If US English were Blackcentric, like how it is now Whitecentric, it might go something like this:
- non-Black – this would be common instead of words like “minorities”, “non-white”, “black”, etc. The race of non-Black people would be pointed out. The race of Black people, in most cases, would not. Black people are just people. It is everyone else who is different.
- American – mainly means Black people in the US. It is the Americanness of everyone else which needs to be qualified: Latin American, White American, Asian American, Native American, etc.
- we, our, everyone, the world – means Black people.
- universal, normal, mainstream, regular – said of Black culture, not White culture.
- cool – determined by Black culture, not by White cultural appropriation.
- ethnic, native – non-Black.
- suburban – respectful term for White culture.
- trailer trash – disrespectful term for White culture.
- the outer city – lily-White suburbia, trailer parks.
- good hair – natural hair.
- progress – progress for Black people.
- freedom – freedom for Black people.
- history – the history of Africa and the Diaspora. “World history” would throw in a few token chapters on non-Blacks.
- invention – invented by a Black person.
- discovery – discovered by a Black person.
- contribution – inventions and discoveries made by non-Blacks.
- racists – would be judged more by consequences than stated intentions. Not limited to those who use the N-word or join the Klan.
- oversensitive – said of Whites who are uncomfortable talking about race or being told they are racist.
- The New Jim Crow – the War on Drugs.
- the injustice system – what is now called the justice system.
- police cover-up – the police investigating themselves.
- unconstitutional stops – racial profilng.
- police crime – police brutality.
- crime, criminal – not limited to street crime, but extended to at least police crime and white-collar crime and Wall Street crime. “Martha Stewart is a criminal.”
- terrorist – not limited to Muslims but extended to White militias, hate groups and police brutality.
- thug – a lawlessly violent White man.
- lone wolf, nutcase, criminal, hero – a lawlessly violent Black man.
- European American – the polite way to say “White”.
- Caucasian – the condescending way to say “White”.
- white – not always capitalized, even when Black is. White things would be called White:
- White crime,
- White-owned businesses,
- White fathers,
- White suicide,
- White author,
- Predominately White Institutions (PWIs).
- White Hollywood – the White-owned part of the US film industry.
- White media – what is now called the mainstream media.
- White history – what is now called just “history” at school.
- White English – what is now called just “English” at school. In books it would be spelled phonetically, as if Whites lack education or intelligence, as if they are the only ones who drop their g’s.
- White pathology – why White people are screwed up compared to idealized Black people. In particular:
- toxic White masculinity – why White men are thugs.
- The White community – expected to condemn White crime, racism and terrorism.
Some of this would be better than what we have now. Some of it would merely make the old mistakes in new ways. Some might be a valuable corrective in a White English world.
– Abagond, 2016.
See also:
542
Make sure you get Kenya Moore’s title correct she will let you know with a quickness she was Miss USA. She get’s insulted if you confuse her pageant with any of the others. LOL!
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…and the libraries would have sections labeled ‘white history’, ‘white customs’ etc.
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European American – the polite way to say “White”.
I prefer this far more than caucasian. I wish it had caught on back in the late ’80s.
Very good point about inventions, discoveries, and contributions.
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@ Pam Vernon
Actually, there is a “white history” – it’s called American history and it’s NOT confined to one, short and cold month full of holidays, award shows, pro football super bowls, and pro basketball all-star games (wow! numerous distractions for a people). White history is celebrated in classrooms and society every month. Must be nice!
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Welfare Queen – Poor, single white mother.
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@Michael Cooper: Yes, to that statement well said.
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@ Joan
Actually, America’s welfare queens are white and live in Appalachia USA. Owsley and Clay County (in Kentucky) are full of them.
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Yeah but how would this ‘anti-establishment’ bias come from a black default – wouldn’t english be from the culture (ie assuming it’s black government), sorry this one seems a little off the mark
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In my experience, when White Americans say “we”, they think of white Americans only, not white people in general. “We” is always American, and “this country” always means USA. So I’d say with a black default “we” would mean black Americans, if you want to go with the analogy.
Especially for online communication. Remember, everyone is American online until proven otherwise!
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Not sure I get this
Does that mean that whites would the main target for drug possession, the main victims of stop and frisk and majority of the incarcerated?
I like this one. However, I would add to it “said of whites who are uncomfortable referring to themselves in racial terms.
Need to add this tip too:
(https://abagond.wordpress.com/2012/07/20/notes-on-how-not-to-write-about-native-americans/)
Wonder about these terms
“Melting Pot” – the Black melting pot. Whites would be just “white”; there is no need to distinguish them any further.
“People of a different culture”
Wonder if we should include a list of things that might not change at all, eg,
“(Perpetual) Foreigners”
“Savages”
“exotic”
“Primitive”
“Heathen”
“Illegal Alien” or “Illegal Immigrant”
“Manifest Destiny”
@Mira,
Agree. If the US were black-centric, “we” would refer to black Americans only, not all black people.
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@ Joan @ Michael Cooper
welfare queen should also include oil companies, agribusiness and ranchers like Cliven Bundy. Even the car industry, whose bail out dwarfs anything Black people ever got.
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@ Mira @ jefe
we, our, everyone, I agree, would mainly just mean Blacks in the US. But the world would probably mainly mean Africa and the Diaspora, just as it now means Europe and its diaspora.
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@ v8driver @ jefe
Right, for Black Default English to take effect, it would have to be backed up by some kind of power. This post does not assume what that would be, whether a Black revolution in the US or the rise of Anglophonic Africa or something else.
I have not run the numbers, but it seems likely that at some point in the next 80 years, Africa will have more English speakers than North America.
Nollywood seems to have already passed Hollywood in the number of English-language films made in a year, though Hollywood still has a much bigger worldwide reach.
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@ Jefe
An earlier draft of this post did have a list of centric words that would stay the same and those that would likely fall out of use. I did not develop that part of the post, but from what I can remember I had:
unchanged:
God – the Christian god.
regime – government opposed to US interests.
here – the US.
dropped: nation of immigrants, thug,
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Ok, I’m going to show my ignorance here, but I’m posting because I genuinely want to understand the perceived “Whitecentric” meanings of these phrases if they are not the same as the Blackcentric ones:
I thought “Suburban” was already code for “White” and I thought it was part of the problem, not part of the solution.
I also thought the following suburban was used to mean exactly what you’ve defined it as here. Or did you mean ALL White culture? OH I get it now… most Whites don’t identify with any culture and very much look down on a specific Whitecentric and overtly racist subculture that gets labeled . In Blackcentric English, all Whites get lumped into the culture regardless of how they identify. Look at that, I can learn stuff.
What else would “The New Jim Crow” be associated with if not the war on drugs? I mean, it’s deeper than that but, I’m unclear on what the current Whitecentric meaning of it is.
As for “Police Coverup”… I think that a investigating themselves is certainly a form of coverup but I would argue that most coverups involve no public awareness and therefore no “investigation” at all. In either case, it certainly seems accepted that police investigating themselves = coverup. So I guess, if you’re playing the opposite game, in Blackcentric English you might say that “Fair & Impartial Policing” = we all know police target Whites and cover it up.
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Abagond,
I agree: “the world” would include Africa and black people internationally, but “we” would still refer to black Americans only. Heck, even today some American black people use US-centric language (like “this country”) so I wouldn’t expect that to be changed. But when talking about a global scale (the world), that one would include black people internationally, especially countries and nations with black majority.
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@ Mira
Not trying to start an argument, but if you live in America, why wouldn’t you use US-centric language? That goes for all races in America. I’d assume Canadians, British, etc use language that is national centric as well.
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Maybe this post is entirely wrong and viewed through colonialist tinted lenses .
If Europeans got things excessively wrong maybe Africans would have done things excessively right and mixed with the natives in creating an inclusive culture, government and country (countries?) in which everyone was treated equally.
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Joan,
The “we” thing is not limited to Americans. People generally use “we” for the group they see as their own, and it’s rarely “the world”. But we’re talking about Americans/USians here, hence my comment.
Though there seems a weird tendency for Americans to assume everyone online is American, and I have no idea why. Even on a generalized website not dedicated to American issues/news alone. Like, anyone can access a website, from anywhere. Things like “we” and “this country” are meaningless online because you never know where other people participating are from.
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Kiwi said,
“That said, I’d love to see a post on how to tell if a commenter is American. The thread on how to tell if a commenter is White would be a great starting point.”
Americans think that America is “good”. That America’s history is responsible for bringing “democracy” to an otherwise totalitarian world. That American ingenuity put a man on the moon and American innovation is solely the result of American style capitalism. That American freedom offers opportunities for all who come here. That American war is just and that our justice system a model for the world to follow. Their are of course exceptions but its the individuals inability to embrace American values and assimilate that’s the cause of poverty, crime and want. It couldn’t possibly be America because we are the light within darkness.
A white commenter on this blog becomes offended immediately, doesn’t bother to read the entire post, and takes any criticism personally. Willfully obtuse comes to mind. It’s like watching lemmings fall of a cliff.
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@ Mira
They tend to think everything in the news happened in the United States. I think some of it is pure ignorance (didn’t read the article) or trolling, which is why people leave comments like “This country has gone to hell thanks to Obama!” on a story about a stabbing in Britain.
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Reblogged this on Boycott.
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Oh man… I used brackets to surround a phrase and it disappeared… just realized that and it made my paragraph make no sense… sorry about that. It should have read:
I also thought the -moderated phrase- following suburban was used to mean exactly what you’ve defined it as here. Or did you mean ALL White culture? OH I get it now… most Whites don’t identify with any culture and very much look down on a specific Whitecentric and overtly racist subculture that gets labeled -moderated phrase-. In Blackcentric English, all Whites get lumped into that -moderated phrase- culture regardless of how they identify. Look at that, I can learn stuff.
Anyway, nobody wants to clue me in on the Whitecentric American English meanings of “Suburban” and “New Jim Crow” as they differ from the ones stated in the OP?
@UglyBlackJohn
I literally had this same sentiment written but, I deleted it because I thought it might come off wrong coming from me.
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