How We Talk, and What It Means

 Slate has a long interview with someone studying Black American accents, how they vary from place to place and in time. 

Anyone who's seen My Fair Lady is likely to be interested in the subject.  Apparently it's harder to nail American accents down to a locality than English English, or maybe the parties to the interview weren't Professor Higgins.

I remember telling an employee back in the 1970's that her occasional use of black English might limit her promotion opportunities.  I think it was a true statement at the time, but over the years I've felt guilty about saying it.  

Toward the end of the interview they get into a discussion of trials, like George Floyd, in which interpreting the language of the black victim was at issue.  There's some skepticism over whether the defense attorneys were honest in their misinterpretation of what was recorded. Perhaps I'm insufficiently cynical but I can accept that in the instant a policeman could interpret what he/she heard as being white English words, rather than black English language. It's problematic, but just an instance of how difficult it is to bridge social and cultural issues.