Wednesday, September 08, 2004
An Experience that Taught me Nothing
When I was a student at Michigan State College (now Michigan State University) one of my friends in the dormitory where I stayed was a student from Haiti. His name was Bertoni Vieux. He was tall and thin, probably about six feet and six inches. His father or uncle was an important official in the government of Haiti. I don't know what Bert's major was in college.
At one time in my young life (I was probably 18 at the time) I had read that the reason that Negroes spoke with a thick accent was that they had thick tongues and could not manage to articulate English words correctly. (I now know that most of them spoke with Southern accents.) Bert was as black a Negro as I had ever seen, and I one time got into an animated discussion with him about Negro tongues. I insisted that all Negroes had thick tongues and therefore had to speak English with an accent.
He must have thought I was the biggest fool he had ever met. Here he was, standing right in front of me, speaking English with a French accent, and I was insisting to him that he had a thick tongue that prevented him from speaking perfect English. I believed what I had read and ignored what I was hearing.
At one time in my young life (I was probably 18 at the time) I had read that the reason that Negroes spoke with a thick accent was that they had thick tongues and could not manage to articulate English words correctly. (I now know that most of them spoke with Southern accents.) Bert was as black a Negro as I had ever seen, and I one time got into an animated discussion with him about Negro tongues. I insisted that all Negroes had thick tongues and therefore had to speak English with an accent.
He must have thought I was the biggest fool he had ever met. Here he was, standing right in front of me, speaking English with a French accent, and I was insisting to him that he had a thick tongue that prevented him from speaking perfect English. I believed what I had read and ignored what I was hearing.
