Sight Unseen by Ellyn Kaschak

Author:Ellyn Kaschak
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Tags: SOC029000, Social Science/Handicapped, SOC032000, Social Science/Gender Studies
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Published: 2015-04-20T16:00:00+00:00

Talking Black

THE COLOR CODE

To see what is in front of one’s nose needs a constant struggle.

—GEORGE ORWELL

JANINE’S EXPERIENCE WITH LUKE AND FLOR was about to be reflected in another series of seemingly recursive cultural mirrors. One of my students, Adrian, contracted the flu in the early days of this project. As a result, he spoke with Sonia several times by telephone before meeting her in person. In the familiar pattern of cultural synesthesia, Sonia “sounded black.” Based on their telephone conversations, Adrian instantly and without conscious thought assumed that she was a black woman. This reaction is common enough to be readily recognizable to sighted telephone users and is also, in fact, the very manner in which blind people attempt to enter into the sighted code. By the encrypted rules, black is not just a skin color; it is a voice intonation, a particular manner of speech and pronunciation.

Although Sonia may sound black to the racialized American ear, she is not. Her voice and manner of speaking English are what are considered black, while her skin is a color that would be named white. Both are colored differently by the acculturated human mind, but both are colored. Sonia’s skin color and her speech patterns do not match as they should according to this system. This discrepancy boggles the racialized American mind. “How did she learn to speak this way and why would she continue?” is the likely question. Her skin color is, of course, immutable. “Isn’t she aware that it is a huge cultural disadvantage, or is it a real or perceived advantage in her own largely black community? What can she be thinking?”

Sonia belongs to a Pentecostal church, most of whose members are black, and she has perhaps adopted the speech patterns that she hears every day. Or maybe she learned them as a child and, as a result, gravitated to and was embraced by this Pentecostal community. She does not know the answer to this question, and so neither do I. To my ear, the speech patterns sound well ingrained and are probably a result of early learning. Sonia has no recollections of being around black people as a child, but would she know if she had been? Possibly. Even probably. But not definitely, as Sonia has been blind since birth. Surely someone should have taught her the sighted code, but apparently no one did. As Isabel’s house is not the color that she had been told, neither is Sonia’s voice.

When I finally meet her, I find Sonia congenial and easy in manner. She is in her mid-thirties, short and round physically, friendly and extroverted psychologically. Her skin is the color that society names white, her hair medium length, light brown, and unkempt, even scraggly. She was born blind, although it took a few months for the doctors and her parents to realize it. She lives this congenital legacy, along with looking white and sounding black. As skin color easily trumps voice, she is white in the sighted world.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.