Why Code-Switching Is Important to Me in Healthy Bites

This is a comment that I left on someone’s blog about code-switching:
I loved that you use “code switching.”
I’ve been doing code switching all my life. I still do it now even at 33 so I understand what this girl is doing. Basically, as a black person (black woman especially), I’ve been taught by multiple people how to act. If you grew up in a racist or racially prejudice area, or you are from an impoverished area, those of us who want to go beyond survival learn to adapt…and with language, it is one the key characteristics black people learn in how to navigate the gateway into becoming successful.
I was quite an introspective kid which is unusual because most kids aren’t like that. I was also a very observant kid (I am talking about a four year old knowing what really went down in her environment). So, I learned very quickly with everything that was going on around me…if I wanted to do better than my mom and my “stepfather,” then, I would need to act like “successful people.” Usually, in my environment, it was white people who spoke proper English.
However, speaking with my aunt, a huge part of my determination also comes from my bloodline. My ancestry is Irish/British…and I am from royalty. Anyway, growing up, I concentrated on speaking proper English because I begin to realize it was the gateway for me to actually become a successful person. I also knew that I wanted to become a writer. And in order to become a writer, I needed to know American English language like the back of my hand.
Anyway, as I progressed through school, I was mostly a well spoken person. I did have a speech impediment, but I got help for that with a speech pathologist in elementary school. However, I continued to practice and practice all the time…reading books out loud and such…
And then, as I attended college and got more educated and started having black friends, I would “switch” my language. When I would be around black people, I would joke around them and act silly…which is a part of being black. It is the funk and the flavor of being black.
Or when I was in a professional environment or the college classroom, I would switch language with that.
It’s until I took a graduate college course that my professor threw out the word code-switching. It dawned on me that I had been doing that all my life.
Anyway, I am glad that you helped this girl. She needs it. I am sure she is a very bright girl, but she may not have been to the best school systems to get the best education. It can be difficult for someone who comes from impoverished environments (You have poor whites as well that come from impoverished environments) to do well…exceptionally well in language. American English is a very difficult language to excel in, and you have to start from the womb pretty much to excel at it.

A very important part of becoming who I am is learning language at an early age. The reason why I have a shit ton of dictionaries in my office. It’s because I grew up with a few dictionaries in the one bedroom small rental that I shared with my mom, sister, and “stepfather.” However, language for me, as I found out late last year, is in my blood. It is my bloodline. My younger aunt informed me that on my maternal grandmother’s side of the family, I come from a history of British lineage—that we come from royalty. Once my aunt explained that to me, it all fell into place for me.

My obsession with reading and writing has justifications to it. And those justifications is that when I was born, those genetic markers are with me. Knowledge is the ultimate high for me, and if what my aunt told me is true, then, everything makes sense to why I am obsess with knowledge.

I started very young adapting to my surroundings. In African American history, people who were deemed as “biracial” passed if they had a light enough skin tone to pass. So, in some instance, I used language as my gateway keycard to pass…to move up from coming from a poor Welfare family to someone who is low-middle class. Let me put it this way. I make more money than my mom has ever made in her entire life, I am guessing.

However, I am not done. I see myself being extremely successful, and I am putting the pieces together about who I am. If all what my aunt told me is true…then, I am come from a noble bloodline concerning NOLIJ. I am come from nobility.

If that’s the case, then, deep down inside of me, I wasn’t meant to be poor. I was born under those circumstances. Deep down, my genetic markers/codes shot off messages…you are better than the condition you are in.

That’s why language is so important to me because I instantly recognize that it was the getaway out. If I could somehow mastered it, then, I could move from the environment that I was in.

As I grew up, I mimic people. I tried to become someone else, but I always knew I was different. Yet, the one thing I could mimic, be successful at, and be even accepted to an extent was to be smart. Always have a book in my hand. Always try to understand beyond the surface.

As I matured, I realized that deep down that I am okay. It is okay to be different. That everyone isn’t supposed to like me. Even though I grew with hardly any of my black peers liking me and easily friends with white peers, when I attend high school, there were black people who did want to become my friends. In college, I had ALL kinds of friends.

Yet, the one important matter that connected me was code-switching. The high of the language and knowing it. I was able to switch with groups all the time because I learned social cues. And reading…

Well, it helped me develop my emotional intelligence. I owe my entire life to reading. If it wasn’t for books, getting the best genes out of the pool and getting help along the way, I wouldn’t be where I am at.

Books helped me understand other people. Understand their motivations in life. Books play into the code-switching. Seeing other people in other situations and imagining it in my head…helped me understand who I am and how to adapt to environments.

That’s why I decided in high school to become an educator. I wanted to become a high school teacher. But you know what? I will always be the teacher no matter what I do. I remember that patriarchal blessing I got as a Mormon…and it spoke to me that I will always be the teacher. I don’t need to be in a formal classroom to teach people. I get that now.

Anyway, I remember all the “students” I have helped so far…especially the ones who thought they couldn’t do it. I hope that the confidence I instill in them is helping them to code-switch as well. It’s a doggie dog world out there…but understanding who you are and what you can do…well, it makes the world shine a whole lot brighter.

Cheers,
S