Alim H. Samy - Articulate while Black: Barack Obama, language, and race in the U.S

BARACK OBAMA, LANGUAGE, AND RACE IN THE U.S.

H. SAMY ALIM

and

GENEVA SMITHERMAN

FOREWORD BY MICHAEL ERIC DYSON

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Alim, H. Samy.
Articulate while Black: Barack Obama, language, and race in the U.S./ H. Samy Alim & Geneva Smitherman; foreword by Michael Eric Dyson.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 9780199812967 (alk. paper) ISBN 978-0-19-981298-1 (pbk.: alk. paper)
1. Black EnglishUnited States. 2. Race awarenessUnited States.
3. Obama, BarackLanguage. 4. Obama, BarackOratory.
5. African AmericansLanguages. 6. English languageSocial
aspectsUnited States. 7. Language and educationUnited States.
8. SociolinguisticsUnited States. I. Smitherman, GenevaII. Title.
PE3102.N42A43 2012
306.440973dc23
2012010289

ISBN 9780199812967
ISBN 9780199812981

9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Printed in the United States of America
on acid-free paper

None of usblack, white, Latino, or Asianis immune to the stereotypes that our culture continues to feed us, especially stereotypes about black criminality, black intelligence, or the black work ethic. In general, members of every minority group continue to be measured largely by the degree of our assimilationhow closely speech patterns, dress, or demeanor conform to the dominant white cultureand the more that a minority strays from these external markers, the more he or she is subject to negative assumptions.

Barack Obama

Every conversation about black speech is a conversation about black intelligence and ultimately black humanity.

Michael Eric Dyson

I chuckled in amusement in the Spring of 2012 as President Obama regaled the audience with his humor in what has to be one of the most enjoyable roles for the commander-in-chief: standup comedian at the annual dinner for the White House Correspondents Association. Obamas pace and timing were a lot better than those of the professional comics charged with bringing down the house that night. Jimmy Kimmel rushed through his jokes a bit too nervously and even stepped on some of his lines. Obama, on the other hand, was smooth and effortless, confident that his zingers would find their mark. His swag quotient was also pretty high that night. He let it be known that his musical prowess consisted of more than a melodically accurate one-off rendition of a line from Al Greens R&B classic Lets Stay Together, which he had delivered at an Apollo Theater fundraiser three months earlier. Obamas version of the soul legends tune went viral in Black communities as a sign of the presidents effortless embrace of Black Culture despite the criticism that he keeps Blackness at bay. At the Apollo fundraiser, after drawing huge applause from his largely Black audience, Obama addressed the Rev. Al Green, who, along with India Arie, had sung at the affair, by saying: Dont worry Rev., I cannot sing like you, but I just wanted to show my appreciation. At the Correspondents dinner, Obama showed his appreciation for Hip Hop and proved his Rap bona fides, and not just by citing the easy or apparent fare. To truly strut his stuff, hed have to display an aficionados grasp of Rap Cultures range and appeal and flash a little insider savvy.

The set-up for Obamas Hip Hop coolness was a perfect storm of conspiracy theory and Black cultural signification. Now, if I do win a second term as president, Obama teased his audience, let me just say something to all my conspiracy oriented friends on the right who think Im planning to unleash some secret agenda. He paused for a few seconds, then hit them with the affirmation of the rights worst nightmare: Youre absolutely right! Obama had a mischievous look on his face and lowered his voice in a faux ominous fashion to clinch the conspiratorial conceit. So allow me to close with a quick preview of the secret agenda you can expect in a second Obama Administration. In my first term I sang Al Green, the president deadpanned in drawing a contrast between his unfinished first term and his hoped-for follow up. In my second term, Im goin with Young Jeezy! He accented the second syllable of Jeezy and stretched it out a bit in dialectal deference to Black street pronunciation, so that it sounded like Gee-zeeee. The audience roared its approval of his self-confident reference to his Harlem debut, as much out of the desire to be hip right along with him as to reward his surefooted grasp of Hip Hop Culture. To drive home his hipness even more, he ad libbed a line that garnered a nod of approval from his adoring wife, whose approval ratings, the president noted that night, are higher than his. To be sure, it was in part the politics of romance, but there was a deeper story to his playfulness. Turning to First Lady Michelle Obama as she smiled broadly and signaled her affirmation at the head table, Obama humorously exclaimed, Michelle said, Yeahhh! After the laughter rippled across the room, Obama bragged, I sing that to her sometime. Michelle Obama bent her head and blushed at the public confession of private affection. President Obama flashed his famous pearls for the crowd in the hotel and across the globe.

Obamas gesture dripped with meaning. It was more than a fetching moment of affection between him and his wife played out for the world to see, an inside joke inside the joke. (Lets not forget that not all such inside knowledge was gleefully accepted. During the 08 campaign, their infamous fist-bump, a love-tap of camaraderie and an affectionate gesture of Were in this thing together babe, made the cover of the well-heeled New Yorker magazine and earned the enmity of even the limousine liberal set as a sign of some kind of kinky Blackand for some terroristcode). This may have been an even more veiled message to Hip Hops constituency in the hood that Americas first Black president, despite the claims otherwise, hadnt really forgotten about them or their needs. Even though he was joking, the first thing Obama suggested about his Administrations second term was an explicit embrace of Hip Hop by the commander in chief. The humor couldnt ultimately dim the spotlight Obama gave to the culture.