Home arrow Writings arrow Jim Crow English - Kunstler
Jim Crow English - Kunstler PDF Print E-mail
Written by James Howard Kunstler   
Thursday, 01 March 2007
by James Kunstler

Something's been bugging me for a few weeks, since Joe Biden made that remark about Barack Obama being "articulate" — after which everyone from Paula Zahn at CNN to the punditori at the Washington Post outdid each other jumping up and down deploring poor hapless Joe. The accepted idea, of course, was that Biden had foolishly revealed himself to be a racist for suggesting that Obama's language skills were exceptional for a person with more than one drop of African blood.

As usual in these matters, the uproar ended up being much more about white discomfort with the subject than the subject itself. After all, does anyone really doubt that there is such a thing as black English and that it is widely represented as such, explicitly, both in everyday speech and, to an even more extraordinary degree, in pop culture?

After the Biden gaffe, a number of black intellectuals and public figures went on the political talk shows to complain about white racism. Many of them spoke what I will dare to call standard  English and expressed indignation that black people might be expected to speak black English and be singled out as exceptional when they did otherwise.

But isn't it actually the fact that we have succeeded in ghettoizing the English language? No public intellectual, let alone a professional educator, or a politician such as Jesse Jackson, would dare suggest that black children would benefit from being taught standard (or "white") English in school — that is, drilled in its grammars and protocols the same way that arithmetic is taught. And white children who might attempt to practice speaking in black dialect would be excoriated for racist mockery, wouldn't they?

Is it okay to ask whether both manners of speech are equal? And if so, are they then not manifestly separate but equal? And if so, is English the last refuge of Jim Crow in America? And if so, why do white political progressives want to keep it that way? Or why would black people want to keep it that way? Is "diversity" just another way of saying Jim Crow?

Now watch the readers of this blog accuse me of racism for just asking these questions.
Comments (1)add comment
Russell Wellen: Dialect -- or Disability? http://www.freezerbox.com/
In the last two paragraphs, Jim got on a roll, but I couldn't follow what he was saying.

I'm the father of a learning-delayed 12-year-old, whose disabilities are most pronounced in pronouncing. That is, he has speech problems. For instance, we've been trying to get him to say contractions properly. But he continues to leave the "s" off "it's" or "that's."

When I hear that in black dialect, I can't help but think, "If the speaker knew how much he sounded like someone with a learning disability, he might think twice about taking that kind of shortcut."

Still, it's a way of remembering and keeping green that education was denied to their African-American forefathers and mothers. Would that young blacks still listened to blues, too.
1

March 01, 2007

Write comment
quote
bold
italicize
underline
strike
url
image
quote
quote

busy

Did you enjoy this article? Please bookmark it onto:
Digg!Reddit!Del.icio.us!Newsvine!Furl!Fark!Yahoo!Ma.gnolia!Add this social bookmarking functionality to your website! title=

Recommend this article...
 

Related Articles/Posts

< Prev   Next >
[ Back ]
Advertise on more
than 70 of the
Internet's Top
Progressive Blogs!



Enter your email address for the Atlantic Free Press Daily Newsletter:

More Author Articles

More Articles...
A Christmas Eve Story - James Howard Kunstler
Tuesday, 25 December 2007
James Howard Kunstler
(1130)
Read more
Formerly Normal - James Howard Kunstler
Thursday, 22 November 2007
James Howard Kunstler
(1366)
Read more
Ignoring the Obvious - James Howard Kunstler
Monday, 05 November 2007
James Howard Kunstler
(2045)
Read more
Assumptions - James Howard Kunstler
Wednesday, 31 October 2007
James Howard Kunstler
(1389)
Read more
Peak Universe - James Howard Kunstler
Monday, 22 October 2007
James Howard Kunstler
(1453)
Read more
The Grass Roots Syndrome - James Howard Kunstler
Tuesday, 09 October 2007
James Howard Kunstler
(1354)
Read more
Two Clues for the Clueless - James Howard Kunstler
Tuesday, 09 October 2007
James Howard Kunstler
(1164)
Read more
Shock and Awe - James Howard Kunstler
Tuesday, 25 September 2007
James Howard Kunstler
(1372)
Read more
Shocked, Shocked! James Howard Kunstler
Thursday, 20 September 2007
James Howard Kunstler
(1379)
Read more
The Disinformation Society
Tuesday, 11 September 2007
James Howard Kunstler
(1613)
Read more
Crunch Time - Kunstler
Tuesday, 04 September 2007
James Howard Kunstler
(1544)
Read more
Back to School - James Kunstler
Tuesday, 28 August 2007
James Howard Kunstler
(1471)
Read more
Hot Shots - Kunstler
Monday, 20 August 2007
James Howard Kunstler
(1755)
Read more
Margin Call
Tuesday, 14 August 2007
James Howard Kunstler
(2268)
Read more
The Open Ocean
Monday, 13 August 2007
James Howard Kunstler
(1768)
Read more
Vanishing Point
Sunday, 05 August 2007
James Howard Kunstler
(1570)
Read more
Peak Tech?
Monday, 23 July 2007
James Howard Kunstler
(3193)
Read more
Peak Suburbia - Kunstler
Monday, 25 June 2007
James Howard Kunstler
(2859)
Read more
Both Ways - Kunstler
Monday, 18 June 2007
James Howard Kunstler
(2900)
Read more
Loose Wheels - Kunstler
Tuesday, 12 June 2007
James Howard Kunstler
(1836)
Read more
The Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU) - Kunstler
Monday, 21 May 2007
James Howard Kunstler
(1865)
Read more
Rigged to Blow - Kunstler
Tuesday, 15 May 2007
James Howard Kunstler
(2449)
Read more
Right Now - Kunstler
Tuesday, 08 May 2007
James Howard Kunstler
(3687)
Read more
Compost Nation - Kunstler
Wednesday, 02 May 2007
James Howard Kunstler
(2055)
Read more
Stocksplosion - Kunstler
Monday, 23 April 2007
James Howard Kunstler
(2576)
Read more
Blowing Green Smoke - Kunstler
Tuesday, 17 April 2007
James Howard Kunstler
(2125)
Read more
Spring Break - Kunstler
Friday, 13 April 2007
James Howard Kunstler
(2698)
Read more
In the Zone - Kunstler
Tuesday, 03 April 2007
James Howard Kunstler
(2203)
Read more
Zowie - Kunstler
Tuesday, 27 March 2007
James Howard Kunstler
(1805)
Read more
Nausea - Kunstler
Wednesday, 14 March 2007
James Howard Kunstler
(2659)
Read more
Singing the Vegetable Opera - Kunstler
Monday, 05 March 2007
James Howard Kunstler
(2923)
Read more
Jim Crow English - Kunstler
Thursday, 01 March 2007
James Howard Kunstler
(1942)
Read more
The Big Chill - Kunstler
Tuesday, 20 February 2007
James Howard Kunstler
(2352)
Read more
Obamamania - Kunstler
Tuesday, 13 February 2007
James Howard Kunstler
(3018)
Read more
The Agenda Restated - Kunstler
Monday, 05 February 2007
James Howard Kunstler
(2444)
Read more
Housing Fetish - Kunstler
Monday, 29 January 2007
James Howard Kunstler
(2675)
Read more
In It to Win It - Kunstler
Friday, 26 January 2007
James Howard Kunstler
(2518)
Read more
The Cheap Oil Mirage - Kunstler
Tuesday, 16 January 2007
James Howard Kunstler
(3991)
Read more
The Warming - Kunstler
Monday, 08 January 2007
James Howard Kunstler
(2980)
Read more
Forecast For the Year Ahead - James Kunstler
Wednesday, 03 January 2007
James Howard Kunstler
(4952)
Read more
Plum Puddings
Tuesday, 26 December 2006
James Howard Kunstler
(2227)
Read more
A Christmas Orphan
Monday, 25 December 2006
James Howard Kunstler
(2498)
Read more
Not So Wonderful
Monday, 18 December 2006
James Howard Kunstler
(3007)
Read more
The American Fiasco - a Moment of Clarity
Monday, 27 November 2006
James Howard Kunstler
(3623)
Read more
Democrats and 'Energy Independence'
Monday, 13 November 2006
James Howard Kunstler
(3790)
Read more
Ass Kicking Republicans
Wednesday, 08 November 2006
James Howard Kunstler
(3020)
Read more
McMarching Through Georgia
Tuesday, 31 October 2006
James Howard Kunstler
(3357)
Read more

Expathos
               No account yet?




Page was generated in 3.365042 seconds

ATLANTIC FREE PRESS IS LOADING. THANK YOU FOR YOUR PATIENCE.