Posted on 03/15/2019 4:02:50 PM PDT by EdnaMode
A video of Maya Angelou checking a teenage girl for calling her by her first name went viral and sparked a Twitter debate Friday about names, age and respect like none other.
In the video, which Newsweek reports is from the early 1990s, Angelou is sitting on stage taking questions from the audience. The host chooses a young girl who begins her question by addressing Angelou as "Maya."
“Oh, thank you,” Angelou replies to the girl in the clip. "And first, I’m Ms. Angelou."
"I’m not Maya, I’m 62 years old," Angelou continues. "I’ve lived so long and tried so hard that a young woman like you, or any other, has no license to come up to me and call me by my first name. That’s first. Also, because at the same time, I’m your mother, I’m your auntie, I’m your teacher, I'm your professor. See?”
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The clip was uploaded by Twitter user Prince Pierre (@PrinceCharmingP) on Thursday night who captioned it, "I can’t wait to turn 30 so I can read one of yall for calling me by my first name like this."
(Excerpt) Read more at blavity.com ...
“I’m Ms. Angelou.”
“Miss Jackson, if you’re nasty.”
“I’m your mother, I’m your auntie, I’m your teacher, I’m your professor.”
Huh?
Not a fan of ‘Ms. Angelou’ but in this case she may be correct.
That was just Maya being Maya, or whatever her real name was.
I attended a few poetry readings that Maya read at back in Detroit. She was entertaining at such occasions, but even offstage, she remained somewhat pompous and brusque around us regular people. That was okay. I never expected anything more from her.
I never saw her as an icon, but simply as a good teller of stories and analogies. All the time I was in her presence, I never forgot that she started out as a Hooker. That was always in the back of my mind.
She would have loved the internet, and would have seen herself as an Influencer. An “Influencer” is a real profession nowadays. You show a product on YouTube, or talk about it in your blog, and you influence other people to try it out too.
“For the next thirteen weeks I will be your father, your mother, your brother and your sister. I will NOT be your girlfriend. You can “eff” your girlfriends but you’d better not try to “eff” me!”
- Engineman First Class Henry Golightly - Commander, Company 205 Orlando Naval Training Center 1969
Maya was taught very well by her elders when she was growing up. You respected your elders. They were not like your friends, you did not refer to them on a firt name basis. It was most often most true with elders in official positions, elders in the family, and elders you just met.
I am sure in her early years, that type of respectful language habits helped her “cross the color line”, which surely was a real line more often when she was growing up and in her early adulthood.
It really is nothing more than this.
Jack Dorsey's contribution to humanity was creating a forum that allows hundreds of millions of people around the world the opportunity to tell each other to go fornicate themselves.
Twitter is a cesspool with no redeeming value and yes, I have an account.
Post of the thread.
When did Mike Tyson get so old??
She is saying she is an elder deserving of respect, not a peer.
What about “Stupid Bimbo”?
If you’ve nothing bad to say about a leftist then say nothing at all.
But I think she has a point. She has a right to be called the name she prefers but the way she threw it back into the girl's face was kind of negative. The way she actually responded was pretty snarly.
Like a dog snarling and showing its teeth to you when he doesn't want to do whatever you're trying to do to him.
She could have said, "Hi. How are you? Would you mind calling me Ms. Angelou instead of by my first name? I prefer that. Thanks.
Sweet as sugar. Easy Peasy. Polite and respectful. The girl would most likely have understood and responded in kind.
I hate her poetry. Get me out of the room fast.
Our next door neighbors came by once when we were eating and came in our kitchen. I was about 10 years old. (We were all no-knock neighbors back in the day) I greeted him as Bill and my mother jumped on me so fast.
The neighbor wasn’t upset at all but my mom corrected me properly on the spot and I think showing deference to elders is a value we have been losing.
No, you ain't.
Both sides are wrong. The girl should not have addressed her by her first name and Angelou should not have tried to make herself more than she is.
Bobby Knight lost his job at Indiana, because a student went up to him and said “Hey, Knight, what’s up?”
Bobby grabbed him by the arm and told him, “Show me some f-—ing respect. I’m older than you.”
I understood it, she represents any authority figure to anyone who has not reached majority age. As a Southerner, I still agree with that.
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