Baldwin & Hendrickson

Precis

James Baldwin, essay, If Black English Isn’t a Language, Then Tell Me, What Is?, 1979, argues that black English isn’t a language but a description of a person’s circumstances. Baldwin supports his thesis by explaining what joins all languages and all men and how those languages describe each individual’s realities. His purpose was to explore how black children are being failed by being taught this language by individuals who are bringing their own identities to the language, thus erasing the black child’s experience. The intended audience for this essay could be anyone who is trying to understand African American identity, cultural identity, educators, and researchers.

Tiffany Hendrickson, Talking In Color: Collison of Cultures, 2013, asserts the relationship between color and sound. Hendrickson supports her thesis by explaining her experiences growing up as a white girl in the middle of a Cincinnati ghetto. Her purpose was to explore the tremendous linguistic gap that exists between blacks and whites. The intended audience could be Communications majors, speakers, and linguists.

Reaction Paragraph 

If Black English Isn’t a Language, Then Tell Me, What Is? by James Baldwin

I am confused by James Baldwin’s topic, If Black English Isn’t a Language, Then Tell Me What Is? (1979) Must language be a color? We as people of different race, creeds and nationalities are already divided by the line of color must we blur the lines of language too? There are lines within the lines that are already divided us as a people, no matter what color we may be. I can agree with Baldwin when he stated, “People evolve a language in order to describe and thus control their circumstances, or in order not to be submerged by reality that they cannot articulate. (And, if they cannot articulate it, they are submerged.) This statement is spoken in truth. One of the last assignments on Michaela Cullington’s “Texting and Writing” (2014) essay is a good example of how people evolve a language. Textspeak, Netspeak and Ebonics has been away for children to cope with the added pressures and to also communicate with their peers without adults being aware of what they are communicating with each other about. This piece; however, is from a different time. Don’t get me wrong, am not blind to the facts of what goes on within our country, but English is language whether it is paint white, black, yellow or brown that is currently being taught as a second language. Whether a person is speaking “Black”, Textspeak, Netspeak or Ebonics, a child cannot be taught by anyone who despises him, and a child cannot be fooled. This can be said about any child today, that child does not have to be black, he or she can be of any race. 

Analytical Paragraph

Talking in Color : Collision of Cultures by Tiffany Henderickson

Is the way one speaks a new form of racism or simply a form of stereotyping? In Talking in Color: Collision of Cultures Henderickson grew up with a deaf mother, a father whom had a very low level of education , and lived in a predominantly low class and black neighborhood. With her unique upbringing it effected her speech and verbal skills; in which supposedly Henderickson sounded black when she spoke. “I’m a product of a household where my mother’s speech is formed neither by the white nor black world but by the deaf world? What does a black girl sound like? Illiterate?”(Page 1). The author points out that she came from a household in which there was no influence of verbal socialism, as well as the fact that there is a stereotype of colored people being illiterate. Hendrickson is influenced by her mother’s unique speech patterns and the predominately African American school that she attended, “attending a mostly African American high school is normal” (page 1). So Hendrickson’s vocal speech patterns are influenced by many different factors. The author sees herself as being judged and ostracized based on more of a stereotype, which could possibly be a new idea of racism? Henderickson has lived life ostracized by other white and black people,  which led to her learning to code switch and aspiring to be better than her parents. She is the perfect example of racism just based on speech patterns.