Speaking Proper

How does one speak?

My first language was creole from Cape Verde, but that wasn’t proper. It’s not an official language, therefore, I had to stop speaking it as a means of survival. This wasn’t a choice of mine but I was told that, if I didn’t speak Portuguese I would not be able to get the things that I wanted. This was said to me by someone who attempted to eradicate their own blackness completely.

Now here I am years later, trying to gain back what I once had. Creole to me is a language that enables me to connect with my ancestry, so it’s a strong part of my identity.

I started picking and choosing the way I was speaking as a means of survival in the UK. People now say that I speak with a posh accent but this only happens when I start talking about something that doesn’t fit into the every day. But most of the time I will speak with my Mancunian accent. But I’m not from here. I just live here. Now I’m considered English because I speak properly. I’m no longer Portuguese, well I can’t exactly say that I was to begin with. There is no such thing as Afro-Portuguese. So now I’m British?

But what does that mean? To be British?

This Video shows exactly what I’m talking about.

Here is a video with Xana, she’s amazing:

Remember you are Beautiful…..