English_with_an_Accent_-_Rosina_Lippi-Green_UserUpload.Net

situation the result. This was the sequence by which I converted

kindness into harassment and my racial shame into her racism.

First note that his original position has reversed on a number of levels:

PRIOR TO CONFRONTATION AFTER CONFRONTATION

her racism her simple human kindness

his anger, resentment his racism

wrongdoing denied acceptance of wrongdoing

acknowledges AAVE rejects AAVE

draws a link between race and language denies a link between race and language

This is an interesting example of how ideology functions to cloak the
truth. Steele is recounting the way in which he was made aware of his
position as subordinate, and chose to change his allegiance to the
dominant group. There is no doubt that he is sincere about the story that he
tells, or that he truly believes the common-sense arguments he puts forth.
But he uses a number of coercive strategies to manufacture consent from
his audience, and they bear consideration. One is the way that Steele
attempts to make his readers believe that there is a commonality of
opinion regarding language. He knows, as they surely do, that AAVE is an
inadequate language:

If she had been Black, I might have seen [the truth] more easily. But

she was white, and this fact alone set off a very specific response

pattern in which vulnerability to a racial shame was the trigger,

denial and recomposition the reaction, and a distorted view of the

situation the result.

Steele assumes that his readers will share some basic beliefs:

that there is a right and a wrong way to use English;

that it is appropriate for more established and knowledgeable

persons to direct younger ones to that better language;

that questions of right and wrong in language move beyond race.

Further, Steele explains his inability to see these facts as a function of his
immature view of the world and his unwillingness to accept personal