(2)
I’m a 21-year-old black born to a family that would probably be considered lower-middle class—which in my mind is a polite way of describing a condition only slightly better than poverty. Let’s just say we rarely if ever did the winter-vacation thing in the Caribbean. I’ve often had to defend my humble beginnings to a most unlikely group of people for an even less likely reason. Because of the way I talk, some of my black peers look at me sideways and ask, “Why do you talk like you’re white?”
I should’ve asked her a question I’ve wanted an answer to for years: how does one “talk white”? The silly side of me pictures a rabid white foam spewing forth when I speak. I don’t use Valley Girl jargon, so that’s not what’s meant in my case. Actually, I’ve pretty much deduced what people mean when they say that to me, and the implications are really frightening.
As a child, I found it hard to believe that’s what people meant by “talking proper”; that would’ve meant that good grade and standard English were equated with white skin, and that went against everything I’d ever been taught. Running into the same type of mentality as an adult has confirmed the depressing reality that for many blacks, Standard English is not only unfamiliar, it is socially unacceptable.
James Baldwin once defended black English by saying it had added “vitality to the language,” and even went so far as to label it a language in its own right, saying, “Language [i.e., black English] is a political instrument” and a “vivid and crucial key to identity.” But did Malcolm X urge blacks to take power in this country “any way y’all can”? Did Martin Luther King, Jr. say to blacks, “I has been to the mountaintop, and I done seec the Promised Land”? Toni Morrison, Alice Walker and James Baldwin did not achieve their eloquence, grace and stature by using only black English in their writing. Andrew Young, Tom Bradley and Barbara Jordan did not acquire political power by saying, “Y’all crazy if you ain’t gon vote for me.” They all have full command of Standard English, and I don’t think that knowledge takes away from their blackness or commitment to black people.
—Adapted from “What’s Wrong with Black English” by Rachel L. Jones
What is the writer’s position toward “black English”?
It’s not necessary for black people to speak black English.
Why is the writer unhappy (or even annoyed) when people ask why she “talks white”?
Because the writer thought it’s not correct to associate Standard English with white skin. Many great black people in the history had good command of Standard English.
The writer disagrees with James Baldwin regarding black English. Do you agree more with her or James? Explain your reason(s).
I agree with the writer more. In my point of view, the accent and tone of language is brought by the immigrant in the history, and as the culture integration deepened there is less and less difference between different accents and tones of language so it doesn’t only means the identity but also denotes the degree of cultural integration.