One block north, at the intersection of Bibb and Commerce streets, a squad car was waiting. This time, when the Highland Gardens
bus door opened, two Montgomery city policemen climbed aboard. Passengers held their breath. • • • CLAUDETTE: One of them said to the driver in a very angry tone, “Who is it?” The motorman pointed at me. I heard him say, “That’s nothing new . . . I’ve had trouble with that ‘thing’ before.” He called me a “thing.” They came to me and stood over me and one said, “Aren’t you going to get up?” I said, “No, sir.” He shouted “Get up” again. I started crying, but I felt even more defiant. I kept saying over and over, in my high-pitched voice, “It’s my constitutional right to sit here as much as that lady. I paid my fare, it’s my constitutional right!” I knew I was talking back to a white policeman, but I had had enough. —Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice, Phillip Hoose Once the author switches from third-person point of view to first-person point of view, what do we learn about Claudette? She knew that the bus driver would support her. She didn’t feel like fighting back anymore and started to cry. She knew it was dangerous to talk back to a white police officer. She felt sure that her high-pitched voice would scare the officers.
