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Is the End of Code-Switching Nigh?
Writers weigh in on their cultural comms style
Talking White.
That’s what they called it back when I was a kid and that’s what they still call it now. Talking White meant avoiding the Black vernacular and cultural phrases stemming from spending three days a week in church and the remainder on my grandmother’s porch. Some people applauded that language. Others lambasted it. But all agreed that “talking White” was the best way to get and to keep a job no matter the race of the folks doing the hiring.
The ability to properly switch between White speak and Black speak, or to blend it together at will, is a superpower in the United States. Very few people can actually do this type of code-switching unless they are Black. And it’s not just about language. It’s also tone, inflection, modulation, and emphasis. For some it’s about hair, style of dress, and even their stance and walking gait. But lately it seems that a number of people are stepping forward to say they are tired of the switcheroo and plan to fully embrace their own cultural vernacular in all spaces — including at work.
This can only be a good thing in the fight to erase racism — showing up as your authentic self.
The Only Black Guy in the Office is a column written by an anonymous Black man who has wry observations about being the only one. This week’s piece gets at the code-switching issue quite clearly.
Keydra Manns, in ZORA, also penned a lovely essay about her decision to stop the switch. In part she says this:
Per NPR’s Code Switch podcast, code-switching is “the practice of shifting the languages you use or the way you express yourself in your conversations.” But for me, it went beyond language. Starting from pre-K, and going through college and my first job, I altered my image and speech in the presence of White people, thinking it would lead to acceptance and help propel my career.
But it didn’t. Just like that little girl who…
