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December 01, 2005
Response to James Baldwin's article
Questions:
-Why does Baldwin title his article “If Black English Isn’t a Language, Then Tell Me, What Is?”
-Why does he say, “The bulk of the white people in America never had any interest in educating black people?”
-Why does Baldwin choose to end his article the way he does?
-How do languages develop?
Response:
James Baldwin in his article entitled “If Black English Isn’t a Language, Then Tell Me, What Is?” brings up a few points that I found to be quite powerful and a bit controversial. One such point is shown in the quotation: “The brutal truth is that the bulk of the white people in America never had any interest in educating black people, except as this could serve white purposes.” I found this to be quite controversial. I’m not sure when this article was written, but I do not agree with this statement if this is a recent article. If this article was written over twenty years ago, then I would agree, as racism was much more prevalent than it is today, even though it is still a problem.
I think that in present times, white people are interested in educating black people; moreover, people are interested in educating other people regardless of race. Now, I don’t mean to say that there aren’t cases proving this otherwise, but from my experiences, I think that people just want to educate others. True, some people are better off than others when it comes to education, but I think in general, people don’t want to deprive others of education.
Another point that Baldwin proposes concludes his article: “And, after all, finally, in a country with standards so untrustworthy, a country that makes heroes of so many criminal mediocrities, a country unable to face why so many of the non-white are in prison, or on the needle, or standing, futureless, in the streets – it may very well be that both the child, and his elder, have concluded that they have nothing whatever to learn from the people of a country that has managed so little.” In my opinion, Baldwin is saying that America in general has so much to learn about its people and society. Why are there more non-whites in prison than whites? Clearly, it can’t just be that more non-whites commit more crimes; there has to be more to it than that.
The last point that I found very interesting in this article is, “To open your mouth in England is…to ‘put your business in the street’: You have confessed your parents, your youth, your school, your salary, your self-esteem, and, alas, your future.” This relates directly to our recent discussions in class on linguistic profiling. Whenever you speak, people will pass judgment on all these things, and possibly more, that Baldwin brings up; it’s part of human nature. People can listen to how you speak, like your accent, your speed, what you emphasize, and also what you say, your vocabulary, your thought processes. From paying attention to these things, it is very simple to profile people and make judgments, even though you could be dead wrong.
-Jessica F.
Posted by lcisfaria at December 1, 2005 06:05 PM