Page 56 - @ccess 2 Reader´s Book
P. 56

ROSA PARKS: MY STORY


              One evening in early December 1955, I was          filled up
              sitting in the front seat of the colored section    give up
                                                                   push around
              of a bus in Montgomery, Alabama. The white          give in
              people were sitting in the white section. More       Glossary on
                                                                   pages 91-94
              white people got on, and they filled up all the
              seats in the white section. When that happened,
              we black people were supposed to give up our
              seats to the whites. But I didn’t move. The white
              driver said, “Let me have those front seats.” I didn’t
              get up. I was tired of giving in to white people.

              “I’m going to have you arrested,” the driver said.

              “You may do that,” I answered.

              Two white policemen came. I asked one of them,
              “Why do you all push us around?”

              He answered, “I don’t know, but the law is the
              law and you’re under arrest.”                      custom (n.):
                                                                 costumbre

              For half of my life there were laws and customs in
              the South that kept African Americans segregated
              from Caucasians and allowed white people to
              treat black people without any respect. I never
              thought this was fair, and from the time I was
              a child, I tried to protest against disrespectful
              treatment. But it was very hard to do anything
              about segregation and racism when white people
              had the power of the law behind them.
                                                               fair (adj.):
                                                               justo








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