speaking Archives - The Race Card Project

You sound like you are white!

November 23, 2020November 23, 2020 Color, language, Long Island City, Lyron Andrews, minister, NY, sound white, speaking, speech, you sound

Lyron Andrews,
Long Island City, NY.

I used to be a minister back in the late eighties and I was visiting and speaking to a group of mostly elderly and all African-American parishioners in Harlem about managing through adversity. After the talk many approached me and warmly commended me and thanked me for sharing the thoughts. One of the parishioners wasn’t friendly at all and said in a very terse tone, “You sound like you are white!” After getting her name I asked her to consider the scenario of her moving to live in various different countries in Asia, Africa, and Europe and what if that county’s language was something other than English. Would she not put effort into learning that language well and speaking it appropriately with proper enunciation, pronunciation, and word use? Wouldn’t you want to communicate well and be understood by the widest audience of people in that country? Then why not English and why not here and why would you limit yourself by associating proper speech with any color or race?

When did “enunciating” mean “sounding white?”

October 30, 2018October 30, 2018 articulate, class, enunciating, High School, Oreo, Skye Carr, sound white, speaking, VA, Virginia Beach

Skye Carr,
Virginia Beach, VA.

Throughout middle school and high school, people used to always call me an “Oreo” because I was one of the few black students in my class that spoke properly and enunciated my words. I’m curious when enunciating became something that only white people did.

Race switches between dominance and minority

February 7, 2017August 18, 2020 accent, back and forth, communist, dominance, jungle, Kinh, Minority, Nhi Nguyen, On Location, public service, Race, San Antonio, speaking, switched, the race card project, Trinity University, TX, USA, Vietnam

Nhi Nguyen,
Trinity University

In Vietnam, my ethinicity is Kinh, which is the dominant group of Vietnamese. Before coming the U.S., I never really cared about my race because I did not need to challenge any racial inequality. When I’m in the U.S. to study abroad, Vietnamese is a minority. Most people just know about Vietnam through Vietnam war or boat people. Many think that Vietnam is still a jungle (which hurts me so badly). Vietnamese like I, speaking with accent and coming from a developing, “communist” country, do not receive that much attention in public service. This is where I start seeing myself switching back and forth between the dominant and minor racial identities.

No, I dont need a translator.

December 16, 2015December 16, 2015 assume, AZ, bilingual, Hispanic, judge, Kristy, language, San Luis, Spanish, Speak English, speaking, translator

Kristy,
San Luis, AZ.

The older I get the less fun it is for me to go places. Constantly getting judged for being Hispanic and worst of all assuming of what I can and cannot do, getting spoken in Spanish by non-Spanish speaking people is what’s worse. Why assume that I cannot speak English? Give me the opportunity to show you that not everyone is the same. Being in a constant controversy that battles the idea of Hispanics doing good or bad in the United States is never fun to deal with. But no matter what being proud of being bilingual is what gets me through

You are very articulate…gee thanks..

June 10, 2015June 10, 2015 articulate, black male, compliment, IL, Lyonel LaGrone Jr, rude, speaking, Urbana

Lyonel LaGrone Jr,
Urbana, IL.

Over the last 17 years I have held a number of positions that have required me to give presentations on various topics across the United States. Often, when presenting to predominately White audiences someone will approach me after a presentation and offer up as a compliment, “You are very articulate.” What they don’t know is that is an indirect insult. I have never heard anyone walk up to a fellow panelist who happens to be White and compliment they on their ability to speak fluently and coherently. I don’t want to be rude (like that person was) so I will express appreciation for the “compliment.” It is this sort of subconscious bias that a lot of professional Black males deal with on a daily basis.