catsittingstill

I live in a racially mixed neighborhood, and one of the families a few houses down is black. I was speaking with their daughter on this very subject at a neighborhood gathering a few years ago. She was at a very black stage in early high school using street slang at every opportunity. I butted in, as I so often do, and told her that many people would ignore her, if that language was the medium of her message. I told her that the successful blacks I worked with may speak black English at home, but switch seamlessly to mainstream English at work. I was very pleased with myself when she told me a few years later that she had tested my theory at school, found it true, and had interviewed her way into s full ride scholarship it UF. It takes a 1250-1300 SAT to be considered at UF. So, a new Gator that can now switch worlds with ease. And a physics! major. I'm so impressed with her.