To talk like a certain race or a certain colour...

[PK8]

This was a thread I posted at another forum last year. I can't believe I didn't bother posting it here but I think I asked a nice question. Alright, old post:

I'd like to start by saying that the following topic has been bothering me for over a year now. I had wanted to post this in a forum for quite a while but I was too afraid of potential negative responses I would get. (Race is a touchy subject and is a subject of discussion that I over 90% of the time would never approach in public.)

If you must know (in order to get the topic), I'm not Caucasian, I'm partly Italian and Hispanic. I went to a High School that was dominated by Hispanics and African-Americans and I've a couple of friends who are African-Americans and Hispanics.

Now I knew a few kids from that school who met the stereotypes (or what I thought were the stereotypes) of a pop-social gangster. They hated wimps, seemed to love the rap music that hit the mainstream (They blasted songs by Soulja Boy, Mims and some other rap musicians), thought Rock music was "devil's music", seemed very elite (peeps who didn't have "bling" weren't cool in their eyes) and sometimes didn't enunciate when speaking.

One day, I had finished presenting a speech and was going back to my seat. Said kid who had the stereotypes of what I thought were of a pop-social gangster asked me "Why you talkin' madd white fo'? Dat shits not coo'." I couldn't think of anything to say in response to him but that question made me ask myself... "What defines 'talking white?' What defines 'talking black?'" In my speech, I had enunciated my words, I was articulate, I made complete sentences and I also picked up a few words from a dictionary I've read. From that point on, that question really had me thinking... what the heck does it mean to "talk white" and why would he refer to it as "talking white?" I stopped thinking about it for awhile until I saw Chris Crocker's T-shirt video and the "why are you talking like you're black?" youtube comments that followed along with said video (for lack of a better word) re-sparked my interest in the subject of "talking like a color."

My thoughts on this? The fact that an African-American asked me this makes this all-the-more absurd. I was being articulate. What's wrong with that? Did being articulate with words somehow become an all-white thing to do? I must've missed the memo! If "talking white" means using correct pronunciation of the English language, knowing how to construct a complete sentence, to be able to form and convey cogent and logical thoughts using the English language, as well as using multi-syllabic words and not using "ax" when you mean "ask", then I stand guilty of "talking white." Why the hell would he belittle his own race by asking me such a question? I mean, it makes me wonder, is this guy aware of what he's saying? So according to his "no-talkin'-white-you're-a-sellout-if-you-do" logic, Caucasians are and should be the only ones who are allowed to form complete sentences, enunciate their words, and so forth while anyone else who isn't Caucasian should sound like slang-spewing bumbling fools? Doesn't this sound ridiculous? I mean, what the hell, man.

Now to turn this into a discussion, the following questions below are there to help you brainstorm on your reply.

How do you feel about the two phrases, "talking white" and "talking black"? In your mind, what defines "talking white" and "talking black"? Have you ever been told to stop talking like a color? Did you get called a name or two for talking like a color? How do you feel about being requested to "stop talking like a color" and/or getting called a name because you "talked like a color"?

color = "Insert White/Black/Race here."

[Alpha-Mad]

This is an interesting discussion. I have a few thoughts:
Firstly, "color" is only a physical term used to describe some cultures. This isn't always the case, however. Many times we like to bunch people in and say "they are acting black" when it is quite clear (I live in an urban environment and see this all the time) they are acting urban. I've seen people of EVERY race talking and acting in that manner, just as I've seen a person of every race acting in what punk labeled "white."
In terms of talking, you could also take it even further and say "you talk southern," "you talk New England," and "you speak British." There are different dialects for different regions. I'm sure some of the words that Olivia uses are different than the U.S., but perfectly acceptable. Words like theatre and centre are English but not used in the U.S. Are they wrong? No, just different.
Color has nothing to do with it. It has more to do with geographical location. It's a culture based dialect.

[Yin]

Oh, this is one of the reasons I dropped out of high school. People would do exactly what you mentioned whenever I spoke, and I didn't speak very much. I'd hear out the corner of my ear "she's the whitest black girl I've seen/heard". First of all, I'm not black, I'm hispanic, and how am I the whitest black girl you've ever seen/heard? What is it about me? Is it because I am my own individual and didn't fit in with the crowd that watched BET 24/7? Because I didn't fit in with all the 14 year old pregnant girls who though being pregnant at 14 was "cool" when they probably knew the baby's father would leave (or didn't even know who the baby's father was). Or maybe it's because I didn't wear Baby Phat and Apple Bottoms or whatever that crap was called.
Oh, no, wait it was because I spoke english the way it was meant to be spoken... Hmm, my mistake. I'm sorry I had GUIDANCE as a child and knew not to do what I saw on TV... I'm sorry I read books as a child and knew how to speak proper english. But not a lot of people had what I had.

I can go on and on with this topic, it's not JUST the speech, it is also the way people act that can also determine if the person is "acting a color".