resp 2

Subsequent responses to your peers or instructor should be a minimum of three complete sentences representing college-level English. Brief sentences with statements such as “I agree”, etc. will not be given credit. To be on the safe side, include several sentences for each post with additional questions or examples for your peers. Please be sure to check your work for grammar/spelling/punctuation/capitalization errors. Points will be deducted from your weekly discussion scores if these mistakes are repeated on a weekly basis.

Response:

Jamila Lyiscott is a poet that went on a TED talk to recite her poem, 3 ways to speak English. Her poem moved me because of how deep I could feel her frustration with these social constructs about her language. She starts her poem by referring back to a moment when a women heard her talking "proper English"  and called her articulate. Jamila continued explaining her sudden epiphany.  The women assumed she was an educated individual solely because of how she spoke. This meant that if she would've presented herself in the "hood English", then she might off had a different opinion about her. For example, the woman could've assumed she wasn't as articulate. 

Jamila also talks about her third language: Patois. Her poem asks her audience to also consider the language she speaks with her family. She states that her people have been driven to feel ashamed because of how they speak English. Racial profiling is the reason people tend to automatically judge her hood English. My favorite line "don't say my hair is bad unless you see it rob a bank" explains how she gets judged without her asking. She states don't even call my hair good. Jamila simply wants to live her life without someone constantly assuming things about her because of how she speaks or looks.