Gospel Coalition Treats Blacks Like Children (Ameen Hudson on Code Switching)

Code Switching as a Normal Communication Skill

All right, so I was in the middle of doing a very positive video about the people that I recommend you Take a look at their content in 2021 and all that kind of stuff. It was a very positive video and I wasn't quite happy with it.

So I I stopped it about eight minutes in or so and I was gonna redo it. But then I saw this and this just seemed like a lot more fun so this is a woke preacher clip. About code switching now if you don't know what code switching is, let me let me fill you in because I code switch myself now code switching is When you when you have a certain way that you speak a certain dialect a certain way that you speak English with you know with your normal self like when you're hanging out with your boys or something like that and then when you're in an official kind of capacity, like let's just say you're in a job interview or Something like something of that nature like doesn't have to be a job interview.

But but it can be anything like that a business transaction something more official you switch how you speak. So like in real life, you might be like yo dog. What up, son? Oh, and then when you're in in a bank you go.

Well, let me just get my briefcase out and you know. That's an exaggeration obviously, but but but that's that's the that's the idea of code switching now now. This is something that I Personally do when I'm hanging out with my family my Puerto Rican family.

I'll talk a certain way. And when I'm on the phone trying to do a business deal, I'll talk a different way when I'm preaching from the pulpit sometimes I'll talk a different way and all that kind of stuff and.

And and this is just kind of normal like this is something that that many many people do not everybody does this. But many people do do this like there's just a way that you talk differently to different, you know audiences.

And I think it's totally appropriate. I think it's totally normal. It's a common human experience. But for some reason the woke church makes this to be the worst thing ever. It's like the most severe form of oppression now if you remember the very first time I encountered somebody woke.

At least that I can remember was in college. I've told this story many times where I had a teacher. He was a black guy that was on loan from Howard University. Teaching me Afro-Caribbean philosophy and he tried to convince me through very carefully chosen words and and very Interesting sounding rhetoric that I was oppressed because I speak English.

Because the very fact that I speak English means that I speak the language of my oppressor meaning that my oppressor is greater than I. And all of that kind of stuff now when I was younger, I thought that was stupid but.

And it is stupid. Don't get me wrong. But little did I know that there's a whole world of this kind of stuff. So I want to I want to talk about this video. This is Gospel Coalition's new great podcast as in heaven all about racial justice and it's gonna talk about the extreme oppression that African Americans feel in the United States because of Code switching here it is.

And and I want to understand more about it. All right, I'm back. I'm back. I just had to get it in my ear so that you wouldn't hear the echo and all that kind of stuff. Anyway, so here we go as in heaven Amin Hudson about code switching.

And and I want to understand more about your heart and your soul when you code switch. At a heart level. Why are you doing that? What do you think you're trying to accomplish or accommodating or I just want to know more about what that feels like all right.

Code Switching as a Bid to Be Understood and Accomplish Goals

Let me stop and give him a fair treatment here because I can tell you very easily how I'll answer to this and obviously I'm not woke. So this is a perspective of someone who isn't trying to blame everybody else for my problems.

It doesn't have a victim mindset or at least were actively works to suppress his own victim mindset because I think some of us I mean all of us have at some level of victim mindset. And I think it's a sin to be mortified to be to be perfectly honest with you.

So here's why I code switch. I Code switch because I want to be understood. I want to be understood and because I want to accomplish Certain goals. So when I speak to a perspective client and we're talking about a sixty thousand dollar deal, right?

I I don't want to talk to that client in such a way where they question my competence. Right, and so when I'm talking to my boys about the latest Jets game or something like that well or if I'm talking to my my Cousins or my family or something like that or even if I'm like talking to you on YouTube.

There are certain ways of talking That I don't think will be very helpful in closing that sixty five thousand dollar deal. And so I want to be understood and I have a certain goal to accomplish. I want to come across when I'm talking to a perspective client as as Competent as I possibly can and I understand that there are certain parts of my dialect that I might use in everyday life.

That would not be effective for that certain goal. You understand I'm trying to say likewise if I'm if I'm street preaching and I'm in the inner city or something like that. There's going to be I'm gonna code switch there as well because there's going to be certain Parts of my speech that if I were to say it to a perspective client that I'm gonna do a $65 ,000 business deal with it would be helpful, but it wouldn't necessarily be helpful in the streets.

You know what? I mean? Like like that's I'm gonna code switch there. So there's two reasons I code switch one I want to be understood and I understand that not everybody knows what I'm saying when I say fam.

Right and number two I have a certain goal in mind and not every dialect that I could use is Effective for that goal. It's just a matter of being understood and accomplishing certain goals. That's why I code switch now.

Code Switching as Oppression and Double Consciousness

Let's hear what a victim mindset person says about why they code switch.

I think that I think that it feels like being black in America. Um, I think that what that's why I mentioned the boys is double consciousness. Because when we when when we're code switching we recognize that the dominant culture By and large historically does not recognize a a be as a language or as a dialect of intelligence.

So we have to learn how to speak essentially two different languages or dialects. So that we can actually be respected in certain circles. So I know that when when when I'm on that phone. That I'm not going to be taken seriously if I'm not speaking in a way in which is in the general American English that is actually Given the social capital of respect and intelligence, right?

What a victim.

I mean, he has to change how he speaks depending on his audience. I mean, this is this is extreme oppression. Obviously, I mean this is this is the kind of thing that we need to change our whole paradigms for you know I mean like we absolutely have to repent of the sin of Forcing poor Amin here to change his dialect depending on the situation.

He finds himself in. Let me tell you a little story. Let me tell you a little story. I used to work in New York and One of the administrators she reminded me very much of Carrie from the King of Queens she spoke like Carrie she had the same mannerisms this Carrie and On all of that and actually found out later in life that there's a very good reason for that because Carrie the the actual actress I forget her name.

She's from Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, and this girl was from Bensonhurst as well. So they're very Italian and they just had a way of speaking. It was a very Brooklyn accent. You know what? I mean coffee that all that kind of stuff, right?

And that's how this this girl spoke and She realized one day that and I think it was because there was a King of Queens episode about this. She realized one day that if she wanted to get promoted She would have to start answering the phone with a different dialect a different chance.

She'd have to code switch a little bit and so she altered how she spoke in order to get a promotion she thought that would be helpful and to get a promotion and it actually turned out to be very helpful because all of a sudden the directors and presidents of the company that we both worked for were able to Have her on the phone with someone that was a little bit more higher up in a client company or something like that.

They could they felt like they could trust her communication skills to be effective in that way. The communication skills are actually very valuable as a skill. It's a very valuable skill set to learn because someone who can communicate well can probably sell pretty well.

And that's a very valuable skill set to have and so she ended up getting a promotion. She ended up making a lot more money. I'm pretty sure I could be wrong about this. But I'm pretty sure there's a King of Queens episodes where this exact thing happens with Carrie.

She has to change how she speaks. She has to Learn how to not say coffee and say coffee, you know that kind of thing and and she ended up getting a promotion I think as well. And so so so and just so you know, this girl was white okay, white and so if this is oppression, I mean What are we all talking about here?

This is the oppression that we're talking about the fact that Amin has to change how he speaks depending on who he's talking to. I mean every person in the universe. Does this I just don't understand the different dialects different styles of speaking I mean it just it's just the way I speak to again the way I speak to my boys the way I speak to you On YouTube is probably not appropriate for a business transaction.

You know, I mean if I get all uppity and heated and stuff like that, it's probably not the best Presentation for a prospective client depending on what the business is, of course. So this is the oppression.

This is the this is what's so what what what fighting for your dignity is like code switching. Let's let's let him finish because maybe there's more there must be more to this.

So I have to know how to I have to when I'm in my mind. I'm like, okay I got to pull out my best. I got to pull out my best, you know English general American English for this conversation because they have to think that I'm capable they have to think that I'm smart and it's.

Yeah that you have to do that. Cuz cuz the thing is like I'm writing a book right now, which by the way guys This is a lot harder than I thought it would be. Just like you know Writing a book is a lot harder than I thought it would be and I'm having to think okay I have a certain audience in mind.

So I want to write a certain way and I want to make sure that it's consistent because if I was writing to I don't know a Employer a potential employer or something. I would write a certain way if I was writing to You know pastors I'd write a certain way if I was writing to laymen I'd write a certain way.

And so I'm it's it's very. It's I'm finding it challenging to keep my audience in mind when my tone comes across. You know how I that the words that I choose to use the dialect that I choose to use in the book.

This is normal. This is normal for everybody. Like yes in order to appear smart you have to act smart you have to you have to change what you say. Like if you want to appear smart. Then you can't say for shizzle-dizzle whizzle-nizzle like you can't do that.

But but but the thing is just because you do speak that way doesn't mean you're not smart like Snoop Dogg speaks that way. But to me he strikes me as a very intelligent person Dr. Dre speaks a certain way, but but he strikes me as a very intelligent person.

So it's not a hard and fast rule. It doesn't mean that if you speak like an idiot, you are an idiot. But you have to understand that how you present yourself how your communication. That's it. That's a very important skill set.

That's not oppression though. That's just life. That's just life. I.

Understand. Well way to have to live because you are in a sense fighting for your dignity. Be a language.

It's a terrible way to have to live because you are in a sense fighting for your dignity via language. That's not what you're doing your fight. You're you're yeah, I Don't get it. I don't get it. And this guy's just saying like it's true.

It's not true. Everybody does this has nothing to do with being black in America. This has to do with being a human being and learning communicate communication skills are very important. It's just a fact.

I mean, I don't really know how to explain why that's a fact. But it just is something that I've known since I was a kid. I ever since I was a kid, my dad didn't teach me. Okay. Okay now Adam you have to code switch.

No, but he did tell me that there's a certain way to carry yourself there's a certain way to present yourself have a firm handshake right and Part of that is can what what is a firm handshake communicate?

You Know what? I mean? When do you need a firm handshake? When do you need a maybe a lesser handshake? I had this one uncle who I I Eventually as I grew older I stopped shaking his hand because he had this crushing Handshake that he was like almost like he was intentionally attempting to hurt you, right?

It was the worst and like he just had no and I'm sure that that handshake was good and appropriate in certain situations. You know, you're on the job site or something like that. But like when you're seeing your like your little little nephew.

For the for like the one time a year at Christmas or something. Like you don't have to crush his hand like he had no semblance of what's appropriate for what situation in a certain handshake. Now that's a skill you need to learn.

That's a skill. You don't crush your grandmother's hand when you're shaking your hand, but it might be appropriate for the job site. I mean, I don't really know what to say. Like it's just hard to even understand what to say.

I know I'm speaking I talk a lot but.

Dignity, the Image of God, and Why Language Skills Are Not Oppression

It's just crazy. I don't believe that. That is the way that God has intended the world to be. That you should not have to fight for your dignity via the way that you speak. That's not God's plan for his is his is his creation.

You are you have dignity for the fact that you are made in the image of God. See. But you see how he sees it.

You're fighting for your dignity. No, that's not right. But you are competing in a world of people who are likewise speaking. So in other words, if you if you don't understand how to compete with your communication skills.

That's a problem and you need to help you need to help you need to fix that right? You're not fighting when I when I talk to you a hillbilly, right? I talked to a hillbilly because I have before I happen to quite enjoy hillbillies.

When I talk to he battles, you know what? I mean? Those are Puerto Rican hillbillies. They talk a certain way, right and I don't think that they have dignity if I get in my mind. But based on the way they speak and this probably isn't that much of an intelligent person.

Like I I don't think less of them as a human being like intelligence isn't equal to dignity. But the thing is like that's important information to have and it can actually fool you because you can talk to someone who talks like a hillbilly, but is actually smarter than you are and that can be very Trump problematic, you know.

You could not be prepared for how intelligent someone who speaks like a hillbilly. I see the thing like like it's not a hard and Fast rule, but it's important information to have it's important information to have had a code switch and dialect and what this stuff means.

It's not you know fighting for your DC this is the difference between a victim mindset and a mindset that looks at things slightly differently because the fact that Amin has to code switch he He encounters that fact and thinks man.

I'm being oppressed. I am such a victim. This is not God's plan. This is like this is not the way it's supposed to be and it's like I look at this. It's like okay. I'm code switching. Why am I doing that?

I don't immediately go to I'm a victim. I'm a victim. I'm being oppressed. Like why is why is that the answer here? That doesn't make any sense. That's just an assumption and I can I'm giving you Valid reasons why you might feel the need to coach which or why code switching is potentially helpful and stuff like that.

That has nothing to do with being a victim, but you see there's two ways of looking at the world. I don't think Amin ever grew out of the constant. I'm a victim. Mindset that you have when you're a child.

I had it when I was a child and I still have it to today this to a certain degree. But I'm trying to fight that victim mindset and Amin has made a career out of exploiting the victim mindset. I mean, I guess good on him, but it's kind of pathetic and this is what the woke church does.

They just never grew up from the from from from being a child when it's like I'm a victim all the time. My brother got a bigger cookie. My brother got a bigger piece of cake. You must hate me kind of thing.

That's a mindset that children have that parents should teach their children not to have it's actually a very sinful self-centered mindset.

Code Switching, Social Capital, and Cultural Differences

And so Let's let him finish. But man. Regardless of how you speak what language you're able to master or not how well you're able to master. Languages that is that's given social capital that should not be something that determines how folks view your intelligence or your intellectual ability or your capability or your or Just your worth in general.

And I feel like we Have lived in the world in which we were like fish in water. We were raised in knowing that we have to code switch. It's normal for us, but it should not be normal.

I don't understand why it shouldn't be normal. I mean again, I've done this myself. And this is the thing you see how he puts a lot of stuff in there he's like the way you master a language should not have any indication as your intelligence and your capabilities and your dignity and worth.

Those things are not the same at all. Like you get your dignity and worth from the image that you bear the image of God. But that does not mean that everybody's of equal intelligence. That does not mean that everybody's equally capable and just because somebody is less intelligent than somebody else Does not mean that they're worth less.

Do you see how he puts it all in one big in one big grouping? And it's like it's all the same like your intelligence equals your dignity. I know he didn't say that but but the way he put it out there.

It's like as if that's the state. It's not the same. I don't look at someone who's less intelligent than me as less valuable than me. And likewise, I don't look at someone who's more intelligent than me as more valuable than me.

I just that's not part of the whole the process, right? And so if if language skills and communication skills cannot be part of your Intelligence level then what can be I mean? What what is part of your adult are people more or less intelligent than others like just by nature like did God make some people?

Stupider than others and I know I'm just using a I'm using a common word like stupid right that I'm code-switching here, right? This is how I do it on my youtube channel, but just but does God make somebody less intelligent.

No, did he give people different skills and capabilities? I think the answer is obviously Yes, it's obviously that yes. But what does that have to do with dignity and worth and all of that? It has nothing to do with dignity and worth unless you make it have something to do with dignity and worth.

I mean studies have shown that That your firstborn is the highest IQ and then on average the more children you have They have less lower and lower IQs. Does that mean that your your your youngest is less valuable than your oldest?

I Don't think so. But but but what but what is being said here? I don't know I don't know and the thing is like like this idea. It's so self-centered that that that I mean here is like I We black shouldn't have to live this way.

We have to live this you're not the only ones who live this way my friend I'm watching for the first time that Netflix documentary making a murderer, right? It's got that guy Steven Avery who I think did it by the way.

And then Brendan Dassey who I'm not quite as sure about Brendan Dassey and these are two people white White men these are white men and they don't strike me as that intelligent Steven a little bit. But Brendan definitely not and They speak like they're not that intelligent you understand I'm saying like like this is and so so so people like that.

Is it is it oppression? Is it is it? That the code switch. I Mean, this is something that woke preacher clip said and I want to give him credit for this because it's the first thing I thought of as well woke preacher clip.

So good on you. He says I Disagree with almost none of this but not has no one ever TGC ever met a redneck. Don't they realize that code-switching for dignity and access to economic opportunity cuts across racial lines.

I haven't seen it. But isn't this the theme of hillbilly elegy, right? Exactly, right. I just told the story about a non hillbilly white person who had a Benson Hurst accent who had to code switch. She had to code switch because she realized that talking like the girl from my cousin Vinny isn't doing her any favors.

And she's white really white. This is not even just an American thing. This is everywhere has dialects and and certain people get disrespected they got the they got the and Woke preacher clip says this again.

This is something I know because I'm Puerto Rican. It's not uniquely American thing either. He says I remember my Dominican friends joking about how textbook Spanish is more proper than what they speak, right?

My mom gets this all the time because my mom is Puerto Rican, but she speaks like a Spanish speaker and she always gets Complimented and ridiculed because she gets it from both sides. So she gets complimented by like official Spanish people of your Spanish is so good.

Do you know what I mean? And then she gets ridiculed by Puerto Ricans that think she's whited out because she speaks Spanish too. Well, you know what? I mean? Like like this is this is so Self-centered it's just so Childish it's just as blacks.

It's so oppressed because of the code switching. Code switching happens all the time. I think I've made my point. I think I'm done with this video. I hope you found it helpful. Thank you woke preacher clips.

God bless.