The relationship between the “color” of language and America’s “language” of race is particularly meaningful here, as the Jan. While lynching was most often directed at African Americans, it had its fair share of white victims too, especially those considered sympathetic to racially determined interests. 6, might be immediately understood as one such example of how the intersection between the “color” of language and America’s “language” of race is expressed.Īs Alaa Elassar of CNN writes, the noose is “a potent symbol of hate … it is violent speech … a symbol of America’s history of lynchings.” Thus, the appearance of a gallows and noose on the West Lawn of the Capitol on Jan. And because this “language” is historically both word- and image-based, as professor of literature Robyn Wiegman explores in her book “American Anatomies: Theorizing Race and Gender,” racially determined words and images are often inextricably intertwined in violent and forcible cultural meanings that are also deeply divided. Here, McIntosh explains, it is racially charged as “the phrase ‘Stop the Steal’ has special resonance for … (Trump’s) followers, because for years … (he) has stoked the idea that racial minorities are ‘stealing’ from ‘decent’ (white) Americans (and) that immigrants are pouring in to plunder the nation.”Įven more significant is the idea that this “color” of language is also part of a generalized “language” of race in America. 6, 2021, this “color” of language was everywhere, and especially in then-President Donald Trump’s speech at his “Save America” rally, where he urged supporters to “stop the steal.” This idea is what Janet McIntosh, professor of linguistic anthropology and co-editor of the book “Language in the Trump Era: Scandals and Emergencies,” calls a “dog whistle,” or a seemingly innocent allusion with special meaning for others. For him, language definitely had a color. To him, I didn’t sound like I was Black, and so I wasn’t - couldn’t be. “That’s not funny,” he said, acutely offended. “Actually, I’m Black.”Īt this, the tone in his voice, calm and intimate as if we were both in on a wonderful secret to which only the two of us had access, completely changed. “No,” I said, still laughing, incredulous. What? The image he described seemed a caricature, nothing at all like me - African American, average height and weight, brown hair, brown eyes. “So,” he was saying, conspiratorially, “what do you look like? Are you blond? Petite?” 6, we must use this moment to understand that many of the roots of its central conflict can be found in language seemingly innocuous, yet color-coded.

If we are to successfully empower ourselves to avoid another event in our political future as traumatic as Jan. Capitol attacks demand accountability - and prosecutions More: NC Army veteran: Trump should be held accountable for Jan. Yet despite the pain and disillusionment felt by all, if we do not together find a way to articulate a new possibility, no one will be the winner. More importantly, it concerns an invisible relation between language and color that distracts from the true problem - how we are ever to reconcile such profound differences. Bypassing its hard surface reveals that this terrible juncture was also about language. On the other, that it was an act of committed patriots desperately fighting to save their country.

6, 2021, insist that this horrific moment was about the denial of one of America’s most treasured ideals - the peaceful transfer of power.

Charged language