There are a few languages that I am conversant with. One is country speak which has an essay or more dedicated to it. The other is black speak. Black speak is the language used by those who trace their ancestry to Africa. I am conversant with both of these mutations of the English language but I never use country speak or black speak because it would not sound right coming from me.
Black speak is a colorful variant of the English language. One of the speakers of black speak is Jackie, a clerk at the Whole Foods Market in northern New Jersey. I would say that I have known Jackie for ten or twelve years and throughout that time she has been an exuberant practitioner of black speak. It is also clear that Jackie speaks her mind. You may recall the incident when a Jamaican clerk, Alrick, identified my new sneakers as “pimp shoes.” When I asked Jackie for her opinion, she was the one who said that I should take the shoes home, remove the laces, and cut the shoes into small pieces. Then she advised that I should throw the pieces to the far corners of the earth. So you see, Jackie speaks her mind. If I have not yet pointed out my feelings about Jackie, she is one of the most likeable persons in the world.
The way the Whole Foods Market is organized is that every clerk seems to have a responsibility not only for keeping the stock on the shelves but also they are expected to produce a profit. So the Whole Foods Market consists of dozens of profit centers.
Jackie does not suffer fools gladly. For example, there was an occasion recently when a customer searched the aisles for some merchandise which he could not locate. In her straightforward fashion and in black speak, Jackie told the customer, “If you don’t see it, we ain’t got it.” To Jackie, that was simply a statement of the obvious. Whether the potential customer took it that way remains to be seen.
But no matter how you cut it, Jackie has been a friend of mine for several years. I do not see that relationship changing anytime in the future. I am sorry that I do not have a surname for Jackie, but I am sure that she has one. I do know, however, that she does not drive. So it is up to her to reach the Whole Foods Market on public transportation. I would not be surprised but that Jackie has given the drivers eloquent instructions in black speak on where to let her off the bus.
A second example of black speak has to do with a reference by Martin Luther King Jr. in a speech he made at Oberlin College in June of 1965. This was also probably used in the speech he made later on the Mall in Washington to several thousand supporters. In the speech at Oberlin and again in the speech on the Mall, the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. quoted a preacher who had once been a slave. After 1865 he was free. According to Dr. King, the former slave preacher used these words to describe his current condition.
Lord, we ain’t what we oughta be;
We ain’t what we wanna be;
We ain’t what we’re gonna be;
But thank God we ain’t what we was! “
Oberlin College, June, 1965
I would say only, “Boy, oh boy, that was an indictment of slavery and it also recorded his exuberance on the end of slavery.”
There are other examples of black speak which I am sure that you have heard from time to time. Black speak is not an officially recognized member of the speaking fraternity. But it exists and how it exists. It seems to this observer of the English language that if there are expressions that convey the meaning of the speaker as clearly as do Jackie and the slave preacher, we ought to give cognizance to that method of speech.
I understand black speak but I never use it because, as I said, it would sound artificial coming from me. However, black speak is an efficient way of expressing the views of its speakers. I am proud to call Jackie my friend and I wish I had known the black speaker who used such eloquence to state that “We ain’t what we was.” They don’t make them like that any more.
E. E. CARR
June 18, 2012
Essay 671
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I somehow doubt that I am alone in my desire to see Pop write a short essay in country or black speak. I’ll put in a request.