Unit One
After spending every other weekend at his house and being with him every Tuesday after school for years, he slowly stopped showing up. At first he would cancel or make excuses like he was sick or had to work, and then slowly but surely my Dad just stopped being there. He got a new girlfriend. My sister and I would rarely see him and everytime we did, his new girlfriend was there. He changed. He stopped asking us about our lives, he stopped listening to us, he would never ask what we wanted to do and if we would ask him to do something he wouldn't unless his girlfriend wanted to. It was all about her. This confused me because I never understood why he did that and I wasn’t sure if we did something wrong to make us not important to him anymore.
A few years later, his girlfriend got pregnant and they got married. Aside from them talking down on my Mom, when they got married my sister and I were not invited to the wedding. We didn’t even know it was happening until it was already over. It was all about him and his wife with their son on the way. My sister and I were very confused, hurt and frustrated. How could your father go from always being there for you to not being there at all? How could he put some random girl that wasn’t even nice to him before you? My sister started acting out and I was just so sad and confused that my Mom put us in therapy. We lost contact with my Dad for three years because things had gotten so bad that when my Mom would try to get us to go my sister would refuse to get in the car and when she was able to be convinced to go, as soon as we got driving she would freak out and try to throw herself out of his moving vehicle on the thruway. It was hard to get through. I was confused for years until I was old enough to understand what had happened to us and I finally understood that he was selfish. The only reason why he was so close to us was because he and my Mom were going through a child support battle. Once he lost in court he shifted his focus and energy on something else. Then I realized my Dad didn’t know us at all. He didn’t know who our teachers were, he didn’t know who our friends were, he didn’t know our favorite color or food. He took us for granted. That was really hard for me to accept.
Not surprisingly his marriage didn’t last. He didn’t try to reconnect with me on any real level until he got divorced. It was almost like out of the blue he realized that he didn’t have a relationship with his daughters and wanted to start to have one again. He apologized and seemed to accept responsibility for his mistakes over the years. I was reluctant at first because of how bad he hurt me before. He lost my trust. My Mom then explained to me that I should at least try to have a relationship with him and that one day I might regret it if I do not capitalize on this opportunity. I have tried but unfortunately my Dad seems incapable of true change. Despite this, I persisted and now I know that I don’t need anyone in my life that is toxic, no matter what the relationship. I can be strong and independent and get through anything. Yes, life has its ups and downs, but you just need to keep your head up and get through them.
June Jordan and Understanding New Literacy
While reading June Jordans essay, it made me have a new understanding of literacy and the different forms of english that are among us everyday. One of our first assignments was to read What is Literacy? I feel like this piece connects with Jordans essay because both show examples of different forms of literacy. Jordan explained the difference between white and black english and how it presents itself in society. What is literacy, does the same thing but shows different ways literacy presents itself in the world, through social media, writing, music, art, ect. Different composers display their work differently, especially through writing. The voice behind each article is different and gives off a different feeling with each piece that’s written. Jordan’s essay magnified black culture and how overtime it’s been assimilated with white culture, no longer being its own, as well as black english. Black english is frowned upon because it’s not considered “standard english.”
After reading this it made me realize that black english is used so much in white culture especially with people my age. The “slang” that’s used by kids is actually black english, that amazed me when I made that connection; we use black english everyday without even realizing it. In school we get shamed by our english teachers when we use this “slang” but no one seems to notice that we’re actually speaking black english. There should be a course in school that goes into depth about black english and black culture. We learn about white history with small glimpses of black history. Black history isn’t discussed often in the classroom because of the inhumane acts our ancestors partook in. History is taught so that it doesn’t repeat itself, but how are we supposed to know what truly happened to both sides if we aren’t taught both perspectives?
Interpreting Single Stories
I interpret the term “single stories,” as stereotypes that people create towards a group of people. I was raised to not develop single stories towards anyone, so I can’t say that I have projected a single story on anyone. When people come to me with their single stories I actually get upset because you shouldn’t cast an entire group of people under a certain thought. One single story that has been told to me was at work. This story upset me because I didn’t think that the person who told me their story would have them.
I work at Applebee’s, I’m the host, so I frequently talk to the servers to tell them when they’ve been sat or how many people are at their table. One of the servers came up to me and was angry because I sat them with a black family. They said, “black people don’t tip good, I won’t make any money.” I stood there in shock, confused and hurt by why they would assume that. I then went on to asking why they said that and they said, “no black table has ever tipped me good.” I told the server that you can’t assume that all black people don’t tip well, that’s stereotyping and that’s not cool. When they said that I remembered a black couple that I sat the same server with. The guy gave a $15 tip on a $40 bill, I brought this up to the server to ask him why he would say that about all black people when that black couple tipped over 20%. The server sat there thinking and said, “I guess it’s not all black people but it’s most.” People shouldn’t let people tell their single stories without being called out. If it made known that what someone is saying is not right they will reflect on what they said. Later in the night the server came to me and apologized, they said that they didn’t realize that they were telling a single story.
Imaginative Writing:
Scene:
Jordan, Lyiscott, Adichie and I are out to dinner at Pastabilities and they’re trying to help me
understand single stories and black english.
Me: So I’ve gathered all of us here today because I’m learning about Black English and single stories,
or stereotyping, in class, and I have a couple of questions. First, what is black english, and why is
it rarely used?
June Jordan: Black english is not exactly a linguistic buffalo; as children, most of the 35 million
afro-americans living here depend on this language for our discovery of the world. But then as we
approach maturity inside a larger social body that will not support our efforts to become anything
other than the clones of those who are neither our mother nor our fathers.
Jamila Lyiscott: I had to borrow your language because mines was stolen but you can’t expect me to
speak your history wholly while mines is broken These words are spoken By someone who is simply
fed up with the Eurocentric ideals of this season And the reason I speak a composite version of your
language Is because mines was raped away along with my history I speak broken English so the
profusing gashes can remind us That our current state is not a mystery I’m so tired of the negative images
that are driving my people mad (2:40)
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: I've always felt that it is impossible to engage properly with a place or a
person without engaging with all of the stories of that place and that person. The consequence of the
single story is this: It robs people of dignity. It makes our recognition of our equal humanity difficult.
It emphasizes how we are different rather than how we are similar. (13:36)
Me: Okay, I understand now. I learned that people change the way they talk depending on who the
audience is, is that true with black english as well?
Jamila Lyiscott: Yes, I have decided to treat all three of my languages as equals because I’m “articulate”
But who controls articulation? Because the English language is a multifaceted oration Subject to
indefinite transformation Now you may think that it is ignorant to speak broken English But I’m here to
tell you that even “articulate” Americans sound foolish to the British (1:04)
Me: Okay, I’ve come to the understanding that black english is still embedded in the english language and
that it’s just oppressed and stays within the black culture. Thank you all for your time and helping me
understand my school work!
Unit One Project:
Understanding the Not So Standard English
For as long as I can remember I have been asked by older people, “why are you talking like that,” or “why do you text me like that?” Within writing and language, I have always found a way to shorten my sentences, but just enough for my peers to understand. Throughout this unit I’ve slowly, but surely, come to the realization that I have somewhat been speaking, “Black English.” “Standard English” is what’s commonly referred to when you think of the English language. Overtime, literacy has changed drastically throughout the United States, with different cultures come different forms of English.
With American literacy there is an underground world with variations of the English language not many people know of. Literacy doesn’t come with a manual, there are many different ways literacy can be portrayed. Through music, art, songs, ect. Literacy is just a fancy word for how people communicate. What people do not realize is that there is the new standard English that is forming throughout the United States. With the innovations of technology comes smartphones. Everyone can be in contact with others 24/7 with their phone at their fingertips. People now commonly communicate through texting. When you think of the English language you think of the formalities; use commas, don’t use slang, don’t abbreviate your words. However, with texting these formalities are forgotten and people text in the most convenient way they can. Consequently, a new form of english is being created. The way we speak to others has changed as well, the conventional way we are supposed to talk to others differs, this particular depends on the audience we are in front of. You typically do not speak the conventional form of english when you are with your friends, but you do when you are speaking to your boss or someone who has authority. Jamila Lyiscott says that she is “articulate” for being able to do this because it is a skill to be able to change the way you speak depending on who you are talking to (1.08).This shows the different forms of literacy we use throughout our everyday lives.
Along with the formalities of english a form of english that has also been forgotten is black english. (par. 1). Black English stems from the roots of slavery. With slaves not being allowed to read and write, the ones that had some knowledge helped others to attempt to do so. This led to the creation of Black English. Black english, has been oppressed by standard english since this country was founded (par 4). It is always changing therefore, there should be no reason why one form of literacy should be oppressed. The oppression comes from the roots of America and what the US was built on. Today, I can walk down the halls of school and I hear my peers saying, “you sound white” to black students because they sound like them. People stereotype black people to sound “ghetto,” and when they do not fit their stereotype they sound white. Americans do not realize that there are many different forms of the english language, and that people won’t follow the rule book that is given in school.
As I reflect on what I knew before the start of this unit to what I know now, I have come to understand that literacy is a complex thing. There’s many different forms of literacy and they are all expressed in many diverse ways. With that understanding I have the belief that no form of literacy should be oppressed, all literacy is unique in its own way.
Citation:
Lyiscott, Jamila. "3 Ways to Speak English ." Ted Talk , Feb. 2014, New York , www.ted.com/talks/jamila_lyiscott_3_ways_to_speak_english.
Jordan, June. Nobody Mean More to Me Than You and the Future Life of Willie Jordan. 1985, pp. 363-74.
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