Anonymous
03/10/2012 18:30
Subject: I'm an African American. Ask me anything.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:02:40,
Speaking inarticulately is not a black thing. It's usually a poor thing. And though you may rise from that poverty, old habits (like language) die hard.
Honestly, the difference between "asked" and "axed" is not so great that one should even be irritated by it.
Do you have any other question(s) for AAs?
-AA female
My grandparents came to the US and didn't have a lot of money but they were insistent with my mom that she didn't speak the same way in the house as she did with her friends. This meant my mom, would use "ask" with me and insisted we speak that way in the house. It is tough when everyone around you speaks a certain way to not fall into the same habit. On top of that no matter where you are if you start dropping the local style of speaking and adapt a style of speaking associated with a higher socioeconomic class, your neighborhood friends and family may start to give you a hard time like you are "to good for them now". I'm from Long Island and someone that was white mentioned how her family gave her a hard time when she started speaking in what is more of a mid-Atlantic WASP style.
So the bottom line is it would be no different than a Boston accent or strong New York accent. Does this mean you compliment someone from Boston as being articulate because he says "park" instead of "pawk"?
Not the same thing at all. I'm not saying an AA (or anyone else) is "articulate" because they don't have an accent. It is because they have stated/explained/presented/...articulated something particularly well. Being precluded from using certain words with certain groups of people feels very separate but equal.
Anonymous
03/10/2012 18:27
Subject: Re:I'm an African American. Ask me anything.
ManHere wrote:Anonymous wrote:Do you know vegetarian AAs? What about serious environmentalists who are AAs? AA friends who are part of those weekend warrior bikers riding around in spandex?
OP Here. I know a few AA vegetarians but not many. Don't know any serious AA environmentalists. Yes, I am a serious bicyclist and it's not spandex (but I know what you mean). I see many AAs on the bike trails and on group rides in this area (and yes, we all wave and say "hi" when we pass each other 8)).
Just the AAs or all other people on the trails?
ManHere
03/10/2012 18:23
Subject: Re:I'm an African American. Ask me anything.
Anonymous wrote:Do you know vegetarian AAs? What about serious environmentalists who are AAs? AA friends who are part of those weekend warrior bikers riding around in spandex?
OP Here. I know a few AA vegetarians but not many. Don't know any serious AA environmentalists. Yes, I am a serious bicyclist and it's not spandex (but I know what you mean). I see many AAs on the bike trails and on group rides in this area (and yes, we all wave and say "hi" when we pass each other 8)).
Anonymous
03/10/2012 16:58
Subject: Re:I'm an African American. Ask me anything.
Do you know vegetarian AAs? What about serious environmentalists who are AAs? AA friends who are part of those weekend warrior bikers riding around in spandex?
Anonymous
03/10/2012 16:48
Subject: Re:I'm an African American. Ask me anything.
Anonymous wrote:Do you eat and enjoy chitlins, fried chicken, chicken and dumplings, cow tongue and/or pigs feet?
LOVE fried chicken, I don't know why that is a black thing because I don't understand why anyone would not love something that tastes so effing good. Chitlins, cow tongue and pigs feet were all AAs could afford back in the day which is how it became a staple part of our diet.
Anonymous
03/10/2012 16:44
Subject: I'm an African American. Ask me anything.
Anonymous wrote:Do you have any understanding of why foreign born people of African descent might have trouble with AAs from a cultural standpoint?
I'm African and when I was growing up there, all the kids wanted to emulate the African American images they saw on TV, it was considered cool and "hip". African American movies, slangs, dresscode, was all the rave. And at school, the popular kids were the ones who could emulate anything that was African American, I don't even think white people crossed our radars.
Anonymous
03/10/2012 16:36
Subject: I'm an African American. Ask me anything.
Anonymous wrote:02:40,
Speaking inarticulately is not a black thing. It's usually a poor thing. And though you may rise from that poverty, old habits (like language) die hard.
Honestly, the difference between "asked" and "axed" is not so great that one should even be irritated by it.
Do you have any other question(s) for AAs?
-AA female
Agree 100%, middle class AAs don't speak poor english.
Anonymous
03/10/2012 16:32
Subject: I'm an African American. Ask me anything.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Are your babies born with blue eyes like caucasian babies?
None of my children had blue eyes. That probably would've freaked me out! LOL
-AA female
But bi-racial AAs have green and hazel eyes.
Not all of them! Have you seen the President's eyes?
my biracial DD was born with brown eyes and still has brown eyes, even though her skin is completely white like her father, much to my chagrin.
Anonymous
03/10/2012 16:26
Subject: Re:I'm an African American. Ask me anything.
It could also be that many foreigners associate darker skin color with less desirable, low class and threatening. Even amongst their own, darker means outdoor laborer = poor, uneducated, lower class. Lighter = better off, educated, upper class so no need to work outside doing menial, labor intensive work in the sun. Funny though because for many white people, tan = better off, upper class so they can afford to go on vacations to tropical places, lounge around by the pool and work on their tans.
Anonymous
03/10/2012 16:25
Subject: I'm an African American. Ask me anything.
Anonymous wrote:this likely was already asked, but why are AA so offended by being called "articulate"? I would love it if someone told that to me.
because it's just offensive, that's like you saying AA don't speak proper english to begin with so when you meet one who does, you feel the need to point it out. I once had an interviewer tell me that I speak english very well. WTF? Am I not suppose to?
Anonymous
03/10/2012 16:21
Subject: I'm an African American. Ask me anything.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Do you have any understanding of why foreign born people of African descent might have trouble with AAs from a cultural standpoint?
I'm an AA female and I will answer this honestly.
IMO, many people see AAs as the degenerates of America. We are lazy, we are dumb, we are violent. For many people, AAs are persona non grata in America. Befriending, "assimilating" and/or aligning yourself with AAs will do you no good, because, for the most part, we have little political, social and/or economic power. All one needs to do is turn on the news or view a Hollywood movie to see the latest shenanigans of "those unruly AAs".
A lot of a foreigner's perception of America comes from what they see on TV and in the movies. So, it won't take much for them to realize that AAs are at the bottom of the totem pole here. If you're trying to succeed and get ahead, you have little motivation to associate with AAs and many go so far as to not associate with us at all. Some foreigners treat AAs with the same disdain that they see displayed by other Americans. I've been on the receiving end of this type of attitude and it's.........interesting.
With some Africans it's even more important to make that separation because, by appearance, many mistake them for AAs. So, their issue is sometimes twofold:1) some feel the same "disdain" as other foreigners and 2) they go out of their way to separate themselves and some even seem to be angry that they are lumped in with AAs. I've experienced this with many non-AAs including Africans and Jamaicans.
In the end, I try not to let it bother me. But I must admit that when I hear/read/see a non-AA black person putting down AAs, I get pretty pissed.
*Please note that my opinion DOES NOT apply to all foreigners/Africans/Jamaicans/etc.
According to Mr. Eugene Robinson, there is evidence that when foreign born blacks assimilate with African Americans, there is a trajectory to poverty. So the concern is not unwarranted.
The stereotype that foreigners have of AAs is exactly as you put it. We worry about our kids speaking in a certain way, and taking education lightly. There are also differences in dress, body image, taste, music, religion and so on. It can be hard for a Domincan Catholic tio relate to an AA Baptist. There are many more examples.
Anonymous
03/10/2012 16:14
Subject: I'm an African American. Ask me anything.
Anonymous wrote:Do you have any understanding of why foreign born people of African descent might have trouble with AAs from a cultural standpoint?
I'm an AA female and I will answer this honestly.
IMO, many people see AAs as the degenerates of America. We are lazy, we are dumb, we are violent. For many people, AAs are persona non grata in America. Befriending, "assimilating" and/or aligning yourself with AAs will do you no good, because, for the most part, we have little political, social and/or economic power. All one needs to do is turn on the news or view a Hollywood movie to see the latest shenanigans of "those unruly AAs".
A lot of a foreigner's perception of America comes from what they see on TV and in the movies. So, it won't take much for them to realize that AAs are at the bottom of the totem pole here. If you're trying to succeed and get ahead, you have little motivation to associate with AAs and many go so far as to not associate with us at all. Some foreigners treat AAs with the same disdain that they see displayed by other Americans. I've been on the receiving end of this type of attitude and it's.........interesting.
With some Africans it's even more important to make that separation because, by appearance, many mistake them for AAs. So, their issue is sometimes twofold:1) some feel the same "disdain" as other foreigners and 2) they go out of their way to separate themselves and some even seem to be angry that they are lumped in with AAs. I've experienced this with many non-AAs including Africans and Jamaicans.
In the end, I try not to let it bother me. But I must admit that when I hear/read/see a non-AA black person putting down AAs, I get pretty pissed.
*Please note that my opinion DOES NOT apply to all foreigners/Africans/Jamaicans/etc.
Anonymous
03/10/2012 15:32
Subject: I'm an African American. Ask me anything.
Do you have any understanding of why foreign born people of African descent might have trouble with AAs from a cultural standpoint?
Anonymous
03/10/2012 13:11
Subject: I'm an African American. Ask me anything.
13:10, I have heard "axed" though.
Anonymous
03/10/2012 13:10
Subject: I'm an African American. Ask me anything.
I say "assed" or "ass't". I was one of the same three black kids in our classes from K-8. We all lived in the same mixed race area and even with this, I don't say "ass-kuh-tuh".