Kamala Harris and the Phony Crime of Code-Switching

Vice President Kamala Harris has been criticized for using a Black dialect or Southern accent when she's speaking to certain audiences. For example, her parlance in front of a significantly Black crowd in Atlanta was different from the one she uses in big rallies and other settings, like the CNN town hall-style event in Philadelphia. This is not a behavior particular to Harris. It is a phenomenon commonly known as "code-switching." Denigrating code-switching is a bipartisan grievance. Conservative critics say Harris's switching in and out of dialect is inauthentic, pandering, and condescending. Liberal critics say code-switching is bad in general because it arises from nonwhite people being forced to communicate in "white" ways. However, what Harris is doing is not only natural but practical, especially in such a diverse society as ours. If one's goal is persuasion, one should realize that some ways of speaking are more persuasive than others depending on context.