I am not a stranger to the constant comparison of black and white culture— the kind that infers that white culture is superior to all that don’t embody it. What’s astounding, is that it is not just white people who are forcing this agenda upon black victims. No, it is black people who readily accept that black culture is not a legitimate analogy to white culture. Intelligence and the correct use of the English language is seen as something that is only truly manifested through white culture, and due to this false connotation, anyone who correctly expresses themselves, through the freedom that the English language gives, is accused of “talking white”. Beyond that miniscule sector poses a bigger issue of the pressures of black people struggling
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However, I never expected this negativity to follow me into everyday life— that in order to be taken seriously in a world of color, I’d have to pick a color contrary to my own; I’d have to embody white culture. Foremost, I commenced learning that I was abnormal when I attended a primarily white elementary school. My mother used to lace my hair in these beautiful cornrows that would take hours to construct, and I remember being so proud to wear them, because I hated the twists that she wound in my hair prior to this new, bold hairstyle. At the end of each braid, she would create an alluring pattern of beads, which conveniently matched the outfits that she’d picked for me to wear …show more content…
It really made me question what it was to “talk white.” Did talking white mean that I was an intellectual being and properly used the English language; did it mean that I knew when and when not to use slang, and how to properly identify my audience? If so, what gave whites the authority to be entitled to the proper way of doing things? It is asinine for any race or culture to be accused of speaking white, it suggests that that race or culture is academically flawed and that being an intellectual is a rarity, that otherwise is impossible to accomplish. This is something that I ultimately agree with about Malcolm X’s chapter, “A Homemade Education,” in which he suggests that blacks get the same education as whites because, “My homemade education gave me, with every additional book that I read, a little more sensitivity to the deafness, dumbness, and blindness that was afflicting black race in America,” (511). Language should be used as bridge between the gap of cultures and a way of properly defining what makes them diverse. Embodying white means to change oneself to mimic the white culture for whatever reason, talking white should have no correlation to a language that
However, I never expected this negativity to follow me into everyday life— that in order to be taken seriously in a world of color, I’d have to pick a color contrary to my own; I’d have to embody white culture. Foremost, I commenced learning that I was abnormal when I attended a primarily white elementary school. My mother used to lace my hair in these beautiful cornrows that would take hours to construct, and I remember being so proud to wear them, because I hated the twists that she wound in my hair prior to this new, bold hairstyle. At the end of each braid, she would create an alluring pattern of beads, which conveniently matched the outfits that she’d picked for me to wear …show more content…
It really made me question what it was to “talk white.” Did talking white mean that I was an intellectual being and properly used the English language; did it mean that I knew when and when not to use slang, and how to properly identify my audience? If so, what gave whites the authority to be entitled to the proper way of doing things? It is asinine for any race or culture to be accused of speaking white, it suggests that that race or culture is academically flawed and that being an intellectual is a rarity, that otherwise is impossible to accomplish. This is something that I ultimately agree with about Malcolm X’s chapter, “A Homemade Education,” in which he suggests that blacks get the same education as whites because, “My homemade education gave me, with every additional book that I read, a little more sensitivity to the deafness, dumbness, and blindness that was afflicting black race in America,” (511). Language should be used as bridge between the gap of cultures and a way of properly defining what makes them diverse. Embodying white means to change oneself to mimic the white culture for whatever reason, talking white should have no correlation to a language that