Kathryn Sanders
Summerville, SC
I am white Southern woman . I will never forget overhearing a group of white co-workers harshly criticize a black co-worker’s slip into African American vernacular at an on-the-job baby-shower while handing out gifts. I have some Appalachian forbears and am an English major and I take great pleasure in using colorful expressions and language that I learned from my family as a child. I feel like it is a part of my heritage. I never felt uncomforable using this kind of language with these women at a relaxed social function or felt like I had to guard against grammatical slip-ups or face repercussions. The incident described above along with another incident where I heard some of these same co-workers belittling a masters-level, African American trainer at a workshop we attended for her word usage, with the implication that she was unfit to train us because of it, brought home to me how much language prejudice many black professionals have to deal with as they perform their jobs. One little slip could trigger the kind of backbiting fallout that I witnessed. The weirdest part was that most or all of the critics would be offended if someone told them their criticism was racist. Personally, I have always taken the view that for many Americans, Standard English is a secondary language and unless a person is engaged in law-making or jurisprudence where language misuse creates legal loopholes and problems, as long as I understand the communication, it is all good!
