Comments on: ‘You Must Have Voted for Obama’: 5 Things NEVER to Say to Blacks

By: NSR

NSR — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 06:42:51 +0000

For the younger generations: do not automatically assume that older Black professionals are “affirmative action” hires and therefore not as qualified as you are. Many of us graduated from through the same institutions as you, have the same (and probably more) professional credentials as you, and are accomplished in our professions.

By: Charity Dell

Charity Dell — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 21:15:33 +0000

Most black speakers HAVE to be “more articulate” than the average American speaker, or they won’t be allowed
to speak/present. Most Americans are NOT that articulate because most Americans–of any ethnic group–have poor grammar and usage skills and cannot utilize Standard American English very well. I’ve taught ESL and frankly, MOST Americans need ESL due to several factors:
1. No correction from parents and teachers.
2. We teachers are typically told NOT to verbally
correct a student’s language, but instead “model it for them.” Now, this same student WILL be verbally corrected in any OTHER world language class–but English teachers aren’t “supposed to correct the students.”
3. Today’s students are typically RESISTANT to correction–even gentle correction!–and RESISTANT
to following rules and/or directions about ANYTHING.
Their parents/caregivers have set them up for this
by NOT CORRECTING THEM AS PRE-SCHOOLERS.

So when these students reach adulthood and enter the
workplace, they are typically INARTICULATE and RESISTANT TO CORRECTION–and they don’t or won’t FOLLOW ANY DIRECTIVES OR ACCEPT CORRECTION.

By: Lee

Lee — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 18:01:01 +0000

EMM, you can compliment a speaker on different aspects of their presentation not just on how effective you perceive the presentation to have been. If I believe a speaker was articulate in making their presentation or had excellent vocal variety or impressive gestures and body language or made good use of personal anecdotes and so on, in other words whatever impressed me about their presentation, I let them know about it, given the opportunity.

By: EMM

EMM — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 15:37:51 +0000

Lee, why not just compliment the speaker on the content of their presentation. Afterall, isn’t that the point – not how articulate the speaker was but how effective the presentation.

By: Lee

Lee — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 14:12:39 +0000

The most articulate speakers I’ve heard (and by articulate I mean they pronounce words correctly, speak very clearly, and speak in complete sentences with well-formed thoughts) just happen to have been Black but I know not to compliment them with the word articulate because of the negative connotation. So, instead I either say nothing or find some other way to give a compliment about it. Since I’ve done a lot of public speaking, and won many awards for it, I very much appreciate articulate speakers. It’s what I strive to do. It’s too bad that I can compliment a White person on being articulate but not a Black person – but I understand and give deference to the difference.

By: Luke Visconti

Luke Visconti — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 14:24:11 +0000

Yes and no. I acknowledge that you posted your comment with positive sincerity; however, I agree with your first point, but not the second. “African-American” refers to descendants of enslaved Black people. The reason we use an entire continent instead of a country (e.g., “Italian-American”) is because slave masters purposefully obliterated tribal ancestry, language and family units in order to destroy the spirit of the people they enslaved, thereby making it impossible for their descendants to trace their history prior to being born into slavery. This was all in an effort to prevent enslaved people from organizing and revolting their bondage. Enforcing illiteracy of enslaved people (by law) and obliterating any sense of history or familial ties was a tradition in our country for more than 100 years (predating the Revolution)—which is why our African-American fellow citizens cannot trace their heritage past the continent.

It is important to emphasize this part of American history, and this is why America is unique in having people who are African-American. Please read Fredrick Douglass’ autobiography My Bondage and My Freedom for a personal insight into this. You’ll also learn the bone-chilling origin of the common phrase “sold down the river.”

Post-slavery immigrants from a country in Africa can identify themselves by where they came from—country and, if appropriate, tribe. If they wish, they may refer to themselves by their hyphenated identity—”Sudanese-American,” for example. Luke Visconti, CEO, DiversityInc

By: Jeffrey Schmitt

Jeffrey Schmitt — Sat, 16 Feb 2013 02:54:07 +0000

“Don’t assume all Blacks are African American; there also are people who are African, Afro-Latino, Afro-European, Afro-Carribean, etc.”

Thank you for posting that. One of my best friends in high school was black but traced is ancestry back to France. It bothered him whenever someone referred to him as “African-American”.

On the flip-side, one of my son’s best friends in high school was born in America, but both of his parents were born and raised in Africa. He could legitimately be called “African-American”, but probably never will be since all of them are caucasian.

Just goes to show, you can’t judge a book by its cover… or a person by their color.

By: Charity Dell

Charity Dell — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 21:05:43 +0000

This is a great list! Let me add a few more that have bothered me for YEARS:

1. “You’re not like the OTHER Black people!”–this is code language for “You speak standard American English” or “you have interests OTHER than hair, clothes and sports.” Most African-americans over 30 do NOT speak “urban hip-hop slang” and believe it or not, African
American Vernacular English (AAVE)is not the only language spoken by African-americans! So please don’t look shocked if we speak French, Spanish, Portuguese,
German, Russian, Tagalog or Mandarin in addition to Standard American English.

2. “Don’t you attend Shiloh BAPTIST Church?” NO–we are also Methodist, Presbyterian, Pentecostal, Roman Catholic, Disciples of Christ, Lutheran, United Church of Christ, Episcopal, and non-denominational Christians, in addition to Baptist. TV and movies always portray us as some kind of “Generic Baptist”–but media portrayals are not REALITY! Some of us are also BAHAI, BUDDHIST, JEWISH and MUSLIM.

3. “Why are Black people different colors?”–Answer–for the same reason that the REST of humanity has different
colors–GENETIC VARIATION. (I’ve been asked this question by college graduates).

4. “Why can’t you just forget about slavery and “move on”?–Answer–It’s a vital part of our history AND the history of the United States. We can’t “just forget”
about hundreds of years of systemic oppression, any more
than Jews “should just forget about the Holocaust” or
Irish people “should just forget about the potato famine” or Americans should “just forget about 1776.”
Knowing and scknowledging ALL of your history is the first step to understanding TODAY’S socio-political
realities.