Common use of Xxxxxx Xxxx Clause in Contracts

Xxxxxx Xxxx. Yeah. I think that’s what it was. Now, when we think about how language and accents have changed, we talk a lot about television and radio as being a kind of modifier or a neutralizer somehow, in the US. And it is the case that I must have been influenced by those. But, see, the radio was black radio. We didn’t listen to any white people, and if we did, the music they were playing, we would laugh at. But the radio was actually black people speaking in ways that just—I didn’t want to sound that way, particularly once I heard the way these other people talked. So I began to change. There’s another girlfriend of mine who also changed the way she talked, and I don’t like it. She ended up being an elementary school teacher. But it is so hyper- correct and—false. I started this particular accent I have now really a long time ago. I’ve made it my own and it’s softened. I have a little bit more Southern in it than I used to have. But, see, I get mad at people like Xxxxx, when he says “gonna.” Why is he saying “gonna”? He didn’t grow up saying “gonna”! “I’m gonna do this,” and, “we’re gonna make this—” Where is this coming from? So we can get to “Black Is, Black Ain’t” from that. Xxxxxx Xxxxx suggests to us that black is big, and varied. He starts this by looking at New Orleans. It’s a really fascinating place to look. Because when we think about New Orleans we think about Creole, but New Orleans has all these different layers, some of it having to do with skin color. Some of it has to do with language, and all these other things. But what he wants us to get at is, there is not a single marker of blackness. We’ve got so much about marking blackness by a particular kind of way of being in the ghetto. It seems to me Xxxxx is (laughs) doing a little bit of that, because he’s got to be “black.” I don’t think I ever had any problems with presenting myself as black, but he has to present himself as black, so he starts letting some of his diction go. And maybe because they call him “the professor,” maybe that also softens him, so that he can be like Xxxxxx Xxxx or somebody [else] who has little control of the English language. (laughs) Maybe that’s part of what’s going on.

Xxxxxx Xxxx. YeahSo anyway, he took me to New York, and I heard different accents. It was the first time I’d heard people not speaking in a Southern accent. We’d got the television, I think that’s what it was. Nowthink, maybe when we think I was about how language six, and accents have changed, we talk so that was a lot about television time when I began to hear—and radio as being a kind of modifier or a neutralizer somehow, in the US. And it is the case that I must have been influenced by those. But, see, the radio was black radio. We didn’t listen to any mostly you heard white people, and if we did, the music they were playing, we would laugh at. But the radio was actually In New York you could hear black people speaking in ways differently. And so, at that just—age, I didn’t want to sound that waychanged my accent. It’s pretty much the same one I have now, particularly once I heard which is not the way these other people talkedI was brought up. So I began to change. ThereIt’s another girlfriend of mine who also changed not the way she talked, and I don’t like itanybody else in my family talks. She ended up being an elementary school teacher. But it My accent is so hyper- correct and—false. I started this particular accent I have now really a long time ago. I’ve made it my own and it’s softened. I have a little bit more Southern in relaxed than it than I used to havebe. ButI was extremely hypercorrect. I would not say a word in which you didn’t hear the ending, seeand [enunciating with exaggerated precision] each syllable. That’s, I think, a mark of being self-didactic. I’m teaching myself how to talk. But at that point, people wanted me to be a spokesperson. My elementary school would put me forward. “You’re the one who gets to come to talk to the PTA. If we have a program for Black History Month,” which was February, of course, “you get mad at people like Xxxxxto do the major speeches.” From a relatively early age, I was chosen for these things. I was chosen primarily, I think, because I could speak in this way that wasn’t a Southern drawl, but also because I was smart and because I was attractive. And that wasn’t unusual for my family. I had three siblings, and they [mostly] were toward the top of their classes and very articulate. (Except my sister wasn’t.) We’ve had very different patterns. My older brother was killed when he says “gonna.” Why is was nineteen. He was shot by a policeman. He had left home a couple of times. He left home to join the Air Force. My family had found him there and told them that he saying “gonna”? He didn’t grow up saying “gonna”! “I’m gonna do this,” and, “we’re gonna make this—” Where is this coming from? So we can get to “Black Is, Black Ain’t” from that. Xxxxxx Xxxxx suggests to us that black is bigwas underage, and variedhe had come back home and tried to go back to high school, unhappily. Left again. He starts this by looking at was in New OrleansYork, on the sidewalk with a friend. It’s A policeman said that he had fired a really fascinating place warning shot and unfortunately killed my brother with a bullet in the back of his neck. That doesn’t seem to lookme to be a warning shot. Because when we think about New Orleans we think about CreoleHe also said that my brother and the friend he was with, but New Orleans has all these different layerswho escaped, some of it having to do with skin color. Some of it has to do with language, and all these other thingshad a gun. But what he wants us to get at is, there is not a single marker of blackness. We’ve got so much about marking blackness by a particular kind of way of being in the ghetto. It seems to me Xxxxx is (laughs) doing a little bit of that, because he’s got to be “blackwe never saw that gun either.” I don’t think I ever had any problems with presenting myself as black, but he has to present himself as black, so he starts letting some of his diction go. And maybe because they call him “the professor,” maybe that also softens him, so that he can be like Xxxxxx Xxxx or somebody [else] who has little control of the English language. (laughs) Maybe that’s part of what’s going on.

Xxxxxx Xxxx. YeahThere are a couple of things about school. I think This is a story that’s what it been told to me, about me and school: Around this time that I started talking differently, they did IQ tests, and my IQ was the highest or second-highest in the school. It wasn’t that high. NowBut, when we think about how language and accents have changedyou know, we talk poor kids, not a lot about television and radio as being a kind of modifier or a neutralizer somehow, in the USresources. So everybody started putting resources into me. And it is the case was said that I must have been influenced by those. But, see, the radio was black radio. We didwasn’t listen to any white peopleworking hard enough, and if we didnot living up to my potential, according to this little test. By the music they were playingtime I got into eighth grade, we would laugh at. But the radio I do remember there was actually black people speaking in ways that just—I didn’t want to sound that way, particularly once I heard the way these other people talked. So I began to change. There’s another girlfriend of mine who also changed the way she talkeda student brought into school, and I don’t like itthey said, “Ah! She will be a good challenge for Xxxxxxx.” It turns out that she was. She ended up being valedictorian and I ended up being salutatorian. (laughs) But it was, “We recognize this little girl, and she’s got some talent, and we want to push her a little bit harder.” When I was in high school, I used to substitute as a teacher for my peers. Fortunately, they liked me. The stuff that was given to me (laughs) would not have endeared me to some other kids, but in fact, I liked people, and they seemed to like me, and it was kind of fun, going and teaching English and geography—and, not so much, math—to other people. By the time I was in high school, we were on tracking. I was in the “A” group. It was 10-A, and then 10-1, -2, -3. From that point on, I was always with this same group of people, and we got tons of resources. We studied for a year for the SATs, and we blew them away. They had never seen any black people do that well. There’s a little newspaper article about me winning twenty scholarships. (laughs) They had a whole newspaper article on that in Virginia. It’s funny, because my daughter just saw it for the first time. I think all these things from my history are [things] that everybody in my family knows, but I guess I maybe don’t talk about them so much. Those schools [where I got the scholarships] were all historically black schools. There was one that I was really interested in going to. It was an elementary school teacherall-girls school: Xxxxxxx College, in North Carolina. But it is so hyper- correct and—falsemy geometry teacher had gone to Michigan State, and she thought that that was a good place for me to go, and I was starting off to be a math major. So I went to Michigan State. I started went with this particular accent I have now really friend of mine, the one who was the valedictorian. We went on a long time agoweekend visit when we were still in high school. (I’ve made it my own and it’s softened. I have ’ll tell you a little bit more Southern about that one.) I thought, these people that I trust think that this is a good place for me, so I will go there. My life would have been so different if I’d gone to Xxxxxxx College. I sometimes think about that. I am very sure that I would have been the middle-class black person that I think is so narrow, the person who goes to church, and has a sense of membership in these clubs and service there. It’s not that I dislike those people. But I know that the choices that I’ve made [have been different]. I think that if I had been in a community where that was the goal, that would have been me. I do have this kind of different vision. Maybe I should write a story about that: who would I be if I had lived the life that I had originally thought, as opposed to being challenged in the ways that I was at the university? From Mathematics to Anthropology I have one more thing to say about high school and schools, before I go on to talk about the university. I had a friend, recently, who’s a mathematician, ask me why I had majored in math—what was it than about math that was exciting to me. And I used to have. Butalways start off, seeas I did this conversation, I get mad at people like Xxxxxwith, when he says “gonna.” Why is he saying “gonna”? He didn’t grow up saying “gonna”! “I’m gonna do this,interested in numbers.” and, “we’re gonna make this—” Where is this coming from? So we can get to “Black Is, Black Ain’t” from that. Xxxxxx Xxxxx suggests to us that black is big, and varied. He starts this by looking at New Orleans. It’s a really fascinating place to look. Because when we think about New Orleans we think about Creole, but New Orleans has all these different layers, some Some of it having the numbers have to do with skin colortrying to find things to talk to my father about. Some First of it has to do with languageall, we’d be tested, sitting at the table, about adding up columns. There’s my grandfather and his machine, and all these other thingsthere’s my father with his baseball statistics. You just had to know numbers. That was one piece of it. But what he wants us the other part of math, I think, was being able to get at isfind solutions, knowing that there is not are solutions, and a single marker of blackness. We’ve got so much about marking blackness by a particular kind of way a beauty that is an aspect of being in the ghetto. It seems to me Xxxxx is (laughs) doing a little bit of that, because he’s got to be “black.” I don’t think I ever had any problems with presenting myself as blackgeometric relationships, but he has to present himself as black, so he starts letting some also a beauty that’s an aspect of his diction gothe symmetry that comes with numbers and equations. And maybe because they call him “the professor,” maybe that also softens himmoving from math—which I did pretty early on, so that he can be like Xxxxxx Xxxx or somebody [else] who has little control of the English language. (laughs) Maybe that’s part of what’s going onwhen I was in college—moving from math was moving to uncertainty.

Xxxxxx Xxxx. YeahExactly. My mother wanted to go to school. She tells the story of, when she was—must have been, fourteen—she was at the pump. My grandmother’s house did not have running water, and it had chickens in the yard—those chickens were very mean—and it had an outhouse. She was at the pump getting some water, and a boy came by to talk to her, and she was laughing and talking to the boy. She went in the house. Her mother says, “You’re talking to boys? No more school.” That was it. She started working as a maid in a hotel. The stories that she tells about that have to do more with sexual advances of the men who came to the hotel, as opposed to the bosses. But she felt that was a really difficult job. She also felt that being a maid in a house was a difficult job—but she raised me to be a maid. I talked about this once in a Xxxxxx [College] speech. If I were sitting at the table peeling potatoes, she’d say, “Stand up to peel potatoes. If you’re working for the white lady, she’s going to think that’s what it was. Nowyou’re lazy, when we think about how language sitting and accents have changedpeeling potatoes.” So I’m learning my domestic duties at home, we talk a lot about television and radio at the same time as being a this kind of modifier or a neutralizer somehow, in the US. And it is the case expectation that I must have been influenced by thosemight go in to do this kind of work. But, see, the radio was black radio. We She certainly didn’t listen want me to any white peopledo it, but I did end up doing it. I don’t actually know why I decided to become a live- in maid, but I was a live-in maid between my sophomore and junior years. Rabkin: Of high school? Xxxxxx Xxxx: No, of college. The first year, [between] my freshman and sophomore year, I worked in New York City in an office. That was a job given to me through corruption in New York City. My cousin, somebody my mother’s age, was a chauffeur for a commissioner in New York City, and if we didhe said, “I’ve got a cousin who needs a job,” and so the music they were playingcommissioner said, we would laugh at. But the radio was actually black people speaking “Okay, she can go work in ways that just—this office.” I didn’t want to sound that way, particularly once I heard the way these other people talked. So I began to change. There’s another girlfriend of mine who also changed the way she talked, and I don’t like it. She ended up being an elementary school teacher. But it is so hyper- correct and—falsehave any office skills. I started this particular accent was pretty good at the alphabet, so I have now really did a long time ago. I’ve made it my own and it’s softenedlot of filing. I have a little bit more Southern in it than I used to have. Butthought, seeoh, I get mad at people like Xxxxx, when he says “gonna.” Why is he saying “gonna”? He didn’t grow up saying “gonna”! “I’m gonna do this,” and, “we’re gonna make this—” Where is this coming from? So we can get to “Black Is, Black Ain’t” from that. Xxxxxx Xxxxx suggests to us that black is big, and varied. He starts this by looking at New Orleans. It’s a really fascinating place to look. Because when we think about New Orleans we think about Creole, but New Orleans has all these different layers, some of it having to do with skin color. Some of it has to do with language, and all these other things. But what he wants us to get at is, there is not a single marker of blackness. We’ve got so much about marking blackness by a particular kind of way of being in the ghetto. It seems to me Xxxxx is (laughs) doing a little bit of that, because he’s got to be “black.” I don’t think I ever want to do this again. I had a scholarship to go to college from a philanthropic group in Virginia, and they paid almost everything I needed to go to college. One of the members of that group knew somebody in New Jersey who usually would take black college students from the South to work as maids. Through that person, I went to work as a maid in New Jersey. What was difficult about that experience was partly the lack of privacy, and being on call at any time. I had two children in the family, a wife, and a husband. I don’t know if I saw him twice in the summer that I was there. I don’t remember much about him. But if the kids had any problems with presenting myself as blackproblems, or they wanted something to eat late at night, or any of those things, I was there to take care of it. But here’s the thing that struck me the most. That was the summer of the March on Washington. I had some friends that I’d made in New Jersey and they were going down to the march. I asked for the day off to go down for the march, and I was denied that possibility of going down to the march. I stayed, and I continued my duties. And because we’re now celebrating the anniversary of that march, I keep thinking, why didn’t I leave? It was toward the end of summer. I didn’t really need [the job anymore]. I didn’t have any loyalty toward these people. But I guess I had something that was a kind of work ethic, that said that if you’ve entered into this contract, then you finish it up, and then you don’t do it anymore. So I did do that. [There was] great surveillance of all my activities: how I’m working in the kitchen; where I’m going; who are my friends; what am I reading. I think, to some extent, both the group of people who had gotten together for the scholarships and the person who hired me, and probably other people in that world, thought they were grooming these raw black girls from the South, and they were maybe turning us into good homemakers. I don’t know what they thought they were doing, but he has to present himself it was an awful lot of surveillance. The next summer I was on my own. Actually, the next summer is the summer before I got married. I got married in the beginning of my senior year. And I decided I’d stay at home, because I’d never really lived in this house my parents were in, and I’d been away for most of the time. I started looking for jobs. I got a job as blacka mother’s helper. I felt, I’ve got three years of college now! I’ve worked as a maid already! I’ve worked in an office! But I just couldn’t find anything other than mother’s helper. I babysat some kids, not very far away, so he starts letting I could walk there. Then on Saturdays I went to some other houses to clean the oven, iron the clothes, do whatever housework needed to be done. That really shocked me. I just really thought that—I could sell shoes; I mean I thought I could do a whole host of his diction goother little things. And maybe because they call him “the professor,” maybe I didn’t think that also softens himI’d be able to go off and get an office job, so but I didn’t think that he can I would, once again, be like Xxxxxx Xxxx or somebody [else] who has little control of the English language. (laughs) Maybe that’s part of what’s going onworking as a maid.