Regurgitation in “Whitespeak” Is Pissing Me Off
I don’t need an interpreter. I am the expert.
The regurgitation of what Black leaders say filtered, softened, repackaged, and repeated back to us in “whitespeak” is pissing me off.
Let me be very clear, I am talking to anyone who has ever paraphrased something a Black person (or any person of color) has said to make it more palatable. Or to make it clearer to a larger audience. That paraphrasing into “whitespeak” is a form of erasure.
It’s not just annoying and disrespectful, but this public paraphrasing is a systemic pattern that undermines Black leadership, Black expertise, and Black truth.
I don’t need an interpreter. I am the expert.
Throughout my career, I’ve watched this happen over and over again. Before the degrees, and after. My expertise has been undermined because of how I articulated a thought, idea, or fact.
When I speak clearly, confidently, and in my full, wholehearted African American Vernacular English, the language of my people, my culture, my lived experience, my scholarship, my leadership, and then someone jumps in with: “I think what Cass is trying to say is…” that is the regurgitation I am referring to, that needs to stop.
I said what I said.
But by the time the translation is done, my words have been stripped of their cultural grounding, their urgency, their nuance, their rhythm, their truth, and their power. They’ve been rinsed in a tone that feels more comfortable to them and less powerful for us.
This isn’t a grammar issue; it is a power issue.
Black leaders have been naming truths, offering solutions, and diagnosing systemic failures for generations. Far too often, these insights are ignored until someone repeats them in a voice that aligns with dominant cultural norms.
Suddenly, it’s innovative, strategic, and it’s exactly what we’ve been needing. And it's accepted.
But when we said it? It was too emotional, too sharp, too informal, too much.
This is not a communication issue. This is a power issue.
Whose voice gets validated and translated?
When Black leaders speak from lived experience, cultural fluency, historical memory, and professional expertise, this is coming from a place of authority.
We don’t need our brilliance softened.
We don’t need our clarity diluted.
We don’t need our language cleaned up to be taken seriously.
What we need is for people to stop acting like our words only become legitimate once someone else repeats them.
Regurgitation is erasure.
When someone uses their lack of understanding to rephrase my words in a way that makes them comfortable, they’re not helping me. They are centering themselves.
They’re not amplifying, they’re overwriting.
They’re not supporting, they’re sanitizing.
They’re not clarifying, they’re colonizing the message.
And I’m done with it.
Instead of saying “what I think Dr. Bowers was trying to say, follow this guideline:
If a Black leader says something, trust that we meant it the way that we said it. This includes our written words. Now we aren’t talking about simple grammar issues. But, to be absolutely clear, we don’t need translation. We need you to listen. To hear. To learn.
If you don’t understand, ask. Actually, research first, then ask.
If you want to amplify, quote with permission, but don’t rewrite. Use our words. Not your version of our words.
If you feel uncomfortable with how we speak, interrogate that.
Ask yourself: Why does clarity sound harsh? Why does truth sound aggressive? Why does cultural fluency sound unprofessional to you?
And finally: stop regurgitating. Our language is not a problem to solve. Our voice is not a barrier to overcome. Our expertise does not need a filter.
Black leaders are not here to be translated. We are here to be heard.
And if the system can’t handle the way we speak truth, then the system, not our language, is what needs to change.
