Elizabeth LEIBA

He said what he said! No code-switching in 2021. We off that!! 💯

Code-switching is NOT adjusting to your audience, as many have tried to convince me. I'm a college professor, who's spoken in front of classrooms full of students for a decade. I know what adjusting to your audience is. This ain't it. 🙄

Code-switching, in this context, is a particularly insidious practice Black folk use to "fit in." They abandon speaking AAVE, their natural intonation and flow to adopt what they perceive or have been told is "professionally-acceptable" speech.

Unfailingly, it mimics Brad or Karen, will feel awkward and sound unnatural. But they do it until it becomes just as natural as their "normal" speech because someone told them their regular voice was "ghetto."

I did it so much, so convincingly and for so long that my husband even had a name for my alter-ego. He called her "Angela." That's my middle name! 😂 He'd ask if "Angela" would be showing up for the job interview or if I could put her on the phone to speak to a bill collector he didn't want to deal with.

Well, in 2020 I decided no more! Angela retired and she won't be accompanying me to any meetings. So if you invite me to a Zoom call, make sure you email that link to Liz! 🤷🏽‍♀️

https://www.linkedin.com/in/elizabethleiba

#blacklivesmatter #racialequity #socialjustice