In “If Black English Isn’t a Language, Then Tell Me, What is?”, James Baldwin explains the importance of language and how language is not exclusively for communication, it can be used to classify people with different social backgrounds and class, making it a tool to judge people based on their accents. Baldwin writes “There have been, and are, times, and places, when to speak a certain language could be dangerous, even fatal. Or, one may speak the same language, but in such a way that one’s antecedents are revealed, or (one hopes) hidden. This is true in France, and is absolutely true in England: The range (and reign) of accents on that damp little island make England coherent for the English and totally incomprehensible for everyone else. To open your mouth in England is (if I may use black English) to “put your business in the street”: You have confessed your parents, your youth, your school, your salary, your self-esteem, and, alas, your future”. Baldwin also explains the importance of language by saying the white rule over slaves would never have lasted as long as it did if the slaves didn’t have a language barrier, he states “A language comes into existence by means of brutal necessity, and the rules of the language are dictated by what the language must convey”. Black English came into existence because of the dispersion of black people from different tribes, its creation helped the slaves to form a community and to combat tough times.

What stood out to me the most was when Baldwin said “A language comes into existence by means of brutal necessity, and the rules of the language are dictated by what the language must convey” This sentence makes me think of human history relating to the river valley civilizations and how language was a necessity in order to survive in their environment, leading to slavery in the United States and how Black English only came to existence because of the need to communicate that came with the adversity of slavery.

In “If Black English Isn’t a Language, Then Tell Me, What is?”, James Baldwin states how language is important and how it has evolved over time. Baldwin writes “People evolve a language in order to describe and thus control their circumstances or in order not to be submerged by a reality that they cannot articulate”(Baldwin 1).In other words languages are made to be able to converse our ideas, felling and concerns with one another. With difficult experiences and difficulties people evolve their language. An example of this would be when Baldwin mentions, “ Blacks came to the United States chained to each other, but from different tribes: Neither could speak the other’s language . . . and under these conditions, the slave began the formation of the black church, and it is within this unprecedented tabernacle that black English began to be formed” (Baldwin 6). The slaves were not all taken from one tribe but in fact from many different tribes. All tribes had different ways of communicating, so this created a language barrier between slaves. To amend this problem they created Black English. In hopes of increasing the rate of survival as well as building a community.

One quote that caught my eye was, “A Frenchman living in Paris speaks a subtly and crucially different language from that of the man living in Marseilles; neither sounds very much like a man living in Quebec; . . . although the “common” language of all these areas is French”(Baldwin 1). All these countries or cities speak the same language which is French but yet none for the most part comprehend what the other is trying to say. This is because they all have different characteristics which allow them to form different identities. Not only is this true with french but other languages as well. For instance how different dialects of spanish are spoken in different countries. When the latin Americans speak spanish the people who speak castilian Spanish can not perceive what they are saying. The people who speak Andalusian spanish can not perceive the Mexican or caribbean spanish.

After reading “If Black English Isn’t a Language, Then Tell Me, What Is?” by James Baldwin, he talks about his definition and point of view of what language is. One of his main points was that language is a political instrument, he says “It reveals the private identity, and connects one with, or divorces one from, the larger, public, or communal identity”(Baldwin). This conveys how language defines who one is based on the larger public or communal identity. In his definition of language, he views it as a way for a group to be allowed to define and express who they are based on other groups perspective of them. For example, he mentions “A Frenchman living in Paris speaks a subtly and crucially different language from that of the man living in Marseilles,” this shows how these two different people living in different parts of France are viewed differently due to their different language despite of the common language in France which is French. Another main point of James Baldwin is when he talks about the differentiation between a language and a dialect. He supports this by saying “A people at the center of the Western world, and in the midst of so hostile a population, has not endured and transcended by means of what is patronizingly called a “dialect”(Baldwin). He defines a dialect as a simply version of a language that white people talk. He adds on by saying how black people back in slavery time deserved more than a simple version of the white language.

One interesting idea that stood out to me was when James Baldwin says “There have been, and are, times, and places, when to speak a certain language could be dangerous”(Baldwin). An example of this is when the attack of 9/11 happened, there were was a lot of hatred towards Muslims. People of the United States believed that any Muslim that lived in the U.S. were the ones to blame but in reality the main one to blame was the group of ISIS. Also, people became very uncomfortable near any muslim who spoke in their language and this turned into danger for Muslim people because many people of the U.S. wanted to separate themselves from the Middle East. This proves how James Baldwin saying that a certain language could be dangerous because any Muslim, Indian, or Pakistan would be treated unfairly, get the cops on them, and even get violently attacked by an American        

“If Black English Isn’t a Language, Then Tell Me, What Is?” By James Baldwin, goes into depth of what a language is and what it represents. Baldwin makes a bold statement that he wasn’t trying to specifically argue about the language but the role languages play. He states “People evolve a language in order to describe and thus control their circumstances, or in order not to be submerged by a reality that they cannot articulate. (And, if they cannot articulate it, they are submerged.)”. Languages come to life to be able to communicate and describe our thoughts and emotions to one another. Being put into situations where we don’t understand what is being said, we feel lost, almost like being under water. He says that language is also power and that language can be dangerous. He comes to say that it can reveal ones private identity, hidden hopes and can either disconnect or connect one to the community. Language gives us power we can mistreat, it can allow us to reveal things that are better undiscovered. In his writing what caught my eye is when he says, “ Now, I do not know what white Americans would sound like if there had never been any black people in the United States, but they would not sound the way they sound. Jazz, for example, is a very specific sexual term, as in jazz me, baby, but white people purified it into the Jazz Age.”. I agreed when he says this. Black people have influenced and continue to influence many people of different races, such as, how we speak, dress, etc. In this quote he is also saying that they made a foundation in which white people tried to make their own. He also states “The brutal truth is that the bulk of white people in American never had any interest in educating black people, except as this could serve white purposes.”.  He feels that the only reason the white people taught the black people their language was so they can be slaves. It would be easier to command and push someone around if they understand your orders. In saying this he makes a point that a child can’t be taught by someone who doesn’t have the right intentions with him.

“A language comes into existence by means of brutal necessity, and the rules of the language are dictated by what the language must convey.”. This part caught my attention. It made me think about where languages even came from. He mentions in his writing how the whites educated blacks for the wrong intentions. It was brutal, they were only taught how to communicate with whites, to be taken advantage of. We use languages as a form of communication, we give words meanings, we give words placements, such as bad or good. We put words into categories. We convey with words what we want, whether it is good or bad. We hurt people with our words. And we make languages to separate one another, and make it known we are all not the same.

James Baldwin’s op-ed “If Black English Isn’t a Language, Then Tell Me, What Is?” was a piece I did not realize I needed to read.  My initial reaction to the title was bewilderment yet great interest in discovering what Baldwin wanted to convey. Once I began to read, I felt myself connecting with Baldwin and agreeing with and understanding his stance on the comprehension of African American culture in America.  In this op-ed, Baldwin explains how the creation of a language “ comes into existence by means of necessity, and the rules of the language are dictated by what the language must convey” (Baldwin 2). The creation of Black English is a prime example of this. According to Baldwin, the force that drove the establishment of Black English was the significant language barrier between slaves imported into the U.S.  Because they derived from a variety of African tribes and nations, they were unable to effectively communicate with each other in order to maintain a community and survive. This “brutal necessity” of surviving in a foreign land as a slave drove Black people to develop their own language. However, there are people who do not acknowledge the existence of Black English. To this, Baldwin challenges them in explaining the circumstances that force a new language to come about, and how the severeness of slavery was enough to be an exigence for the development of Black English.  

One of the several points Baldwin makes that caught my attention was his analysis on African Americans’ lack of education throughout history.  He states “ The brutal truth is that the bulk of of white people in American never had any interest in educating black people, except as this could serve white purposes . . .” (Baldwin 2).  Captivatingly, Baldwin emphasizes the truth about the historic relationship between White and Black Americans. Black America’s ignorance was not a product of their own choices and actions but the result of the constant belittling and suppression from White America.  The refusal to provide the same education to African Americans was a tool used to keep White people in power. Educated people of color, even in today’s society, are a threat to the power of white supremacy in America.

In “If Black English Isn’t a Language, Then Tell Me, What is?”, James Baldwin discusses the importance of language. He discusses that every person has a common language in which they articulate. Through these variety of languages, people express different realities and experiences they must go through. He shows this by writing “Frenchman living in Paris speaks a subtly and crucially different language than from that of a man living in Marseilles; neither sounds very much like a man living in Quebec; and they would all have great difficulty in comprehending what a man from Guadeloupe, or Martinique is saying . . .”(Baldwin 1). Baldwin also mentions that people must accept other’s achievements and identity which can be done by accepting one’s language including black language. Your language says a  lot about the type of person of who you are. He mentions how we, as humans, must not penalize people of color for creating their own language the shows the reality and struggles they have endures throughout history. “Black English is the creation of the black diaspora” (Baldwin 3). Black English represents black history and their struggles they have faced ever since they came to the United States chained to each other. Lastly, Baldwin mention how “. . .white people in America never had any interest in education black people, except as this could serve white purposes . . . A child cannot be taught by anyone who despises him, and a child cannot afford to be fooled”(Baldwin 3). This is very important because white people that despise people of color refuse to truly teach people of color, to help them become the best person they can be just because these type of people do not see the potential of a black child and that is something these children cannot afford.

James Baldwin, a brilliant writer, states “He cannot afford to understand it. This understanding would reveal to him too much about himself, and smash that mirror before which he has been frozen too long”(Baldwin 3). I found this very interesting and in fact, true. By saying this Baldwin is implying that white people refuse to understand black language for a reason. This reason is because white people were the ones that caused this language to form. They forced people of color to struggle, to lose their native languages and adapt to horrific, unsafe environment they must and continue to experience. White people cannot afford to neither accept nor understand black language because it will force them to accept and view who they really are as a person. It will allow them to understand their history as well; the history of plundering and denigrating the black body and that is something they refuse to accept. However, I believe the past will catch up with these racist, white people and sooner or later they will have to accept not only black language but the reality of their own history.

In “If Black English Isn’t a Language, Then Tell Me, What Is?,” James Baldwin addresses the way a language evolves and goes on to describe how “black english” evolved and grew into a language.  Baldwin explains how people evolved a language to “ . . . describe and thus control their circumstances, or in order to not be submerged by a reality that they cannot articulate.” In other words, he is saying that people evolve a language in order to be able to control the circumstances or situations they live in or in order to avoid being overwhelmed and consumed by a life or situation that they cannot control.  He also mentions that language is a form of identification when he says that “ . . . It reveals the private identity, and connect one with, or divorces one from, the larger public, or communal identity.” The language someone speaks helps identify them or distinguish them as part of a larger group. For example, in England and America, English is spoken but each has its own characteristics that help compare one to the other which makes both languages incomprehensible to each other.  Baldwin then goes on to explain how black English emerged when he says that the language came to existence out of a means of “brutal necessity.” They had to create a language that the white man wouldn’t be able to understand for their own protection. Slaves did not come into this country speaking the same language and if they did, slavery would have never lasted as long as it did. This directly connects to his previous point where he says “What joins languages, and all men, is the necessity to confront life, in order, not inconceivably, to outwit death.”  Black English evolved by means of survival.

In addition, I found it interesting when Baldwin says, “He cannot afford to understand it.  This understanding would reveal to him too much about himself, and smash that mirror before which he has been frozen for so long.”  Here he’s talking about how white men could not afford to understand the language that has evolved as black English because it would reveal to them to the truth of the lives they lived.  It would reveal to them how cruel and evil they were and why this language had to be created in the first place. Understanding this language would finally reveal to them the reality they refuse to face and see for themselves.  I found this interesting because the reason a language evolved could reveal the reality of something to a greater public which is something that seems obvious to me but also complex.

I wasn’t really confused on anything other than the phrases he used in the second paragraph on the second page such as “let it all hang out.”  Overall I found this article to be extremely interesting and it made me think about our language and how it affects the way we see the reality we live in.

Rachel really like how you explain the concept but also use example and evidence  to back up what you was talking  about. You also help understand more of the reading. You explained what you was talking about so it helps  me understand what your writing.

In “The Rhetorical Situation” by Lloyd F. Bitzer, he defines what a rhetorical situation is and the components that make up a rhetorical situation. Bitzer mentions how rhetorical situations is defined by “the context in which speakers or writers create rhetorical discourse”(Bitzer 1). One of Bitz’s main arguments is that there must be a situation for rhetors to come up with arguments. He provides an example of this by talking about Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, this is consider to be a rhetorical situation in which it influences social actions. Bitz mentions the three main components that make up a rhetorical situation which are exigence, audience, and constraints. He states how “exigence is rhetorical when it is capable of positive modification and when positive modification requires discourse or can be assisted by discourse”(Bitzer 7). This shows how exigence demands a proper response and it can be fixed by using rhetoric. The audience is an important factor because they are the ones who listen, interpret, and hopefully influence to enact a change. They are in between rhetoric and putting things into action. To add on, a rhetorical situation contain constraints which involves people, events, objects, and relations. These constraints have an effect on the audience and rhetor, when the orator enters the situation, the orator can have “ personal character, his logical proofs, and his style”(Bitzer 8), this can create a disconnection with the audience and rhetor.

Bitzer’s definition of rhetorical situation works  around three components exigence, audience, and constraints. He goes in depth with the three components and explain   and he also gave us example. Rhetor brings his own imperatives to the circumstance and any of these requirements may can possibly influence the intensity of the talk. When reading the rhetorical situation by Lloyd Bitzer, he has shown me what the meaning of a rhetorical situation but  many time during the read he confused me or I like that I interpret what he was say in a different way. For example when he explains the concept of audience in a rhetorical situation what it meant and what role they play. Bitzer explains “ a rhetorical audience consists only of those persons who are capable of being influenced by discourse and of being mediators of change . . . the rhetorical audience must be capable of serving as mediator of the change which the discourse functions to produce”(8). What I got from this is  that not everyone is an audience member could hear a speech but choose not to act on what the speaker is saying. But there was some text that i had trouble understanding. An example of something that i trouble with was the concept of exigence I’m having trouble finding out what it means. An example would be “a defect an obstacle, something waiting to be done”(6) how i look at the concept of exigence is that not all situation are rhetorical. I wanted to know if I’m correct.