Word: jived
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Last week's spectacle was three different events: the live show in the Universal Amphitheatre, the TV show on the home screen and, most important in this town, the show backstage, where record executives in slimness-enhancing Armani suits high-fived and talked jive with the mainly white, mainly grunge stars of the class...
...jive" was never the national or cultural language of any nation or ethnicity, let alone the language of a Black student's family or their nation of origin. Never mind that speaking in other languages represents an honest attempt at multiculturalism by Americans, vilified the world over for their lack of appreciation for other cultures. Never mind the fact that "jive" is a hopelessly dated cultural anachronism...
...Cheng, you wouldn't try to speak to a Black student in "jive." But if Dean Epps thought he knew enough about a given student's background to deduce a language they or someone in their family might speak, and greeted them in that language, it would be no more insensitive than greeting me in Russian or asking me if I speak...
Assuming a Black student speaks "jive" is not the same as assuming a Chinese American student speaks Chinese. Neither the letter nor Cheng explicitly said that Epps ever, for example, addressed a Korean student in Japanese, although it vaguely refers to a greeting made "so insensitive" by Epps to a Filipino student. Admittedly, the latter would be an insensitive error, in certain contexts. But it hardly even approaches the suggestion that "jive" is a Black national or cultural language and that students should be greeted...
...jive" reference and the sensational accusation regarding the director forces me to be suspicious of other claims the AAA makes, and whether their leaders truly understand Epps' role, or the significance of "insensitivity...