Me and White Supremacy: Combat Racism, Change the World, and Become a Good Ancestor

by Layla F. Saad

Civil conversation in a normal tone of voice is not a “superior form of communication”. It isn’t a “white” form of communication, it’s just civil communication. Just because something is civil or polite does not make it “white”. Have we lost the ability to have a conversation or disagreement without making the other feel like they are being attacked, without creating a defense mode in the other person? There are plenty of white people who can get in your face and yell and use profanity and that is not acceptable no matter where it comes from. As an English teacher I have to defend standard modern English. Does that mean I think standard modern English is superior to African-American vernacular? No, but we do have standards that exist for the ease of communication. One can choose to ignore the standards, but understand that this is going to turn off a lot of your audience. Are you going to blame Obama for using standard American English when he was giving speeches? Was he somehow betraying African-Americans by doing so?