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i kid you not...
yesterday i read a columnist's critique of joe biden's use of the particular word "articulate" to describe barack obama, connecting that usage to the thinly-veiled racism within such "congratulatory" white liberalist discourse. today i can't find the column again, or i'd post a link. it was a very interesting piece. i bring it up because like an hour after reading the editorial--i kid you not--i was riding the bus and chatting with someone i know from campus. he (a white man) was on his way to meet with charles johnson, a professor in my department, world-renowned scholar, novelist, essayist, cartoonist, mcarthur "genius" award recipient, and also a black man. my bus riding interlocutor said he couldn't wait to meet with johnson, and expressed a wide-eyed, amazed admiration for him, saying, "he's sooooo articulate! it's just amazing how well-spoken he is!"
was this just some weird coincidence? i felt deeply uncomfortable, and wanted nothing more than to exit the conversation. the thing is, i'm sure this guy genuinely does admire prof. johnson, and probably espouses progressive political views about various kinds of social justice. he is also the product of a society structured in dominance along the axes of race, class, gender, and sexuality, and as a straight, white male from an upper class background, he has access to privilege whether he wants it or not, whether he's conscious of it or not. as a (mostly) straight, white, overly educated female from a middle class background...so do i.
stuff like this makes me feel a kind of despair, and a wariness of opening my own mouth. what unexamined, privileged assumptions and presumptions lurk in my brain, haunt my speech? is there time, in a lifetime, exhaustively to unearth and sift and critically examine, reread, revise, rethink my entire psyche? no...and to try would be narcissistic. it's not about speaking, it's about engaging in conversation, which requires listening and hearing, letting go of power (which is not the same thing as disavowing it, denying its existence or my access to it, my role in reifying it), being open to potentially painful critique and transformative processes i cannot control.
was this just some weird coincidence? i felt deeply uncomfortable, and wanted nothing more than to exit the conversation. the thing is, i'm sure this guy genuinely does admire prof. johnson, and probably espouses progressive political views about various kinds of social justice. he is also the product of a society structured in dominance along the axes of race, class, gender, and sexuality, and as a straight, white male from an upper class background, he has access to privilege whether he wants it or not, whether he's conscious of it or not. as a (mostly) straight, white, overly educated female from a middle class background...so do i.
stuff like this makes me feel a kind of despair, and a wariness of opening my own mouth. what unexamined, privileged assumptions and presumptions lurk in my brain, haunt my speech? is there time, in a lifetime, exhaustively to unearth and sift and critically examine, reread, revise, rethink my entire psyche? no...and to try would be narcissistic. it's not about speaking, it's about engaging in conversation, which requires listening and hearing, letting go of power (which is not the same thing as disavowing it, denying its existence or my access to it, my role in reifying it), being open to potentially painful critique and transformative processes i cannot control.
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My reactions to the "articulate" thing:
- cringe
- Charles Johnson is a cartoonist?
To give the benefit of doubt to your acquaintence, often people fight stereotypes (racial, ethnic, class, regional, etc.) by working hard to be a counter example. My parents came from the mountains of West Virginia, and both worked hard to eliminate traces of Appalachian dialect/accent - the result is they are both probably more articulate than most. My mom grew up on a small family farm - when I was a kid, we didn't have many pets, and they were kept out of the living area of the house because animals belong outside and in the barn, not in the house.
So what I'm getting at is that I wouldn't be surprised if the "articulate" comment is as much a recognition of exceptional articulatedness (I am not articulate :) ) as a reaction to racist stereotypes - as it was some kind of subconsciously racist "he sure is articulate for a black man".
Ignoring the racial, regional, ethnic, and class biases inherent in a view of a one-dimensional continuum from dumb people to articulate people that speak "proper" english. Cue Johnny Cash singing "There's a southern accent, where I come from The young'uns call it country The Yankees call it dumb I got my own way of talkin' But everything is done, with a southern accent Where I come from".
Another thought - better to not sweat it too much, trying to censor any trace of subconscious racism. To the extent that you are shaped by your society and whatever privileges you may have, you will have a lot of stuff in your head that you might rather not have there. But being overly cautious for fear of offending people is just as revealing as speaking your mind. You are who you are, and you can work to improve yourself, but you will never be perfect.
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as for the post...yeah, i'm not so cautious that i feel socially paralyzed or anything, and i recognize that nobody will ever be perfect, least of all me. (i'm really not a believer in the whole concept of "perfect" anyway, because it just doesn't make sense to me. perfect for what? at what? in what geographical, historical, cultural context?)
and yes, charles johnson apparently does (or has done) some cartooning--at least he was introduced as such, at a talk i attended last fall. i haven't looked at any of his cartoons, though...so i couldn't speak to the genre, or suggest where to find them, etc. have you read any of his other work?
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Yep, I'm a wobbly in seattle. I've stepped back a bit once I had kids and much less time, but now that they're older (3 and 1) and sleep and time are coming back, I'm starting to get more involved.
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when did your wife do her MFA? i'm wondering if i know her...i've been at UW (in the english dept, lit/cultural studies track) since 2001. i was pretty good friends with the cohort of MFA'ers who started that year, too--went to castalia, etc. i keep in touch with some of them.
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