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🕵🏾‍♀️ Through the SSF Lens: When Language Becomes a Line in the Sand
A Black man was recalled to prison after using the phrase “my n*gga” to a Black police officer during a stop and search. Though charges were later dropped- after two expert linguistic reports contextualised the phrase- the man had already been punished.
But this wasn’t just a case about language.
🔍 Through the Six Stages Framework, we see:
- A moment where proximity of race was mistaken for solidarity of experience.
- A term meant as connection was received as contempt.
- One man attempting to de-escalate through a culturally coded phrase- another rejecting the very association it implied.
This wasn’t just about offence.
It was about dissonance.
About the gulf between identity and experience.
The man saw commonality.
The officer saw misrecognition- a refusal to acknowledge difference in status, conduct, and perhaps class or education.
"We may both be Black- but we are not the same."
What does the SSF show us?
🧠The defendant may have been operating from a naive Stage 0 mindset:
“We are the same. This language belongs to us.”
But he misread the landscape.
He didn’t realise:
“My reality is not your reality.”
“Your cave is not my cave.”
Meanwhile, the officer’s response may reflect a Stage –1 position—asserting distance, rejecting shared identity, reinforcing boundaries of alignment with institutional norms.
And so, this case becomes less about racism as insult- and more about power, language, and identity performance within Black communities.
🎧 Reflection Questions:
- Have you ever assumed common ground, only to realise it wasn’t shared?
- How do we navigate cultural terms that signal unity for some and alienation for others?
- When does connection cross into discomfort?
đź“Ś Language can build bridges-but only when the people on either side want to meet.
2 minute YouTube video
https://youtu.be/GnRa-OsCO9A
https://www.blackcurrentnews.co.uk/p/black-man-recalled-prison-language-case-dropped
Language can build bridges-but only when the people on either side want to meet.
#ThroughTheSSFLens #SixStagesFramework #BlackBritishEnglish #Misrecognition #CulturalCode #EmpathyGap #CavesOfPrivilege #NaivetyAndPower #InclusionPsychologists #BuildingBridgesOfEmpathy #Black #Identity #BlackBritish #BlackPolice #Police #Power #language
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By Dr Shungu Hilda M'gadzahA Black man was recalled to prison after using the phrase “my n*gga” to a Black police officer during a stop and search. Though charges were later dropped- after two expert linguistic reports contextualised the phrase- the man had already been punished.
But this wasn’t just a case about language.
🔍 Through the Six Stages Framework, we see:
- A moment where proximity of race was mistaken for solidarity of experience.
- A term meant as connection was received as contempt.
- One man attempting to de-escalate through a culturally coded phrase- another rejecting the very association it implied.
This wasn’t just about offence.
It was about dissonance.
About the gulf between identity and experience.
The man saw commonality.
The officer saw misrecognition- a refusal to acknowledge difference in status, conduct, and perhaps class or education.
"We may both be Black- but we are not the same."
What does the SSF show us?
🧠The defendant may have been operating from a naive Stage 0 mindset:
“We are the same. This language belongs to us.”
But he misread the landscape.
He didn’t realise:
“My reality is not your reality.”
“Your cave is not my cave.”
Meanwhile, the officer’s response may reflect a Stage –1 position—asserting distance, rejecting shared identity, reinforcing boundaries of alignment with institutional norms.
And so, this case becomes less about racism as insult- and more about power, language, and identity performance within Black communities.
🎧 Reflection Questions:
- Have you ever assumed common ground, only to realise it wasn’t shared?
- How do we navigate cultural terms that signal unity for some and alienation for others?
- When does connection cross into discomfort?
đź“Ś Language can build bridges-but only when the people on either side want to meet.
2 minute YouTube video
https://youtu.be/GnRa-OsCO9A
https://www.blackcurrentnews.co.uk/p/black-man-recalled-prison-language-case-dropped
Language can build bridges-but only when the people on either side want to meet.
#ThroughTheSSFLens #SixStagesFramework #BlackBritishEnglish #Misrecognition #CulturalCode #EmpathyGap #CavesOfPrivilege #NaivetyAndPower #InclusionPsychologists #BuildingBridgesOfEmpathy #Black #Identity #BlackBritish #BlackPolice #Police #Power #language