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Ron Jackson's Perspective
Ebony Voices
June 6, 2004
Talkin' White |
Ebony Voices
Ron has begun submitting
articles & editorials for online publication at Ebony Voices.
We plan to make these documents available on Ron's website, since we
cannot link you to his material on their site. |
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The historic Brown versus Board of Education decision has reached 50
years. The current debates have been trying to determine
whether the landmark case was effective, necessary, or still
relevant.
One thing not being discussed is how the equal
education rights law may have created more hostility within the
black race. This unpopular facet was further exposed by Bill
Cosby's recent rants. Cosby spoke of a small minority
population of blacks who underachieve. There is a much larger
segment of black achievers who are the targets of negative comments
by other blacks.
Most blacks, young and old, rich and poor, can and do
speak proper English, and many of those blacks can attest to being
ridiculed for speaking that way. The accusation of "talking
white" has been directed at more blacks than the small number of
blacks who have been referenced by Cosby's latest legitimate
outrage.
The accusation of educated blacks talking and acting
white has been around longer than the Brown decision. It
continues today. Many black youth who make education a
priority and excel in academics are ridiculed by other blacks, as if
failure is a "black thang."
As Momma used to say, "Using Ebonics or slang has its
place, but you keep that jive outside my house." English was
our primary language. If your chosen second language was
slang, or any version of incorrect English, you had better make a
second choice of speaking it around and to your second family.
Previous generations of blacks worked, fought,
suffered, and even died for the rights of all blacks to achieve an
equal education. Why did it become acceptable for some blacks
to ridicule and demean other blacks for taking advantage of those
opportunities? Striving to command the King's language and to
become respected and competitive in our society is not talking and
acting white. That is an American thing.
If you can conjugate a verb and diagram a sentence,
that is education. That's not acting white. Showing up
for any obligation on time is not acting white, that's
responsibility. Showing up fashionably late for everything is
not a black thing, that's unprofessional and disrespectful.
Speaking like professionals on the evening news or the
director of a funeral home is not talking white. Being able to
hold an intelligent conversation in English with anyone is not
talking white. Being able to effectively express you goals,
values, or intentions verbally is not talking white.
Like the myriad of exceptions to the rules of English,
there is American Idol judge Randy Jackson. By all standards,
the man is an American success story. The nearly 50-year-old
is a music veteran of 20 years in an industry that chews up and
spits out stars faster than a parrot dispenses sunflower seed
shells. However, his limited, juvenile vocabulary and overuse
of dude, dawg, man, and baby can't be labeled improper or black.
While talking to the president he said, "Yo, Pres,
what's up baby? What's going on with these wars, baby?"
I will concede, dawg, you talk white. |
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