Reply To: Reply To: “Articulate” blacks

#46895

ED25441
Participant

That would be okay if you had just made an eloquent speech or something. However, to just come out and say ‘oh, you speak so well’ is a phrase that many articulate black folks recognize for what it is…a back-handed compliment that really means ‘I’m surprised you can speak standard English, because most of your people can’t…therefore, I grant my approval.’ It’s the exact same manifestation of white naivete as telling an ethnic Asian who was born and raised in the United States and has no accent that he or she ‘speaks English so well’. By the way, I think Ms. Rice is a good speaker too, as you would expect from someone in her position. I’d be willing to bet, however, that no one ever came up to her predecessor out of nowhere and told him he was ‘well-spoken’.

User Detail :  

Name : ED25441, Gender : F, Race : Black/African American, Age : 47, City : Kansas City, State : MO, Country : United States,