#regularfolk

by: The Ignant Intellectual

Language is an institution. Mastery of a particular piece of it, either grants or denies access. Language holds systematic power. The closer one stays to the language of the ruling class, the more access one is granted. The further away one moves, the more one is denied access to a specific piece of society.

The hood thrives off of conceptual conversations, long windedness, explaining ideas. For years, I struggled keeping up because I am conceptual learner. I am long winded. I need to understand the idea before I'll ever remember the word for it.

The ruling class is based on concise. Short phrases. One word for a huge idea. Language blocks folk who can do the work from even knowing they can do the work because of the mastery of a specific language.

The hood and the ivory tower say the exact same thing. Just that the ivory tower is validated because it speaks according to the ruling class' ideals. When, arguably, the hood is better at explaining things conceptually. The ivory tower develops one word that means an entire idea then shuts the folk out who don't master the one word. Even if that idea was appropriated from those very people.

The ideals of the ruling class have shifted our thinking into validating short phrases and folk who can explain things in a concise way. Concise is ruling class. Long windedness and full explanations are shamed. Words like oppression, hegemony, privilege, micro aggressions, etc are all experienced day in and out in the very environments that are shut out of these conversations because they don't use those words.

APA format is a ruling class ideal. It is mastered within the walls of the ivory tower. The Ivory Tower has monetized the everyday lexicon of 'regular folk' and sold it to those who can afford it and shut out those who created it.

​Aint that some shit.
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The Ignant Intellectual is:
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Capital 'B' Black. Big Dream Dreamer. Patricia's Only Child. Thought Leader. Lover. Social & Cultural Critic. Published Writer. Speaker. Social Justice Trainer & Facilitator. Spelman Dude. New Orleanian. Non-Conformist. The Bridge Between The Hood & The Ivory Tower. The Ignant Intellectual. Kind, Not Nice. Master-Procrastinator-In-Recovery. Analog Kid Trapped In A Digital Adulthood. Affectionate Asshole. Hood Historian. Nostalgia Nomad. Random Minor Note You Hear In Major Songs.