Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member Latest Breaking News General Discussion The DU Lounge All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search
37 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Black people who talk white--What does talking white mean? (Original Post) Jamaal510 Mar 2013 OP
you talk like an American mitchtv Mar 2013 #1
It's not my video. Jamaal510 Mar 2013 #9
I think the video covers it well ProgressiveProfessor Mar 2013 #2
I think Obama went through some of that. tblue Mar 2013 #5
I wonder, if the question is still being asked, if that is the new response? "Why... Moonwalk Mar 2013 #10
Where? Growing up in Hawaii he would have had other pressures ProgressiveProfessor Mar 2013 #13
I used to get bullied for being tblue Mar 2013 #3
Our problem was that they tried to bully my daughter off campus and lost the fight ProgressiveProfessor Mar 2013 #6
You mean she beat up 3 girls?! tblue Mar 2013 #7
Both my daughters are amazons ProgressiveProfessor Mar 2013 #11
OMG! Not the weave......... TheDebbieDee May 2013 #27
I never thought about that. I talk to people with respect and I don't care how their southernyankeebelle Mar 2013 #4
It's something you wouldn't have noticed JustAnotherGen Apr 2013 #16
Interesting comments. In my experiences of life I always grew up with diversity living on southernyankeebelle Apr 2013 #17
My parents marriage JustAnotherGen Apr 2013 #18
I see what you mean. I guess calling it a bubble is about right. You know I never knew anything southernyankeebelle Apr 2013 #19
Totally Off Topic JustAnotherGen Apr 2013 #20
LOL, I dad met momma after the war. Funny you should mention Mussolini. My grandfather southernyankeebelle Apr 2013 #21
It's a great rant. I have a friend who had the same issue, and I remember some of what he... Moonwalk Mar 2013 #8
I grew up in an all black environment Number23 Mar 2013 #12
me too...straight out of compton noiretextatique May 2013 #30
Heh. I tend to think "hood" folks like us are the smartest ones around. Number23 May 2013 #33
My son hears it all the time. mzteris Mar 2013 #14
It's spot on JustAnotherGen Apr 2013 #15
How I got my education on the subject. kwassa Apr 2013 #22
where i grew up, everyone was from the south noiretextatique May 2013 #31
My girlfriend of the time took me to Compton kwassa May 2013 #34
yeah, I went throught that, too... SemperEadem Apr 2013 #23
Fascinating video! Pterodactyl Apr 2013 #24
Every black person in this country is bilingual: The Street and Job Interview MrScorpio May 2013 #25
I used to hear this alot, its gotten better since BOs been Prez-nt Anansi1171 May 2013 #26
I grew up deep in the heart of West Oakland, going to a Catholic grammer school right across demosincebirth May 2013 #28
I have that problem. bravenak May 2013 #29
i think most educated or well-spoken black people noiretextatique May 2013 #32
Some people have an odd idea that "talking black" means sounding like Honey Boo Boo. MADem Jun 2013 #35
Kick JustAnotherGen Jun 2013 #36
I've been told I sound like a bill collector. onpatrol98 Jun 2013 #37

ProgressiveProfessor

(22,144 posts)
2. I think the video covers it well
Fri Mar 29, 2013, 04:00 PM
Mar 2013

Acting white in school (getting good grades and not speaking with an urban African American patois) is often derided by "real black folks". One of my daughters had issues with that when we returned to the US from overseas. School counselor said straight up it was her fault and that my daughter should have known better and adhered to black social customs under the circumstances. My wife tore the counselor a new one for that, but the counselor stood her ground, my daughters did not act black enough for her. Finally the counselor was transferred mid year.

tblue

(16,350 posts)
5. I think Obama went through some of that.
Fri Mar 29, 2013, 04:06 PM
Mar 2013

I relate so much to that part of him. It's intensely personal and I think you have to live it to understand it, unless you are very insightful and have that sensibility.

I skipped a grade in school and some girls couldn't stand that and tried to make me ashamed. I wasn't.

Moonwalk

(2,322 posts)
10. I wonder, if the question is still being asked, if that is the new response? "Why...
Fri Mar 29, 2013, 05:09 PM
Mar 2013

...do you talk like a white person." Answer: "I don't. I talk like Barak Obama."

I sure hope he's made it easier for kids to be themselves.

ProgressiveProfessor

(22,144 posts)
13. Where? Growing up in Hawaii he would have had other pressures
Fri Mar 29, 2013, 05:56 PM
Mar 2013

but conformity to expected black norms would have been unlikely.

I grew up in Hawaii as well, other side of the island. There were very very few blacks there outside of the military.

tblue

(16,350 posts)
3. I used to get bullied for being
Fri Mar 29, 2013, 04:02 PM
Mar 2013

'just like a white girl.' Some of the black girls at my school were meaner to me for having white friends than they ever ever were to white people. I was one of very few mixed people, I have light skin and straight hair, and I just did not fit the mold. So I guess that bothered them. .

I finally decided NO ONE can tell you who you are. Nobody. And if they try to, they are out of bounds. It's their problem. Not yours. I like who I like. So sue me.

Thanks for posting this. He's absolutely right!

ProgressiveProfessor

(22,144 posts)
6. Our problem was that they tried to bully my daughter off campus and lost the fight
Fri Mar 29, 2013, 04:21 PM
Mar 2013

They planned a 3 on 1 beat down, which the lost horribly. School tried to assert long arm authority and punish my daughter. Counselor said she should have accepted it and she was responsible for the injuries and loss of self esteem the three attackers had suffered. Her mother practically went unglued after that. Things nearly went legal but the school district transferred the counselor out.

tblue

(16,350 posts)
7. You mean she beat up 3 girls?!
Fri Mar 29, 2013, 04:35 PM
Mar 2013

Whoa. She is something else, your daughter! I got punched in the eye in 5th grade by a big 6th grade girl. I think the school handled it better that your child's did, but the principal punished both me and the eye-puncher for 'fighting.' My sister got beat up by a bunch of girls. We never got abused by white people, glad to say, but it was a really convoluted and troubling experience for us. Fortunately my sister and I ended up just fine. And the girl who hit me eventually ended up in juvie for drugs. I don't know what happened to her since. We lived in a rough part of town. But I hope she got herself straightened out.

ProgressiveProfessor

(22,144 posts)
11. Both my daughters are amazons
Fri Mar 29, 2013, 05:52 PM
Mar 2013

They are also tall and big boned, not unlike the Williams sisters. They had serious martial arts training growing up as well. The bullies did not have a clue what hit them. Only serious casualty was one girl's weave, though all sought medical treatment.

There is a lot of social pressure on black women not to ever break a sweat. Yes there are exceptions, but many of them by the time they are in high school are already into weaves and other expensive beauty treatments which do not mix well with perspiration. Damn shame from a health perspective but it seems to be our culture. The result is those same women have no idea defend themselves or often other practical matters such as fixing a faucet. A serious shame and problem in our community.

 

TheDebbieDee

(11,119 posts)
27. OMG! Not the weave.........
Fri May 17, 2013, 10:25 PM
May 2013

Please tell me that your daughter DID NOT touch their weaves. Oh, my stars and garters.........

 

southernyankeebelle

(11,304 posts)
4. I never thought about that. I talk to people with respect and I don't care how their
Fri Mar 29, 2013, 04:05 PM
Mar 2013

dielect is as long as I can understand a person. I live in the south. I don't have a southern accent. I have tuned into Honey BooBoo a time or two and sometimes I need an interpreter to understand what they are saying. I have lived around a lot of different people with accents being raised in a military environment with other kids. I love hearing the different accents. Now that I have gotten older though I must say some of the things kids say I don't understand their meaning. But really it doesn't matter what color the kids are. They all have their own way to speak. But I get what you are saying. Sometimes a young person of color may live in a community where there are white and he picks up the way they speak. I have seen girls who are always around african american friends all the time and they speak they way they do. I really don't care as long as people are respectful of each other. Does that make sense? I'm not trying to offend anyone. This is a general observation.

JustAnotherGen

(31,770 posts)
16. It's something you wouldn't have noticed
Tue Apr 2, 2013, 12:01 PM
Apr 2013

Because at least in my experience - it's blacks towards blacks. As a caucasian woman in the South it wouldn't be in your realm.

Now I never heard those words until I started working retail in high school. My town was mostly white, my high school (parents sent me to a prep school in the city) was fairly diverse for the late 1980's, and those african americans I was exposed to outside of those environments tended to be the children of my parents peers.

It was black folks from the inner city (think Alphabet Soup in Rochester) who would say that.

The only thing kind of offensive is this - Sometimes a young person of color may live in a community where there are white and he picks up the way they speak. Generally? My experience? My personal experience? And my experience in greater Rochester NY (the home of Frederick Douglas, underground railroad, huge abolitionist movement to give a a frame of reference) BUT having an AA father who grew up in Talladega Alabama. . .


It's not because I grew up in Scottsville NY with a lot of white folks. It's because my parents were both well educated and well spoken people. In Scottsville as a kid - I got picked on for saying things like: I know you were wanting . . . OR - I'm fixing . . .


As an adult - the only people I've experienced saying those things are Southerners at vendors - mostly caucasian.


It's not black or white - it can just sound *shyly here* "Ignorant Regardless of Race" to folks in a place like New Jersey or Manhattan.

 

southernyankeebelle

(11,304 posts)
17. Interesting comments. In my experiences of life I always grew up with diversity living on
Tue Apr 2, 2013, 12:30 PM
Apr 2013

military bases. I never lived in a neighborhood where it was all white. I mean my parents wouldn't tolorent bigots. Now I will say my husband was an adopted child and brought here from another country at an early age. He adopted dad was raised in the south but was a military man. I never heard him saying anything negative about anyone's race. My husband found his birth mother and she was living on the east coast and she was married to an african american. I really liked him. He was a very hard worker and they wanted to come visit us. So my husband finally told them about his birth mother wanting to come and visit. Well he got very upset and said he didn't want them coming. That was the first time we ever heard him make a comment about someone's race. It was ok as long as they stayed on the east coast but he was afraid what his neighbors would say. Well that put a lot of strain on their relationship. I tried to tell my husband it's his generation and you have to understand that. But he did tell my father-in-law that if he was going to dictate who we could have at our house then we would be leaving. Well he changed his mind pretty fast. But my mother-in-law couldn't take it. Not because of the father but because she would his mother now and I think she worried about her taking him away from them. Of course there was no chance. In the end the african american step dad died. Really tragic because we liked him more then the natural mother. After that we cut the ties. I remember we had friends that were african american living on the same base as us living next door. They were great kids and we all got along really well. After our dads retired one of the young sons came to visit us where we retired. He told us how shell shocked he was after his dad retired and moved into a civilian community. He had never experienced racism before that. I could understand that because I saw how some people were so hateful. Remembering once we after we moved we went through Alabama and was really shocked how they treated african americans. Never realize how humans can treat other humans.

JustAnotherGen

(31,770 posts)
18. My parents marriage
Tue Apr 2, 2013, 01:57 PM
Apr 2013

Could have only THRIVED in the military. My parents met in 1967 while my mom was out east working at the Fort Dix Officers Club for the summer (her dad was in the Eisenhower circle in WW II so he pulled strings). They got married in 1969. They got stationed (run scared) to Fort Knox KY in a month after they got married.

Then thankfully moved abroad (I was born at Rammstein). Then we moved to Rochester NY in the late 1970's.


I hate to say it - - but my mom called it the military bubble. Don't get me wrong - my dad went into the Army in the late 1950's. And even being a Green Beret and an Army Captain did not insulate him from having 'the nerve' to marry a white woman. But it was probably better than living across the street from the Loving family! Bless their hearts!


But the military in general in the 60's/70's I think folks were more insulated from race issue at the personal level.

The reality of average black kid in America (that was me at 5 in 1978) was far different than a black little girl living on a base abroad.

 

southernyankeebelle

(11,304 posts)
19. I see what you mean. I guess calling it a bubble is about right. You know I never knew anything
Tue Apr 2, 2013, 02:24 PM
Apr 2013

better because my dad was in the military when I was born. My mother came from another country so she remembers getting off the boat telling her to speak english because she was in america now. So she and even my dad's family experienced bigots because he was Italian American and my mom was born in Italy and got her citizenship. My dad's family even changed the way he spelled their last name. My father refused to change his. You know the words they used only made him stronger. When dad retired after 22 yrs in the military and we moved to a civilian community it was a culture shock for us kids. I knew I cried all the time. I was so use to living on base and hearing the planes land and take off. It took awhile to adjust to the schools and the kids. One thing I learned as a military brat is you can make friends easier because your use to moving. But I was shy as a kid and I didn't have alot of friends. I had my siblings thank goodness. But sometimes I'd find a kids who was kind of shy and sit with them. I talked with everyone.

JustAnotherGen

(31,770 posts)
20. Totally Off Topic
Tue Apr 2, 2013, 02:43 PM
Apr 2013

So my husband is from Italy. His uncles range in age from 75 to 93. Zio Nicolo is actually a Senator For Life - has pictures of himself in his home with Mussolini. The older guys were all in World War II - right? Space and place.

He brings me home and the little old guys from Italy are like:

"Hey Giovanni! Good for you! You stole one back! And she's good looking! Good for you and Italy!"


You probably got chuckle reading that - they resented the hell out of the GI's taking "all the pretty Italian girls" so the fact that my dad and my mom's dad were both solid military men REALLY makes my Father In Law and his brothers ramp it up! I brought pics of my mom's dad with Eisenhower post WWII to tease them this past summer when we went to visit!


Good times! Good times in my family!

 

southernyankeebelle

(11,304 posts)
21. LOL, I dad met momma after the war. Funny you should mention Mussolini. My grandfather
Tue Apr 2, 2013, 03:05 PM
Apr 2013

was a conductor for a symphony and use to play on the radio. He even taught music. Well when ole Mussolini came to power my grandfather refused to become a fascist and lost his job. Well the day they hung Mussolini my mother and Nonno had a glass of wine. They were so happy he was gone. eMy dad's father was from Italy and was living in the states during the war. My dad fought in WWII. He loved the military life and we were so lucky to travel all over the world and the states. Before my mother died we went back to visit them again. We are close to them but everyone is dying off. I have a 2d cousin who is young is dying from cancer. I feel so bad because her momma was close to us and she killed herself. What a rich history you have and so do I. Embrace it and teach your children to be proud of their heritage. It's so nice that your uncles are still living. My momma had a sister and 2 brothers and all were married. There is only 1 left and she lives in Parma and the rest live in Naples. I spent so many wonderful summers in Naples growing up. Enough memories to take with me til the day I die. Everyone should have a chance to see Italy because the country is beautiful and the people are friendly.

Moonwalk

(2,322 posts)
8. It's a great rant. I have a friend who had the same issue, and I remember some of what he...
Fri Mar 29, 2013, 04:54 PM
Mar 2013

...pointed out to me about it. For example, this question is typically asked by blacks of blacks--not usually of whites of blacks (bigoted white people, my friend noted with a sigh, will instead say to the young men like this, "you're so articulate!" as if it's a surprise Which is as bad if not worse). Also, it's not universal. It's usually asked by kids or teens of other kids/teens from certain, urban neighborhoods. What it translates to is "are you one of us?"

When seen in that light, it's actually no surprise. Kids/teens are always asking other kids/teens who don't fit in why they don't fit in--be it why they wear odd clothes or have different interests, etc. What's problematic about it, is that it associates a style of speech with a race rather than with a neighborhood; there may be an element of black pride in that, but, as my friend said, it troubled him that kids were pressuring kids not just to fit in, but creating/maintaining a racial stereotype. As if anyone born black talked this way rather than was raised to talk this way. He pointed out that white kids raised in such neighborhoods talked the same as their black friends and got asked by strangers why they were talking "black."

He likened it to thinking anyone with a Jersey accent was Italian.

I'll add that I think there is going to be less of this accusation in the future, as neighborhoods and families become more integrated and kids don't feel pressured to speak a certain way; also given Obama and others who talk like this as a matter of course, and make it evident to all kids, of all races, that speech style is not a matter of race.

Number23

(24,544 posts)
12. I grew up in an all black environment
Fri Mar 29, 2013, 05:53 PM
Mar 2013

My neighbors were all black. My teachers were 99% black (had three white teachers in high school, all others K-12 were black). My role models were all black. My doctors were 90% black. Hell, even my mayor was black.

And they all spoke "professionally" so I can't really relate. But I guess this is a problem for people who live in the suburbs or something.

noiretextatique

(27,275 posts)
30. me too...straight out of compton
Tue May 28, 2013, 06:54 PM
May 2013

all black community, all black teachers, and i learned to speak standard english some of our cousins in texas teased us about how "proper" we spoke, but that's what we learned.

Number23

(24,544 posts)
33. Heh. I tend to think "hood" folks like us are the smartest ones around.
Wed May 29, 2013, 01:45 AM
May 2013

Book smarts and streets smarts to match. Can't too many really muck with that.

mzteris

(16,232 posts)
14. My son hears it all the time.
Sat Mar 30, 2013, 11:58 AM
Mar 2013

You don't talk black (and yes, his response - "Neither does President Obama&quot .

You don't dress black. You don't "act black". "What does that mean?" he says. "No, I don't sag my pants, I don't say finna or any other made up word. I speak ENGLISH. Proper English. Why is that not "black enough? Does "talking black" mean I have talk poorly?"

Your name's not black. "Why, because it doesn't have a bunch of "Q's" in it or someone made it up because they thought it 'sounded cool' and made up some weird spelling to go with it? FYI, my name is the last name of three famous African Americans. Of course, you probably never heard of them because they don't play sports and they're not some singer or a movie star."

You don't ACT black. "ACT black? Why, because I make good grades? My butt's not showing? I'm a dancer and play the cello? What? What does "acting black mean"? I don't have to be all "ghetto" 'because that's not BLACK, that's just ghetto."

(Hopefully this offends no one. Around here "acting ghetto" is a thing - and synonymous with being black. Unfortunately, most of the black kids at his school do come from the lower-socioeconomic community. The PC word for projects now. He has that one white (former) friend who likes to dress and act ghetto (funny with his red hair and blue eyes and ultra pale skin.) My son is highly offended by this "friend" and tells him, that's as much a stereotype as saying I eat watermelon and fried chicken. Just be yourself and stop telling me you're "more black" than *I* am... Admittedly, in reality my son is a middle-class white boy whose skin happens to be black.

Of course - I've said it before that my son often says, why do people define themselves by the color of their skin? They're just PEOPLE. I'm glad he's strong in himself, but will it be enough in the long haul? In the "real world"?

Unfortunately, I have to try & get him to understand that it's society defining people by the color of their skin. And mistreating the ones who aren't "like them". That institutionalized racism will see his color first and everything else second. If he can "rise above that" by THEIR standards, then that's an exception and he has do to something "worthy" in their eyes of acceptance (Unfortunately, this is usually reserved for sports figures and actors, etc.) That even President Obama - our PRESIDENT - is reviled by parts of this country merely because of the color of his skin.

It's truly sad that the black kids at his school are also rejecting him because of the color of his skin. Because by their standards, his blackness is in question.

I'm afraid he has some very hard lessons to learn growing up - much harder than what middle school has brought. That the world will see the black and judge him merely by their prejudice and misconceptions. I wonder what highschool and college will bring. I wonder what being a football 'star" (and yeah, barring injury, he most likely will be) will do to people's perception of who he IS.

I wonder how he is going to come to terms with both worlds. There are kids who won't associate with him - some because he's black. And others because he's not "black enough". I tell him true friends come in all shapes, sizes, and color.

kwassa

(23,340 posts)
22. How I got my education on the subject.
Wed Apr 3, 2013, 05:46 PM
Apr 2013

as a white guy. I went to Europe when I was 21, and in England was totally floored first to hear a black man speaking in the perfect English "public school" accent, and a short time later a black man speaking with an Irish brogue. The second man was from an island in the Caribbean largely settled by Irish.

Many years later I worked in an office in Los Angeles with quite a few African-Americans who had grown up there. Most people in Los Angeles are from some place else, and my ear had become sensitive enough to tell, through them, what area of the South their parents were from. Georgia sounds different from Mississippi, which sounds very different from Tennessee or Texas.

noiretextatique

(27,275 posts)
31. where i grew up, everyone was from the south
Tue May 28, 2013, 06:58 PM
May 2013

mostly texas, but some from alabama, mississppi, georgia, and okalahoma. i grew up in compton. some of the kids were born in the south also, but many of us were born in los angeles. i can even detect a bit of a southern accent in speech, especially after a visit to texas.

kwassa

(23,340 posts)
34. My girlfriend of the time took me to Compton
Wed May 29, 2013, 07:52 PM
May 2013

Her mother owned a rental there. I had been there before, as an insurance adjustor in a brief previous career.

Her family lived in Inglewood, in a really nice area with a view of the South Bay. Other parts of Inglewood, not so great.

SemperEadem

(8,053 posts)
23. yeah, I went throught that, too...
Fri Apr 12, 2013, 10:24 PM
Apr 2013

after a while, you're just "whatevs..."

My father was an educator and his sister was an educator, my mom was a school nurse and everyone in their social circle were professionals like that. None of them talked "black"... and I had better not come into the room talking like I had no sense. They sent my siblings and I to parochial schools and were the kind of parents who arrived first at the parent/teacher conferences. If they didn't hear what they wanted to hear about my progress, there was going to be hell to pay when they got home.

The older I get, the more I am thankful that my parents and family kept on me about how I talked--they kept on me about learning to read and write. I did the same with my daughter because it didn't kill me--it made me stronger.

demosincebirth

(12,529 posts)
28. I grew up deep in the heart of West Oakland, going to a Catholic grammer school right across
Fri May 17, 2013, 10:28 PM
May 2013

the street from public Jr. high. Many kids at my school were black and many were derided by kids at the Jr. High because they didn't talk just like them...telling them to stop acting white. This was in the sixties, too.

 

bravenak

(34,648 posts)
29. I have that problem.
Sat May 18, 2013, 03:56 AM
May 2013

I got told I sounded like a white cheerleader recently. I laughed in the guys face soooo hard.
I live in anchorage, Alaska. How should I speak? We don't have a ghetto!
I like to be understood when I speak and I always enunciate. And I can always find a job.

noiretextatique

(27,275 posts)
32. i think most educated or well-spoken black people
Tue May 28, 2013, 07:05 PM
May 2013

have heard this bs. my most unpleasant experience with this nonsense was in college. i took a year off from my home college and went to uc santa cruz. i enrolled in cowell college, for no particular reason. most of the black people went to oakes college, but i chose cowell fairly randomly for its central location. there was one other balck person in my dorm, a younger guy, and we became friends. there were two other black women at the neighboring college, stevenson, and we also became friends. however, when me and one of my black female friends went to a BSU meeting at oakes, we were accused of all kind of stupid shit (like trying to "act white&quot because we weren't oakes students. i never tried to deal with those idiots again, and i was quite content with my three blacks friends at our "white" colleges...and my other white, asian and latino friends. since then, i have no time for ignorant people who think being black limits how you speak or what you can do. i took archery, fencing, and went to all the classical concerts...and i am still black enough to get pulled over by the cops when they decided to profile me.

MADem

(135,425 posts)
35. Some people have an odd idea that "talking black" means sounding like Honey Boo Boo.
Sun Jun 2, 2013, 10:55 AM
Jun 2013

Truth to tell, you could take a number of people of all colors with regional accents, and if you took away the visual cues, most people could not determine the race of the speaker.

JustAnotherGen

(31,770 posts)
36. Kick
Fri Jun 28, 2013, 01:47 PM
Jun 2013

As a point of reference . . . might be helpful with all the snotty 'Queen's English' nonsense being thrown around to see the other side of that narrative's coin.

onpatrol98

(1,989 posts)
37. I've been told I sound like a bill collector.
Fri Jun 28, 2013, 11:31 PM
Jun 2013

I've called friends who I haven't spoke to in a while and been told that I sound like a bill collector. I would say hello on the phone and the other end would go silent. So, I would have to quickly go ahead and say...hey, it's me....

Then the response would be...girl, you sounded like a bill collector, I was going to hang up???



Well, that was before outsourcing. I'll just leave it at that.

Latest Discussions»Alliance Forums»African American»Black people who talk whi...