Question

What does James Baldwin say about the language?

Answer 1

“If Black English Isn’t a Language, Then Tell Me, What Is?” By James Baldwin, goes into depth about what a language is and what it represents. Baldwin makes a bold statement that he wasn’t trying to exactly argue about the language but the role languages play. He states “People evolve a language in order to describe and thus control their circumstances, or in order not to be submerged by a reality that they cannot articulate. (And, if they cannot articulate it, they are submerged.)”. Languages come to life by being able to communicate and describe our thoughts and emotions to others. Being put into circumstances where we don’t comprehend what is being said, we feel lost and left out, almost like being underwater. He says that language is also power and that language can be dangerous as well. He comes to say that it can reveal one's private identity, hidden hopes, and can either disconnect or connect one to society. Language gives us the power to mistreat, it can allow us to reveal things that are better unknown. In his writing what caught my eye is when he says, “ Now, I do not know what white Americans would sound like if there had never been any black people in the United States, but they would not sound the way they sound. Jazz, for example, is a very specific sexual term, as in jazz me, baby, but white people purified it into the Jazz Age.”. I agreed when he says this. Black people have influenced and continue to influence millions of people of different races, such as, how we speak, dress, etc. In this quote, he is also saying that they made a tangible foundation in which white people tried to make their own. He also states “The brutal truth is that the bulk of white people in American never had any interest in educating black people, except as this could serve white purposes.”. He feels that the only reason the white people taught black people their language is to use them as slaves. It would be easier to command and push someone around if they understand your orders. In saying this he makes a point that a child can’t be taught by someone who doesn’t have the right intentions for him.