thatpettyblackgirl:

If this isn’t the truest thing I’ve ever read…

I can’t count how many times and in how many ways I’ve been asked to shrink and censor myself as an assertive, educated white woman who’s fluent in the dominant cultural language (that is, “white af”) of society. It has bitten off chunks of my self confidence again and again.

I cannot IMAGINE how much of themselves women of color have to lock away to succeed in this world, or how angry and frustrated that must make them feel.

One of my professors in my credential program is a black woman. She is absolutely incredible; she’s the most accomplished educator I have ever encountered, and every minute in her classroom is precious. The other day during a lesson, she was getting passionate about a topic and began using phrases distinctly linked to black culture, and she said, “See, there I go, I’m using my home language.”

There was no shame in her voice; she was taking that opportunity to demonstrate how teachers need to be aware of what persona they’re putting forth based on their audience. But she’s talked about how difficult it was to be the only black woman in her education courses in college. I can’t imagine that coming to accept her voice was easy. I can’t imagine that learning to speak in the whitewashed voice of academia didn’t involve shame about her home language at some point.

I dunno, all this is just to emphasize how important it is VALUE more than just white modes of speaking/being so we don’t lock people of color (particularly women) out of conversations and industries and the upper echelons of society because their dialect or accent or behaviors aren’t white. I’m seeing this emphasized again and again in my education courses – linguistic diversity as a rich asset instead of some roadblock to overcome – and I so hope that the teachers getting their credentials now can make a real difference in this toxic culture in the next generations.