.jpg) |
| Charles Badger is a columnist for The Washington Times Communities section. He is a Republican political strategist, speechwriter, and former aide to a Member of Congress, currently working in legislative affairs & communications in the financial services industry |
From The Washington Times:
What a discourse about supposed “social pathologies” of the poor often misses is the observation by civil rights legend Bayard Rustin: what, to middle class eyes, looks like a disease, may, but not necessarily, be “healthy adaption” to circumstances.
“Cultures,” the great scion of conservatism Thomas Sowell observed, “are not ‘superior’ or ‘inferior. They are for better or worse adapted to a particular set of circumstances.” The only way we black Republicans will reach more than marginal numbers amongst African-Americans is to bring about a diminution in the prominence of Peterson, Elder, and West’s ideas, and fuse, build upon, and elevate the much better thought currents among us.
This journey from the margins begins with Sowell’s observation. It is built upon by research of people like Right-leaning linguist John McWhorter who explains we should have a utility view of language. All languages are ever-evolving. Pure language is a chimera. The proper tools of analysis to judge the English spoken by Rachel Jeantel or minority youth, in general, is not correct versus incorrect, but rather effective versus ineffective with an understanding of what social scientists call “code-switching,” or using different rhetorical registers as situations require.
Read more: http://communities.washingtontimes.com/neighborhood/unstereopolitical-thoughts/2013/jul/23/larry-elder-jesse-peterson-how-not-win-converts/#ixzz2Zyx1LTR5
Follow us: @wtcommunities on Twitter
