Wow. Great writing and great read. I, too, am a first generation American and my parents couldn’t code switch if they tried. I actually learned about code switching in the opposite direction. I started out going to a pretty much all white private school where everyone talked in the same way, then to a public school where I discovered black culture and, thus, black vernacular (“ebonics”). I related to that the most and as I grew up, and became more steeped in black culture, I noticed that I didn’t know exactly how to act or in what way to speak in predominantly white spaces.

Now, I work in a companythat is black-owned and we have two offices. One office is in a predominantly white city (where I work mainly) and the other is in a city with a higher black population. I go to both offices and the difference in how I communicate to people in both offices is noticeable, and tiring for me to keep upwith. But I can’t help it, code switching is this automatic defense mechanism we have to uphold in order to fit in or to survive. I just wish it didn’t permeate every part of our everyday lives when having to communicate with people who aren’t black.