By Emily Parsons, Editorial Intern
In the weeks following the June primaries going into summer break, rhetoric from the White House has been ratcheting up talk of ending mail-in ballots and threatening acts of interference with the upcoming general elections in November. I couldn’t help but wonder how long it would take Americans to notice if their rights under the Constitution were suspended.
Last month, I interviewed several visitors at Crafted at the Port of Los Angeles based on the premise of “How well do you know the Bill of Rights?”
Interestingly enough, some respondents began reciting their Miranda Rights before circling back to the first 10 amendments of the U.S. Constitution. Sure, the Miranda Rights are distantly related to the Fifth and Sixth Amendments, but it suggests most folks are getting their information from popular police procedurals like Law and Order.
On a scale of one to 10, most of those interviewed rated themselves a five or six. One such volunteer, who, comparatively speaking, was more knowledgeable than a five or six, said he still remembered Schoolhouse Rock’s I’m Just a Bill that came on during Saturday morning cartoons back in the 1980s.
I approached a young twenty-something couple, Diego and Dulce. Diego, a welder and auto-mechanic, and Dulce, a student, were extremely friendly and approachable. During the pre-interview, getting to know them, they said they only learned about the Bill of Rights in school.
I then asked if they knew the number of rights listed in the Bill of Rights. Diego paused and said, “Is it 10?”
To get a clear understanding of how much information they retained from their civics classes in school, I asked them to name as many of their rights as they could.
Diego started by naming the first Miranda right, “The right to remain silent, the right to not quarter soldiers. Oh, religion and freedom of speech.”
Dulce added, “The right to bear arms.”
I approached a couple in their early thirties, Gabriela and Alea. They were initially hesitant, but they soon warmed up to me as we continued to talk.
The couple agreed they learned about the Bill of Rights in school, but would have a hard time reciting it on demand today.
So, I then asked if they had ever indulged in other sources to educate themselves on their rights.
“Maybe at a museum. When I visited Washington D.C., I think it touched on it there,” Gabriela said.
Alea couldn’t recall so.
“I don’t think so. Maybe just in like, casual passing. But not really,” she said.
To get an idea of their confidence levels, I asked them to rate their knowledge from a scale of one to 10. Gabriela and Alea both said that they would rate themselves a one.
When I asked them how many amendments are listed in the Bill of Rights, Gabriela doubted her intuition of there being 10 amendments, replying, “I’m going to guess nine. (laughs) Why do I wanna say 10? There’s the 10 amendments like the Bible.”
Then Alea asked, “Is there more?”
Gabriela, sounding defeated, said, “Maybe 12. I don’t know.”
After I informed them that Gabriela’s first thought was the correct answer, they said in surprised unison, “There’s 10?!”
When I asked them to name as many of their rights as they could, their answers were very similar to that of Diego and Dulce.
“Right to remain silent … the Miranda rights,” Alea said aloud as she searched her brain.
“Oh yeah, it’s the Miranda rights,” Gabriela agreed.
Alea, visibly concentrating, said, “The right to safety, right … what is it?”
Gabriela, laughing, said, “The right to an attorney?”
Alea said, “The right to bear arms is that one? Um … Free speech? The right to own property? Right to vote?”
After a moment of thinking, Alea said, “I got nothing. There’s something about the right to have a home or something.”
Gabriela added, “Freedom of speech, right?”
My last interviewee was Evan, another young adult in his mid-thirties, who gave very detailed responses.
I again asked about his education on the Bill of Rights during his time in school.
“Yeah. I learned about it going from probably sixth to seventh grade on, probably more in depth in high school. I learned about different branches of government as well,” Evan said. “We had to take government in high school, at least when I was in school.”
I asked if he had learned about it from other sources outside of school.
“As far as just outside of general education? Yeah, I mean I’ve done my own reading and looking into it a bit. I mean everyone knows the little bill on the hill, right?”
Then, I requested him to rate his knowledge of the Bill of Rights on a scale of one to ten.
“Hm, I don’t know … I’ll be honest … maybe six? I mean there are certain rights that we know more about because they’ve been fought over more or less and are more in the media than others. So, no. I don’t know like every single thing that’s in there. But you know there’s some that are obviously talked about more in the public eye or in the media. Maybe because they are more polarizing or maybe just because they are more important, I don’t know.”
Following this statement, I asked how many amendments there are in the Bill of Rights.
“I think 24? Am I right?”
I explained to him that there are 27 in the Constitution as a whole, but there are only 10 amendments in the Bill of Rights.
Lastly, I asked him to name as many rights as he possibly could.
Quickly, he responded, “I mean my First Amendment rights and my Second Amendment rights. Right now our First Amendment rights are just being pissed on all over. But you know, our right to say what we want and say anything against our government is really being threatened right now. Just out in public, from the White House, on Twitter, you know, saying, ‘We’re gonna come after you,’ and it’s just like scary times, man, you know? That part is pretty trippy. I don’t know how much you’re on social media, but I try to stay away from it more or less these days and try to just read more because it literally just makes me want to jump off a fucking cliff. Pardon my language, but yeah.”
He went on to say, “It’s kind of just a concentrated version of either what you think you know or don’t know. I don’t think it’s a proper representation of anything. Or reality so to speak I guess,” and, “The right to say what you want, speak what you want, print what you want without knowing government backlash is coming shortly. You know, we are not even two years into this. Call it a presidency if you want.”
I don’t know if Evan was able to name the other eight amendments in the Bill of Rights. He had gotten so caught up in conversation that he never got around to it. But I do know he’s one who would notice if the Bill of Rights were suspended tomorrow. There’s a lot of us who would notice, even if we can’t name all 10 amendments in the Bill of Rights.