Presenting a look at how racism works to inhibit academic achievement by limiting academic opportunities, this personal narrative weaves stories from an individual's life with an examination of research and popular thought on language use, literacy, and intelligence among people of color. The narrative considers the personal experiences of an academic of color (in this specific case, an American of Puerto Rican heritage) in the light of the history of rhetoric, the English Only movement, current socio- and psycho-linguistic theory, and the writings of Antonio Gramsci and Paulo Freire, among others, as well as the phenomenon of assimilation. Chapters are: (1) The Block; (2) An American of Color; (3) "Spic in English!"; (4) Coming to a Critical Consciousness; (5) "Ingles" in the Colleges; (6) Of Color, Classes, and Classrooms; and (7) Intellectuals and Hegemony. A "Post(modern)script" is attached. (Contains 164 references.) (RS)