The English Language is my Enemy! , written by Ossie Davis. He explains Roger Thesaurus examination of the two words Whiteness and Blackness and analyze the synonyms of each word. Ossie Davis breaks down these synonyms and speaks on how he truly feels about using the English language. He gives an example of the English language used to teach an African American kid 60 ways to hate his or her self, while a white kid has 60 ways to help himself.
Meaning the English language we use to communicate with people is forced when teachers, any race, have to teach students these words in the English language that are received as negative.
Ossie Davis saying the language looks down at a certain race more than another, and there is an unbalance. Ossie Davis speaks about the English language in a more subliminal way. He states “Who speaks to me in my Mother Tongue damns me indeed! ” From reading this text, I broke it down to him saying whoever speaks to me in the English language curses me.
He goes on to say “which I cannot conceive myself as a black man without. Davis explaining he can not stop using the English language, even though he’s black and doesn’t want to use he has to use it to communicate with people. He finally states the he’s debasing himself, meaning he knows the negatives that the English language has on the black race, but he still has to use it, even though it’s his enemy at the same time.
He needs the English language to be able to survive in this world, so he will face the facts of the negative input put on profound words on race.
It’s an ongoing struggle to use the English language, as he says. I’ve gathered the fact that Ossie Davis feels the English language is subjective to race and it favors one, while the other is less than favorable. In this text, the word Whiteness has 134 synonyms and 44 of them are favorable, while Blackness has 120 synonyms and 60 of them are unfavorable. I can understand the distain to use the language with other races because certain things people use with someone that may seem offensive or uncomfortable to the one they are speaking to.
The English language will always have words that seem prejudice and or project racial slurs. Ossie Davis just explains that we continue to use it but it will always be a negative language for and race, no matter what changes with the language. Individuals should be more conscious of using the English language, when communicating with other races, be more aware of how you speak to someone. People have to be mindful of what they say to someone because it can rub someone the wrong way.
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