[Paulette19821]

The biggest problem with this question is that it tends toward a belief that all blacks speak the same. I assume that when you say ‘speaking like a black person’ you mean that the person uses a lot of slang and incorrect American English. However, not all, or even most, black people speak like this. There are many variations of American English all over the United States; that is why somebody from Georgia won’t sound like somebody from New York. In each region of the country, there are dialects of American English, and within these regions (broken down into states, then cities, then neighborhoods) the people all speak differently – which means that a black person from a neighborhood in Compton doesn’t speak like a black person from a neighborhood in San Diego. The slang, speech intonation, etc. are very different. Just because movies and television always portray a black person using the same generic ‘black American English’ and ‘hip’ slang (yeah girl, you go girl, boyz, whassup, yo, etc.) doesn’t mean that such a ‘black American English’ exists. With that in mind, I say that it does irritate me when a white child believes that a ‘black American English’ exists and is defined by poor usage of American English and slang. It bothers me simply because they are buying into the racist belief that all black people sound alike.

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Name : Paulette19821, Gender : F, Race : Black/African American, Age : 20, City : Memphis, State : TN, Country : United States, Occupation : Student/Chemical Engineering, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Lower middle class, 

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