If I were to radically alter my enunciation specifically for a talk to an audience composed of a certain race, well, there’s no question what message that would send about my opinion of that race’s intelligence and importance – and it wouldn’t be a good one
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As LGM points out, it’s not that different from his 2004 Convention speech in terms of speaking style. However, the audience has a different reaction.
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Apparently it’s offensive that black church audiences are passionate about their faith and feeding off that passion is racist.
Racism isn’t that there are differences between people of different races, racism is treating one race as inferior.
Well, shucks. Do I have to stop saying “y’all” now?
It’s hardly a controversial notion that people alter their speech patterns based on who their audience is. A good example is a friend of mine with British parents who only speaks with a British accent when he talks to his mother. He spent a night in jail in college and got a lot of grief from his cellmates when he called home.
I spent every summer as a kid in Georgia until age 11–I pick up a southern accent very easily.
I’ve seen Obama speak to black audiences, white audiences, and mixed audiences.
His accent and enunciation do not change — as these videos clearly point out.
What does change when speaking in an African American church is the audience response and expectations. Even political speeches are expected to be closer to sermons, and “call and response” is the preferred form.
Red State’s comments I think show an underlying racism. He seems to assume that every “articulate” black has to sound like the Gumbel brothers — or, perhaps more accurately, like the Wayans Brothers skit “The Brothers Brothers.”
I wonder what Red State makes of Rev. Jesse Jackson, one of the most articulate speakers in America, but one who does not speak in a sanitized accent.