The following is a piece written by friend and colleague, Rev. Dr. Frank Thomas.
If black people had known that "signifying" could get you this close to -- if not into -- the White House, we would have made it a political movement long ago. For the uninitiated, "signifying" is what African American scholar Henry Louis Gates describes as the "master trope" of black rhetoric. While often played for laughs, signifying in its non-comedic form is an exchange of bluster, insults, lack of apology and verbal intimidation. In its strongest form, this attempt to embarrass and verbally injure others is better known in the African American community as "playing the dozens."
It's also what you could call the approach Donald Trump is taking in his campaign for president. What I think he is bound to discover is that it is an approach with short-term appeal.
Like many African Americans, I grew up in an almost bi-lingual world. I was taught the language of standard English so I could navigate in Euro-American culture for the purposes of survival, exams, manners, etiquette and, especially, advancement in life. Correspondingly, I learned and intuited in the home, church and neighborhood a second language that black people shared for privileged meanings among themselves. This language of indirection, innuendo, double-meanings and black identity that we call "signifying" taught me improvisation, ad-lib quickness, verbal dexterity, persuasion and creative expression.
A particular form of signifying, "dozens" is a verbal contest in which two people compete head-to-head, taking turns insulting -- or "crackin" or "dissin" on -- each other or the adversary's mother or other family members. H. Rap Brown, whom Gates described as a master of "black vernacular rhetorical games," described dozens as unrelentingly mean because "what you try to do is destroy someone with words." We've seen how dramatic this can be, as dozens can escalate to violence. Some say it's what led to the 90s "East Coast vs. West Coast" hip-hop battles that resulted in the deaths of Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls, as well as various acts of violence and mayhem today among those not nearly as famous.
The object of the dozens is to bewilder and confound one's opponent with swift, skillful and creative speech. It is a contest of personal and rhetorical power -- of wit, self-control, emotional strength, and mental agility and toughness -- in which the person who gets angry or has no comeback is the loser.
That sounds a lot like Trump's campaign strategy to me. While political pundits suggest that Trump is breaking all the political rules, I believe he is playing by a different set of rules, the rules of the street. Trump is playing the dozens. Unfortunately, the danger and potential violence of the game in the streets of black community is magnified thousands fold when played by a person who sits, some argue, in the most powerful position in the world.
However good Trump might be at the dozens, he ultimately will learn what Ted Cruz learned: You cannot build a future on alienating, embarrassing, intimidating and disgracing, because people have long memories. Trump will discover that, even as he wins, he loses because dozens can destroy future possibilities of working together. Trump will learn that the "political correctness" he abhors has value in that it leaves the door of respect open for further conversation. Though it can be overblown, political correctness seeks language that fosters cooperation and community. It understands that inappropriately "telling it like it is" can be alienating, demeaning, and destructive.
Why has he gotten this far with this approach? I see a couple of reasons. One is America's long-standing belief in the American Dream of the self-made millionaire. This is the Horatio Alger, rags-to-riches, captains-of-industry myth that America glorifies, forgetting that making money is simply a skill, and too often failing to ask whether the self-made millionaire has any other skills or knows anything about making a life or making community.
Second, Trump is speaking to an anger, particularly in white America, over the fragility of the American Dream. Nobel Prize winner Angus Deaton pointed to this frustration recently when asked about rising death rates among middle-aged white Americans, whom he said have "lost the narrative of their lives." His point: Their economic setbacks have hit them hard because they expected better. These people believed in the American Dream, and they are coping badly with its failure to come true for them. The truth is, all Americans -- not only white Americans -- should ask questions about an economic system that has, for 30 years, benefited one class of people to the exclusion of the whole.
Trump speaks to some legitimate concerns. If one listens carefully, like all caricature, there is some modicum of common sense in his message. But his legitimacy is quickly overshadowed by his attempt to win by playing the dangerous dozens, not only with his political opponents, but with whole groups of people -- Muslims, Hispanics, women and African Americans.
America needs leadership focused on building unity and consensus, not one that engages in dangerous games that pit one group against another with disastrous consequences. So, let's not play the dozens with Trump, as some are wont and able to do. Instead, let's motivate people to organize and vote in a way that ensures that, when Donald Trump decides to play the dozens in the future, he does so as a private citizen.
Frank A. Thomas is Director of the PhD Program in African American Preaching and Sacred Rhetoric at Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis, author of "They Like to Never Quit Praisin' God: The Role of Celebration In Preaching," and co-editor of "Preaching With Sacred Fire: An Anthology of African American Sermons, 1750 to the Present." He can be followed on Twitter at @drfrankathomas.