RRR: "Talking in Color: Collision of Cultures"

               

Tiffany Hendrickson’s “Talking in Color: Collision of Cultures” (2013), is a narrative essay about growing up with insecurities due to judgement of how one speaks. As a white child with a deaf mother, under-educated father, living in a predominantly black neighborhood, the author recounts her own personal struggle of growing up in a household and neighborhood that she couldn’t fully relate to.  Hendrickson eloquently describes linguistic gaps between cultures and how classism and discrimination can negatively affect one's childhood. The author’s message in this essay pleads to not judge a book by its cover, or in this case, you should not judge a person by the way they talk. Just because one sounds a certain way, doesn't mean they lack education, intelligence, or is acting a certain race or color.

We as a group were very intrigued reading about Hendrickson’s childhood and incidences of her being judged and typecast due to the way she talked.   After reading this essay, we agree with her because Hendrickson's goal is to raise awareness and reduce the amount of harsh judgment directed at people because of the way they talk. Two of our group members, Danielle and Jasmyn, have personal experience of being told they sound white growing up. This essay makes us wonder why people associate pronunciation and speaking eloquently as only something white people do.  We believe that is the message Tiffany Hendrickson is trying to get across. How can you talk a color? Whether the intention is to hurt someone’s feelings or not, no one should be judged based on how they talk. One’s voice should be uniquely theirs, regardless of what side I town you grow up on, or what you look like.

Hendrickson uses pathos when sharing her personal experience of growing up feeling like she didn’t fit in with the white children in her neighborhood because of how she spoke. Her parents couldn’t understand her struggles as she states, “my mother often used sign language, only some of which I could comprehend. But hers was not the only language barrier. My father has a fourth grade reading and writing education;” (Hendrickson par 4). Due to her mother’s deafness and her father’s minimal schooling, Hendrickson noted that her parents, “could not teach me proper grammar or how to convey my language to sound a certain way.” (Hendrickson par 4).  She emphasized, “My goal was to be better than them both, not only as a communicator, but to be more integrated in the black and white worlds, and to learn from their mistakes.” (Hendrickson par 5).  Hendrickson also effectively uses logos in her essay as she was able to gain knowledge after studying Linguistics in college. She learned, “that individuals have a mixture of both speech patterns and usage varies from setting to setting. It’s embedded in humans to adjust to settings where one feels more comfortable;” (Hendrickson par 8). Hendrickson concluded that although she grew up feeling secluded from her peers that looked like her, she has a vastly unique experience that she has come to appreciate.

 

 

Henderickson, Tiffany. “Talking in Color: Collision of Cultures” Web. 21, Mar. 2013

http://qc-writers.com/2013/03/21/storming-the-gate-talking-in-color/