I could not help but think about my own life after reading “Jimmy, Was Huck black” and the readings out of the textbook. Essentially Shelley is proposing the argument that Huck could have been black because of his dialect. They are simply saying that Huck was a black boy hidden in a white boy’s body because of the broken English and terrible grammar that he used throughout the entire novel. It really makes me ponder the question “What makes me black”? There is never any articulation of black cultural, black tradition, black knowledge, or black characteristics in association with Huck anywhere in the novel. There were a few black stereotypes attached to Huck; the main one being his speech pattern. Also the fact that he has a father that is
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That is not because I wanted to be white but because I wanted to be great. Since I wanted to be great I chose a different route than a lot of my peers. I chose to study, do educational activities, and network with different people instead of typical teen things such as parties.
This resulted in my dialect being slightly different than my peers. So I was coined the Token Oreo student. This means that people would say that I was black on the outside but white in the middle. People would tell me to turn on my black if we were locked of the classroom, or if I got angry in class, or if something went missing. So going off these observations only the negatives attributes characterizes me as black. This would stand as evidence for the people who believe Huck is black as well.
Will we ever know what makes me black? Scientifically we can assess the amount of melanin in my skin. We can even look at my physical appearance such as the shape of my nose, shoulders, and hips. Would looking at my playlist and checking for the ratio of Gucci Mane to Luke Bryan songs help? Does knowing the recipe to fried chicken so good that you would have to look at it twice to make sure it’s real give me black points? Am I only black when I wear my head wrap and traditional
That is not because I wanted to be white but because I wanted to be great. Since I wanted to be great I chose a different route than a lot of my peers. I chose to study, do educational activities, and network with different people instead of typical teen things such as parties.
This resulted in my dialect being slightly different than my peers. So I was coined the Token Oreo student. This means that people would say that I was black on the outside but white in the middle. People would tell me to turn on my black if we were locked of the classroom, or if I got angry in class, or if something went missing. So going off these observations only the negatives attributes characterizes me as black. This would stand as evidence for the people who believe Huck is black as well.
Will we ever know what makes me black? Scientifically we can assess the amount of melanin in my skin. We can even look at my physical appearance such as the shape of my nose, shoulders, and hips. Would looking at my playlist and checking for the ratio of Gucci Mane to Luke Bryan songs help? Does knowing the recipe to fried chicken so good that you would have to look at it twice to make sure it’s real give me black points? Am I only black when I wear my head wrap and traditional