WP, Robinson: What do white people mean when they call a black person "articulate"?

[DeepModem Mom]

An Inarticulate Kickoff
By Eugene Robinson
Friday, February 2, 2007; Page A15

What is it, exactly, that white people mean when they call a black person "articulate"?...

***

Will wonders never cease? Here we have a man who graduated from Columbia University, who was president of the Harvard Law Review, who serves in the U.S. Senate and is the author of two best-selling books, who's a leading contender for the Democratic presidential nomination, and what do you know, he turns out to be articulate. Stop the presses....(B)efore you accuse me of being hypersensitive, try to think of the last time you heard a white public figure described as articulate. Acclaimed white orators such as Bill Clinton and John Edwards are more often described as eloquent....

***

I realize the word is intended as a compliment, but it's being used to connote a lot more than the ability to express one's thoughts clearly. It's being used to say more, even, than "here's a black person who speaks standard English without a trace of Ebonics."

The word articulate is being used to encompass not just speech but a whole range of cultural cues -- dress, bearing, education, golf handicap. It's being used to describe a black person around whom white people can be comfortable, a black person who not only speaks white America's language but is fluent in its body language as well.

And the word is often pronounced with an air of surprise, as if it's an improbable and wondrous thing that a black person has somehow cracked the code. I can't help but think of the famous quote from Samuel Johnson: "Sir, a woman preaching is like a dog's walking on his hind legs. It is not done well; but you are surprised to find it done at all."

Articulate is really a shorthand way of describing a black person who isn't too black -- or, rather, who comports with white America's notion of how a black person should come across.

Whatever the intention, expressing one's astonishment that such individuals exist is no compliment. Just come out and say it: Gee, he doesn't sound black at all.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/01/AR2007020101495.html

[rwenos]

1. How About . . .

the same thing we mean when we call a WHITE, ASIAN, HISPANIC or AUSTRALOID person "articulate." Like, it means well-spoken, clearly-stated, communicative.

It's so rare in the world, especially in the world of politics. Bill Clinton is articulate, as are Barak Obama, John Edwards, Hillary Clinton, and occasionally even Newt Gingrich.

I don't get the issue with "articulate." Maybe Chris Rock is off base here.

[Demeter]

6. Especially Among Men

even the Democratic ones have some difficulty with articulation. Cultural, or genetic? Probably both.

[Erika]

2. It's got to be GOP thing

They are totally befuddled on the race issue. They don't know whether to pander to them or hide under their blankets in total fear of them. LMAO

[MADem]

5. I think Eugene Robinson is "reporting from the front lines" myself

If I had to guess, I think it is very unlikely that he is a Republican. He doesn't spout their party line, and demographically, he has maybe an eight percent chance at belonging to that club.

[caligirl]

3. since its biden, who is too aligned with banking, i don't mind that he

proved to be the least articulate, clean, good looking candidate on his first day in the race. Biden, the camera lovin' politician. short on substance long on self promotion.

The man can talk and talk and talk, if not articulately.

[pscot]

4. Biden was patting Obama on the head

He was being patronizing. He completely deserves the ration of shit that is being served up to him.

[Igel]

7. I think he was probably being patronizing and condescending.

Condescension is distinct from racism.

The other option is that he was just describing and giving his evaluation as his evaluation. Rather depends on the tone of voice and context, that does. And I have no information on which to base a judgment.

On the other hand, I think I disagree with the author's plopping everything "white" under "articulate", and think "articulate" refers primarily to Obama's speech being relatively standard American English. No variable realization of final 's', no deleted copulas, etc., etc. (Then again, I rate "Ebonics"--AAEV, in my terminology--up there with Gulf Coast Southern as equally viable standards for public discourse; use them at the risk of being judged inarticulate or a dialect speaker.) BTW, I've run across really good tenured scholars, some fantastic engineers and even the occasional law professor that were absurdly inarticulate.

To a large extent, I think everything other than "articulateness" is subsumed under "mainstream" (which is, to be honest, ambiguous--I don't know if Biden's "mainstream" refers to the man, to his politics, or both; I think both).