Daniel To Revelation

  I didn’t always respect the way we speak. At 50-something years old, I can admit that plainly now. For most of my life, I saw what is now called African American Vernacular English—AAVE—as ignorant speech. I wouldn’t have used that exact phrasing back then, but the belief was there. Quiet. Unexamined. Reinforced by school, media, and the subtle rewards of fitting in. I spoke what people call “proper English.” Some would say I “talked white.” And to be honest—it served me well. In corporate environments, my speech opened doors. It made conversations smoother. It lowered resistance. It made white colleagues more comfortable. There’s an unspoken ease that comes when you sound familiar to the dominant culture. You are heard faster. Questioned less. Accepted sooner. At the time, it felt like success. Now, it feels more complicated. The Comfort We Learned to Provide There’s a thought I heard recently that stuck with me: “Proper speech is considered better because it is more acceptable ...