Language, race, and social justice is a multidimensional issue that can be found in everyday media and dialogue – whether it’s explicitly acknowledged or not. In this particular example, Chris Cuomo and Don Lemon from CNN are discussing the backlash Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) received for using African American Vernacular English when speaking at an event in New York to a mostly Black audience back in early 2019. Those criticizing AOC claimed her use of a “blaccent” was a form of verbal blackface due to the fact that this is not what her “normal” voice sounds like. Conversations around appropriating and stealing black culture – from culturally appropriative hairstyles to actually using blackface – have been an incredibly relevant topic of conversation over the past few years within mainstream media. While the rise of this conversation has been very empowering, informative, and simultaneously has held white people accountable, the critiques and claims against AOC for using “verbal blackface” are problematic in this case.
AOC, AAVE, and Code-Switching (by Savannah Martin)
AOC openly addressed this backlash in a tweet saying that she was simply code-switching – as one usually does when they are in a comfortable environment or, as she claimed, “fired up.” In the video example, Don Lemon supports her claim and makes the argument that this is likely her natural accent due to the fact that she is a Latina from the Bronx who was probably surrounded by AAVE her entire life. Lemon also makes the point that when somebody like Cuomo code-switches from an American English to English with an Italian accent, it seamlessly slides without any critique. While this should be the same case for somebody who code-switches with AAVE and has done so their entire life, it’s typically met with criticism because of the negative connotations associated with AAVE. As John Baugh explains, African American Vernacular English is and, for a long time, has been a legitimate dialect of English, but it, unfortunately, has a long history of being coined as improper English due to racist undertones. As Lemon hinted at with his Italian accent example, this presents a notably problematic double-standard. Because AOC is an educated Latina politician, her use of code-switching is criticized for being performative; in reality, this criticism heavily reflects the negative and racist stereotypes that some people have of AAVE. This, in turn, sheds light on the fact that code-switching in the manner and environment AOC utilized should be encouraged rather than condemned. Again, a Latina politician publicly using this dialect she’s very comfortable with gives AAVE more representation and can show that AAVE is not an “improper” or “uneducated” way of speaking.
1 AOC: I’m pro::ud to be a bartende::r. (1.0) ((smiles and shakes head)) Ain’t nothin’
2 wrong with tha::t. There’s nothing wro::ng with working retail folding clo::thes for other
3 people to bu::y. (1.0) ((crowd cheers)) There is nothing wro::ng with preparing the foo::d
4 that your neighbors will eat. There is nothing wro::ng with being a working person in the
5 United States of America.
6 Cuomo: Affectologist?
7 Don Lemon: ((laughs)) Aa::aa ((deep breath in)) So. (1.0) Here’s what we’re talking
8 about. We’re talking about code-switching (0.5) right?
9 Cuomo: Little // bit
10 Lemon: [Everybody- you do i::t=
11 Cuomo: =N//o ((shakes head)).
12 Lemon: [We all do it. Yes you do, when you say when you’re ((inaudible)) oh this is
13 for ga::zey. That is sort- that is co//de switching.
14 Cuomo: [That’s Italian. ((head shakes)) You do//n’t own that.
15 Lemon: [But still you’re,
16 talking ((gestures closed palm with finger tips touching in the air)) Ita::lian when you do
17 tha::t, it’s// code switching.
18 Cuomo: [But I am Italian=
19 Lemon: =Yeah bu//t
20 Cuomo: [How’s it code-switching?=
21 Lemon: =She’s from the Bronx, ((eyebrows lift)) you don’t think that she’s been with pe-
22 bl//ack people?
23 Cuomo: [But the allegation is shes effecting a blaccent is what they’re saying=
24 Lemon: =Well are you saying all black people speak southern? ((tilts head forward,
furrows eyebrows)) //No?
25 Cuomo: [Me? No.
26 Lemon: I don’t think there’s anything wron- listen, there’s difference- there’s a difference
27 between mo::cking (0.5) someone, or a group of people (0.5) a::nd knowing your
28 audience.