Being one with the Uniforms 

Code-switching. What exactly is code-switching? Well, it is simply the act of changing between two different languages based on the audience or circumstances. I speak many and it sounds bizarre, but many people do the same. When talking to your parents, your teachers, your friend, or authority everyone speaks many languages or more like the same language just in diverse ways. There were many times when I had to use code-switching because of my surroundings, but one time stood out more than the rest. This specific time was when I was working at a police precinct during the summer, (refer to image one for the exact precinct) I had an internship there where from 9 to 2 I would be working amongst cops all day long. Coming from a certain kind of cultural background it was hard being around so many police officers and maintaining a clear mindset and not being biased and clouded by my previous interactions with police officers. I remember walking in saying “Good morning officer,” “Yessir/ yes ma’am” all day long, walking all uptight because of the pressure that surrounded me all day long repeating “Don’t break formalities” or “Show respect” always thinking do not show them you from “the hood.” Breaking that kind of mindset in that environment is not so easy the amount of pressure that I had to constantly deal with because I was amongst a very controversial part of every community and just remembering everything that was going on around me was hard to think that the way I am talking is not like me at all. It is as if I am another person, I greet my friends with “yo was goodie” not “Good morning how was your morning so far” and constantly careful to make sure I do not curse whereas with my friends a good part of the vocabulary is curse words. Code-switching comes in many ways. I remember the first day that I was assigned to the precinct to work for the domestic violence office and many of the officers surprisingly were Hispanic. I felt a sense of relief when I walked into the office the smell of coffee filled my nose and it was surprisingly relaxing, but I was also surprised I was not expecting the officers to sound, or talk like me. Well not really talk, but you get the idea many, many of them had accents or they would speak “broken English,” or they would switch between Spanish and English. At first, I was not extremely comfortable just being myself you know talking the same way I would talk to my friends, I do not think that I ever did, however, once everyone started introducing themselves, I felt a bit more comfortable I felt as if I was in the little Dominican Republic. It was honestly kind of funny to be in this kind of environment with everyone. I remember everyone asking, “De que parte de Santo Domingo tu eres,”(what part of DR are you from?) I would always respond with “Yo soy de la capital. Y usted?” (I am from the capital and you? (But more formal)) I repeated those phrases for a good week before everyone learned who I was. My time at the precinct was very memorable, to say the least, I will admit tho, for the most part, my speech was almost always formal with everyone I did not want to make them feel as if I am disrespecting them or I am not behaving properly at the workplace. Many of the conversations we had daily ended up being stories about their pasts or stories that happened at work. They would talk, so casually about things that I thought were out of this world you know. Many of the things that the officers did or saw on a day-to-day basis seemed to me like I needed to treat them with some sort of higher authority I would get home and I would just say to my little sister something like “Yo you would not believe what I heard at work today like the officers were saying some crazy stuff,” and she would just respond with “oh nah that’s crazy bro, they be some crazy people out there for no reason.” In the end, I started to believe that even though many of us code-switch depending on whom we are speaking to, it may not necessarily always be a bad thing if you’re just trying to show a certain level of respect.