Ah, the story of my life. Growing up, it made me self-conscious around black folx. I could never "code switch" without sounding as if I was trying too hard, so that wasn't an option for me. I just had to stick it out and be subjected to ridicule at my Black church (the only segment of my life where I encountered Blacks other than family) all throughout high school and even my first year in college... then I found AKA.
Now, consistently speaking Standard English is just a part of who I am. If you don't like it, keep steppin'.
Like Prayerfull and Kitten03, I am more disturbed about the reactions of other blacks than whites. As the only black person in just about every sector of my life until Senior year of high school, I knew white people were ignorant. I expected more of my Black peers.
Funny, and Steeltrap, I'm sure, has encountered this (as well as many others on this forum), but writing Standard English can sometimes have the same effect as speaking Standard English. A person who receives something in writing that's written in Standard English, and may even have a nice prose style to it
, will give that piece of writing far more credence than a letter riddled with spelling, grammar and syntax errors - especially errors ebonics speakers tend to make. I tried to impress upon my freshman writers this semester how important and persuasive written communication can be. You may say that this amounts to hiding behind the written word, but, honestly, I have found that taking care of issues in writing can be far more effective than trying to confront them in person. Once people see me, they form their opinion before I even open my mouth. I get a much more positive reaction and results if I correspond in writing or even on the telephone. Racism is alive and well.
To Honeykiss and Dardenr: yes, I have found the same thing, but, since I rarely ask, "Are you black?" there may be instances where I actually don't know I'm talking to someone black and hang up the phone never having discovered the truth. Anyway, I think it may be something in cadence or even tone. I dunno. But, just like we usually know our own by looks, even when white people would swear up and down they're white, we can also pick-up voice subtleties that "others" are blissfully unaware of.
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