Dan wrote:
The NPR show "Public Interest" (now called The Kojo Nnamdi Show) talked about that issue a couple of years ago. The guest was Edward R. Braithwaite, the author who wrote the semi-autobiographical novel, _To Sir, With Love_ which was made into a movie starring Sidney Poitier.My "daughter" Nelli and I had a long talk last night about world politics, Africa, Europe, the US, land mines, Iraq, etc. Toward the end of it we discussed multi-generation African Americans. She said that that she has been told repeatedly that she wasn't "black enough" because she takes hard classes, goes to model UN, etc., instead of "chilling." She noted that first generation African Americans do much better than muli-generation African Americans.I've got a couple of questions about this: Is this a reasonable sample? Why?
This is all from memory... Braithwaite stated that when he travels to US Colleges and Universities, he frequently encounters the idea among African American students that writing "like white people" is a betrayal of their culture. However, in Africa, learning to speak and write well is valued very highly.
So yes, I would say it's a reasonable sample of an unreasonable behavior, if I understand your question correctly.
By the way, I just checked and the broadcast is available in realaudio at http://www.wamu.org/pi/shows/piarc_000313.html#thursday
Reggie Bautista
From memory, hoping I haven't misrepresented anything Maru
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