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December 09, 2005
No Hablo English?
Some things will never change. When people ask me why I am so sensitive about language issues and why it is that I want to pursue a career in cultural rhetoric, I often explain that I there is a huge gap in the knowledge perataining to my culture and language. That while we may all speak what appears to be the same language, our rhetoric does indeed vary, and is socially constructed in unique ways. I am usually an optimist, and certainly protective of my cultural rhetoric, specifically because of this ignorance. I have this idea that if enough of us (Latino/as) become scholars of language, perhaps the xenophobia that runs rampant in our society (with regard to Latino/as) will diminish. The problem lies in that there are more (pseudo) scholars that perpetuate the racism than there are Latino/as scholars. Case and point: a young man is suspended from school because he was caught speaking Spanish in the hallway. WHAT? But that's not the good part. The good part is that the jackass principal (the pseudo-scholar) actually confirmed this and added that she has asked the Spanish speaking students before not to communicate in their native tongue. So, because her hegemonic, racist rule is not being followed, she suspended the boy. Where did this happen? Kansas City-where a colleague of mine is from. D has told me some horror stories of living there and the lack of tolerance for people of color-but this is something that I would have never expected. In private, acts of racism are certainly not surprising; it's to be expected wherever racism is the rule and not the exception, however,in a public school setting-absolutely not! And what's worse is the fact that the students’ father has to go to court to fight this-because freedom of speech certainly doesn't apply to personas de habla Hispano. It's the same story. Justification, rationalization, hateration...So when you see me and I am ranting about race, culture and the like, you'll know why. When you think of me as a Latina that is obsessed with her Latinadad, you'll know why. And when you hear people speaking another language, don't hate on them by accusing them of being rude because you can't understand what their saying. Instead, ACCEPT the fact that white (monolingualism) is not always right, nor do you have the right to be included in a conversation that was created for ears other than your own. Or better yet, stop subscribing to the myth that monolingualism is the key to your (or anyone else's) happiness. Besides, none of us Latinos believe the hype; we know America does not really love us-even as it proclaims to do so.
Or in the words of MC Lyte...
When you say you love me, it doesn't matter.
It goes to my head as just chit chatter
You may think it's egostistical or just worry free
But what you say I take none of it seriously
And even if I did I wouldn't tell you so
I'd let you pretend to read me
and then you'd know.
Cause I hate when one attempts to analyze.
In fact I despize those who even try
to look into my eyes to see what I am thinking.
That dream is over you gotta sink it.
I tell all of you like I told all of them
what you say to me is just paper thin, word
Buen dicho!
Posted by dvaldesd at December 9, 2005 06:25 PM