Stereotypes From Within Our Community That Hold Some of Us Back (445 hits)
I can remember being an excellent student and attending a predominantly Black middle school. The kids who spoke standard English and/or got good grades were sometimes said to be,"Acting white." There is a stereotype that Black people cannot speak standard English unless they are trying to act like white people. Both my parents spoke standard English. Asians don't have to deal with this and they are achieving. Most of the African parents I know who are living in America are pushing their kids to do well. Their kids speak standard English. I haven't heard of many Latino people having to deal with this either. Moving to a safe suburb with good schools doesn't make you white either. How have you overcome stereotypes from within the Black community and found a way to stay strong when you were working on achieving your goals? I like the quote from Oprah some days, "If I am going to be a token at least I will be a paid token." If you want to work in just about any industry these days --speaking standard English is an asset. It's often the only way to get your foot in the door. When a company calls you after seeing your resume on-line, they are looking for someone who speaks standard English. If you can flow and speak slang to your friends and standard English at work and in school, that's fine too. Please Note: If your comments are not respectful, they will be deleted and I will report your abusive language. This is not a forum to attempt to demoralize other women.
Interesting concept. I've had a neighborhood friend tell me that, but it didn't affect me in a bad way because I considered the source. I think it is great to talk slang outside of the work place as long as you know the difference and sometimes it can get tricky so I don't do it as much anymore. I hate the fact that as black people we do not have our own language. We've been robbed of ourculture and so we have been trying to adopt the cultures of others and so many of us are lost and confused as to who we really are, which are kings and Queens. I correct my foster kids often when they say things like "dis and dat". It affects their spelling and writing skills not only their speech. It's an ongoing battle that we have to continue to address.
Tuesday, September 16th 2008 at 4:06AM
Dina Harbour
