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Barbara Mellix Black English Essay

336 Words2 Pages
When you can be yourself and it becomes an art, that’s when writing is fun. Barbara Mellix shares a great example of when she wanted to use "proper English", instead of her "black English." While doing so it made her feel uncomfortable and out of her realm. ""Thank you very much," I replied, my voice barely audible in my own ears. The words felt wrong in my mouth, rigid, foreign. It was not that I had never spoken that phrase before-it was common in black English, too-but I was extremely conscious that this was an occasion for proper English. (Mellix 259) and "My concern was to use "appropriate" language, to sound as if I belonged in a college classroom. But I felt separate from the language-as if it did not and could not belong to me. I couldn 't
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