure having the tie the
voice I used to speak my mind
this class in the word Academy and my
school name were all password cities
test but why would my advice to
citizenship be questioned in the first
place
wasn’t a citizen simply a legally
recognized person of the state didn’t I
already assume the tie of citizenship
since I was legally born in this country
why I did have to put on another one to
constantly prove I belonged had I had
always assumed that I would never need
to study for a citizenship test but I
did I cannot just be a citizen enjoying
the same protection and assumptions of
the police that my peers enjoyed see now
those rights those rights are
conditional the biggest condition being
that I’d have to pass this cultural
aptitude test because in these instances
the first interaction either visually or
vocally I spent evaluating one’s grade
on this test and then based on how they
do how they will be treated now I took
the train twice every day to get to
school I have school five days a week
about 36 weeks in the school year in
about 16 years of school before I
graduated college
that’s five thousand seven hundred and
sixty possibilities that I might be
stopped by the cops at any moment before
I even graduated college that’s not even
to count trips to the supermarket or the
mall or the corner store imagine how
many more times I might be forced to
recall all the cultural passwords and
study guides that mr. Davis gave me
among many others on impulse this idea
of a pop test scared me when were scared
me even more was to think about how many
more people with that bright pink had I
might see the ones who see my right to
citizenship being questioned publicly
and in turn received the message that
there’s actually some good
reason to question if people like me
belong and if you think about it we all
wear these types of hats
I know it wasn’t you or me or even this
police officer who vote this cultural
aptitude test but what all proctors are
they we might not do it in legal spaces
such as public offices but we all
administer this test to one another as
citizens as teachers as judges and
members of the American society we’ve
all received messages about exactly who
we said award the benefit of the doubt –
and about exactly who else – constantly
feel the need to prove over and over
again that they belong to these cultural
aptitude tests and to be honest I don’t
have the perfect this is how you solve
the problem for you but I do have a
story we can start by taking off these
pink hats don’t turn your head or speed
up your Walkman ever you see somebody
else or even we ourselves unfairly quest
in somebody’s place don’t refuse to
award somebody the same treatment as
everybody else until they pass some
cultural aptitude test but instead
notice these tests that we put people do
and that we see the people around us
being put do and I care about this
because I know that by nature of me
being on this stage and even at this
school I’ve been passing this test
consistently and I care because at the
same time it’s tiring and demoralizing
but most importantly I care because I
envision the world we’re young like
citizens don’t have to dress up in ties
other cultural costumes to get the
rights to a title that they already have
when instead they could bake McDonald’s
toys and spill cereal
thank you [Applause]