Over the summer I had the privilege of working with many individuals. The person who is solely responsible for my success throughout the internship is a gentleman who we will call Isiah for the sake of privacy. Isiah grew up in the inner city of Boston and grew up with a hard life as a poor African American, but he worked hard to escape that life so his children can one day have a better life. Isiah understood that others treated him differently but decided to turn a blind eye, but for the most part, he was just another salesperson doing his job. I always thought he was just like everyone else I worked with because he talked like us, dressed like us, and even used the same slang that we used on a daily basis. I never thought too much of it until one day where we got ourselves into a little pickle. We were in a lower-class neighborhood and some individuals came up and began to harass me for being white and wearing nice clothes and him for being the “whitest black guy in America”. Isiah jumped into action and started speaking in slang and with a tone that I have never heard before. After we were back in the car I asked what happened. He acknowledged what he did and claimed that those were the kind of people he used to hang with and he knew how to deal with them.

In Chapter 36 Co-Cultural Theory of Mark Orbe, we learned the importance of the Co-Cultural group or “the marginalized groups such as women, people of color, the economically disadvantaged, people with physical disabilities, the LGBTQ community, and religious minorities”(449). Isiah fit into this group but more importantly, Isiah participated in assimilation or the “process of fitting into the dominant culture while shedding the speech and nonverbal markers of the co-cultural group” (451). Furthermore, Isiah participates in Communication Orientation or “the combination of a co-culture group members preferred outcome and the communication approach he or she chooses to achieve a goal” (450).

Isiah does an excellent job showcasing Co-Cultural Theory from multiple perspectives. First and foremost he is a member of a co-culture group because of his African-American background. In the example above, Isiah uses different aspects from his other experiences to achieve the outcomes he desires. In the case where we were confronted and harassed, he used his knowledge from his teenage years to help get the outcome we both wanted, to get back to the office in one piece. Although at first, the individuals thought he was the “whitest black man in the United States” they soon connected the dots and realized this man has become a master at adopting a new culture and making it his own. From seeing firsthand the way he talked and the way he was reacted in that one moment it is clear that the process of assimilation has taken its course. Right after this, he looked at me and he could tell that I was perplexed because I have not seen that side of him. I only knew the office, Isiah, where he would talk like everyone else and use the slag that we used. No one would ever know he was not apart of the dominant culture unless a situation forced him to adapt and change. Furthermore, he was completely adapted to the culture’s verbal and nonverbal markers to better fit in. Co-Culture Theory does a great job showing how the actions of both the Dominant and the Co-Culture group and how these intertwine with one another.

The Rhetoric of Race, Culture, and Identity: Rachel Dolezal as Co-Cultural Group Member