Ronnie's Blog Spot

Language and Power

I am using an article that was published in the New York Times by Lynette Clemetson on Feb. 4 as a referent for this assignment.

The article, titled,”The Racial Politics of Speaking Well” took issue with Sen. Joseph Biden’s characterization of Sen. Barak Obama as “articulate.” Articulate is a trigger word among educated African-Americans as Clemetson writes, because of the way white Americans use it to praise a black man or woman.

What provoked Clemetson’s wrath was Biden’s characterization of Obama as “articulate.” It’s not that she sees being articulate as a bad thing; it’s more the way the word it is used by a white person who to imply that they don’t expect to find such an attribute in a black person. Articulate is a trigger word – one that Clemetson says makes African-Americans want to literally wring the neck of the (white) person who uttered it because of the unspoken message that accompanies those damning words of praise.

Or as Clemetson writes:

“When whites use the word in reference to blacks, it often carries a subtext of amazement, even bewilderment. It is similar to praising a female executive or politician by calling her “tough” or “a rational decision-maker. … Such a subtext is inherently offensive because it suggests that the recipient of the “compliment” is notably different from other black people.”

This article illustrates much of what as said about language, labels and power in Chapter 6. The collective, societal (white) perspective is that African-Americans don’t express themselves as well as white people do –so when Biden praises someone like Obama he is unconsciously saying … wow, he really speaks well … for someone who isn't white like me.

But more significantly, the unstated message is that Obama is an excellent speaker of the dominant white lexicon. Obama has learned how to speak white. He has realized a cross-over dream and talk the talk and walk the walk of the dominant group as well as his co-cultural group.

Howeve,r Al Sharpton, another prominent African-American politician does not. Clemetson’s article points out that although Al Sharpton is a powerful public speaker, his speaking style is elaborate and emotional. His words are well understood and much appreciated within his co-cultural group of African-Americans, but no so much outside that sphere. When the dominant white population thinks of Sharpton, articulate is seldom a word that comes to mind.

Now with the 2008 presidential race already underway, we need to take stock as to how we describe and label our top Democratic contenders. Will Hillary Clinton be more than a woman or when we say she’s tough or ambitious or knows the political ropes do we really mean to say she does it as well as a man? Would we be as surprised by Obama’s rise to prominence if he was white?

We all want to have positive labels – and perhaps even set ourselves apart from our own co-cultural group especially when we perceive the dominant identifiers of our own sphere as negative. In my own experience, I have been pleased when Hispanic or Latino friends tell me that I dance well. Now I know what they really are saying is not so much that I can dance their dances, but I do it well for a white person.

posted by Ronnie @ 7:06 AM