Is It "Wrong" To Say That Someone "Sounds" Black?? (page 2)

minimus

In Boston, the inner city (where I live close to), it is an exception for a black male or female to sound articulate. Our governor is that notable exception. I've heard many say that "he sounds white". Just reporting.....

Mary

Oh gee, I wonder what Al Sharpton's view on this would be?

minimus

The Rev would have no idea what the question meant.

BFD

I don't think it's any wronger than saying someone "sounds" gay. People need to lighten up.

BFD

ColdRedRain

Nope. In fact, I'm black and I sound nothing like I'm black. I'm well spoken.

LongHairGal

I saw the Boston Legal episode the other day and I liked Candace Bergen's character's press conference speech.

This political correctness nonsense is absolutely retarded and has to stop. I mean, as far as saying can somebody sound "too" black: well, can somebody sound "too" Southern, "too" Jewish, "too" Brooklynese, etc.?? Of course they can. The problem is when people get bent out of shape for pointing this out. The whole thing is insanity.

Maybe when somebody is asked to give a physical or ethnic description of somebody they should draw a stick figure.

LHG

Leolaia

If you watched the episode, you may recall that when Denny said that Urkel (sorry, he's always gonna be Urkel to me) "didn't sound black", it was an explanation of what he meant when he earlier said that he sounded "articulate". And as Odo (sorry, he's always gonna be Odo to me) explained to Denny, it's not the fact that you can't mention that there is such a thing as "sounding black" as there is a distinctive dialect of English that such a label refers to, it's the offensive implication in the language that suggests that a person is inarticulate if he or she speaks that way, and that one is not black or authentically black if one does not "sound black". I had an African-American professor once who could "sound black," "sound white," and "sound Latino," and he did a study in which he telephoned housing people in response to classified ads, using different accents in different phone calls with the same people, and was able to show quantitatively how housing discrimination occurs merely on the accent of one's voice. And that is where the discourse of people "sounding black" ultimately pokes at, that it can be deployed in racial discrimination.

Tuesday

This probably sounds wierd, I don't know how someone would "sound" black. I'm at a customer service job now where I'm on the phone all day, I can't pick anyone out as being black by listening to them. I guess I could pick out uneducated, and maybe age, but race has to be impossible.

Finally-Free

Denny Crane said he was impressed by the "articulate" man who didn't "sound" black.

Well, that's really white of him!

W

Marvin Shilmer

In my opinion it is derogatory racial stereotyping to suggest a person “sounds black” if said in reference to uneducated statements in a vernacular laced with bumpkin euphemism, slang and slurred words. The world is full of uneducated people who “sound” like this, and they come in all flavors.

But I do not think it racial for a person to say “sounds like blacks I grew up with,” or “sounds like blacks in my experience,” or “sounds like blacks in my locality” if the sound is distinctive and historically valid. This is no more than an honest expression of experience, and it could refer to a wide range of distinction based on an individual's experience.

Marvin Shilmer

Is It "Wrong" To Say That Someone "Sounds" Black??

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