velarized /l/ and Billy Holiday

[Mark Mandel]

On Fri, Mar 6, 2009 at 2:58 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:

>
> I had occasion to chat with said professor at the '73 Michigan Summer
> LSA. He mentioned that he had seen me at various other linguistic
> happenings "and I've been wondering what you're doing here."
>
> This question struck me as astoundingly, unbelievably, incredibly,
> stunningly, astonishingly, I-can't-believe-what-I'm-hearing, amazingly
> racist. But later, when I tried to whine about this to friends, I
> found that no one else found this question to be at all out of place
> or uncalled-for. Apparently, everyone else was in agreement with the
> implication that the presence of a black person at a linguistic
> conference was something so out of the ordinary that it should be
> expected that his presence there could be questioned or even be
> challenged.
>
> Is the LSA, therefore, a racist organization made up of racists?
>
> Of course not! But the experience of the United States by a black
> person is simply different from the experience of the United States by
> a white person: different expectations, different reactions.
>
> What can you do?
>
> -Wilson
>

We can all try to understand each other and the positions we and others find
ourselves in. We can keep our lines of communication open, and default to
not assuming hostility, racism, etc. ... All of which you are doing and
promoting with the above and many of your other posts. Thanks.

m a m

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