Category: Blog 3

Jordan finds fault with the quote “one of the most unselfish missions ever undertaken by one nation in defense of another” because it was an understatement. Jordan refers to the quote as “the language of the power” suggesting that white people who rule the country all speak in that way. It is very easy for people like Nixon to sugarcoat many things because he is white and he has that privilege. Jordan emphasizes that the definitions of words and phrases in White English are different in Black English. It is simply two separate languages – the language of the powerful and the powerless.

When Jordan says, “The problem is that we are saying language, but really dealing with power” he really means that the problem is not just the difference in language between whites and blacks. The real issue is that those in power stay in power and those who are powerless just have to absorb and take in the fate they have been born into. The problem is that Black English is not being heard loud enough and not being acknowledged. This enforces White English even more and even with Jordan’s comparison to a school as a “battleground”, he is implying that the language that is being taught in schools makes black people feel like they don’t belong or that they have to change who they are to be “normal”.

I personally stand with Jordan in that White English is so normalized in our society and so embedded into our lives, we are losing our own cultural language and practices. I think he is illustrating that no matter what, our first language is our best language and we should use it to fight for our wants and needs. We should use our voice and our language instead of being okay with being powerless and silent. Speak up and advocate for your language.

June Jordan finds fault in the quote ,” One of the most unselfish missions ever undertaken by one nation in defense of another” because she describes it to be a monstrous lie. She believes white people in power is never direct within their faults and tend to down play situations. She says after his quote,” You let any black child lead you to the truth: let him tell you about the twelve days of Christmas” carpet bombing”, My lai, day by day incineration of human lives, the mining of rivers .” She is basically saying for each genocide it was played out as if it was something else. She also believes that white English is the language of the powerful and black English is the language of the powerless.

I think she means the main issue isn’t about black or white English but it has to do with which race has the most power in America. She continuously state that all of them white folks ruling the country all talk that standard white English. The ”standard” white English is considered normal where as black English is looked as broken down or not proper English. I am confused as to why there is a comparison between white vs. black English when white people wouldn’t be considered speaking proper English when talking to a British person. In America black people are looked as the less important when the white is the most important. I believe this all comes back to money talks. You only have a say if your pockets are wealthy.