Black English Language Summary

In this article, author James Baldwin discusses the significant role that language plays and how it can affect our everyday lives. He explains that language is seen to be the most important tool for all things. Although we all have different lifestyles to communicate, language is the key factor when attempting to explain and thus control our circumstances. Black English stemmed from a lifestyle that could only survive by creating their own form of the English language. “Language, incontestably, reveals the speaker. Language, far more dubiously, is meant to define the other – and in this case, the other is refusing to be defined by a language that has never been able to recognize him.” (Baldwin 5) Baldwin claims that language undeniably reveals a lot about a person’s character and how differences in the meaning of a word could lead to fatal consequences. We are hesitant to say that a person’s speech
One pro would be to teach children and young adults of all races proper business etiquette and expectations. Educating the youth today about things that once took place between the two races is something that I believe to be very important for tomorrow. We should make it a greater point to understand both sides as well. Not only in past circumstances, but also those that have recently taken place close to us. Discrimination is still believed to be a factor in today’s society. Law Enforcement seems to be highly scrutinized. The killing of blacks in unreasonable circumstances seem to be the top story on every news channel. It is argued that police officers have too much discretion. Many believe that this is what causes them to make poor decisions quickly when handling a black individual. Our race as a whole, in the eyes of many, is viewed as problematic. This is what leads me to believe that we will never be too educated on black history, the causes, and the