Put a handle on it.

If you don91裸聊视频檛 know what that means, you might not call elders by 91裸聊视频淢r.,91裸聊视频� 91裸聊视频滿iss91裸聊视频� or 91裸聊视频淢rs.,91裸聊视频� insist that your children do the same or demand it for yourself. If you91裸聊视频檝e heard the term, you91裸聊视频檙e likely familiar with the history of the politics of respectability and what that means to some African-Americans, pro and con.

Are you from the North or the South? A small town or big city native? From a religious, school or immigrant community that uses elder honorifics? Perhaps you91裸聊视频檙e Professor, Doctor or Judge.

All of the above were widely debated on social media last week, focused on an old talk-show clip of the late Maya Angelou sharply chiding a young woman for addressing her as Maya rather than Miss Angelou before asking the poet and memoirist for her views on interracial marriage.

91裸聊视频淚91裸聊视频檓 not 91裸聊视频楳aya.91裸聊视频� I91裸聊视频檓 62 years old. I have lived so long and tried so hard that a young woman like you, or any other, you have no license to come up to me and call me by my first name. That91裸聊视频檚 first,91裸聊视频� she said to claps from the audience. 91裸聊视频淎lso, because at the same time, I am your mother, I am your auntie, I91裸聊视频檓 your teacher, I91裸聊视频檓 your professor. You see?91裸聊视频�

Angelou apologized later in the show to her questioner.

Pierre Phipps, who tweeted the snippet, has heard from all sides since then and said opinions are varied and plentiful. After his March 14 tweet sent Angelou91裸聊视频檚 name trending on Twitter, Phipps said the Kim in the clip reached out.

Turns out she91裸聊视频檚 Kim Watts, 49, an educator in the San Francisco Bay Area. Watts told The Associated Press by phone Wednesday that she doesn91裸聊视频檛 have a Twitter account but friends and family alerted her to the hub-bub. She said she was a 20-year-old college student in 1989 when she went on a class trip to San Francisco to sit in the audience for a taping with Angelou of the talk show 91裸聊视频淧eople are Talking.91裸聊视频�

91裸聊视频淗er response threw me off. It was a little awkward for me, but at the same time it was like, oh my God this is Maya Angelou,91裸聊视频� Watts said. 91裸聊视频淚 remember feeling like, oh my gosh I insulted one of my icons, a person I look up to.91裸聊视频�

Watts said she got a kick out of people new the clip thinking she was still a teen.

The 29-year-old Phipps, whose Twitter handle is @PrinceCharmingP, can91裸聊视频檛 remember where he found the vintage exchange when he tweeted it out.

I can91裸聊视频檛 wait to turn 30 so I can read one of yall for calling me by my first name like this:

91裸聊视频� Mr. Girth of a Nation (@PrinceCharmingP)

He told the AP in an interview that he was surprised at the attention the tweet has received, especially among young people who disagreed with Angelou. She died in 2014 at age 86, and also favoured the title Dr. in light of her numerous honorary doctorates.

91裸聊视频淭hey think Miss Angelou91裸聊视频檚 response was very elitist. They were really, really pissed about it,91裸聊视频� said Phipps, who lives in Los Angeles and writes for television. 91裸聊视频淲e91裸聊视频檙e living in progressive times and a lot of people said once they turn 18, they feel like they have an even platform no matter how old you are. History is no longer playing a part in how we go about our everyday lives. History is becoming history.91裸聊视频�

Phipps grew up in Chicago, but he has plenty of older female relatives from the South, including Mississippi and Alabama.

91裸聊视频淚t91裸聊视频檚 an unwritten rule on respect for elders in which a lot of us were born and raised to 91裸聊视频榩ut a handle on it,91裸聊视频�91裸聊视频� he said. 91裸聊视频淢e personally, coming from a strong black Southern family, I didn91裸聊视频檛 see anything wrong with her response. Everyone is raised differently.91裸聊视频�

Watts, who was adopted as a child by white parents, said she was not raised with the courtesy title tradition or practice for elders in her life.

91裸聊视频淚 wasn91裸聊视频檛 thinking about that in the moment,91裸聊视频� she said of her encounter with Angelou. 91裸聊视频淚 like that this conversation, though, is focused on respect. Given my age now, I can see both sides of it.91裸聊视频�

Carrie Salow is a 55-year-old mother of two girls in Phoenix, where she moved from Grand Rapids, Michigan, when she was 15.

91裸聊视频淚 absolutely expect my teen daughters to call their friends91裸聊视频� parents Mr. and Mrs., and I expect the same,91裸聊视频� said Salow, who is white. 91裸聊视频淭he kids who live across the street from us are now young adults, in and out of college. They still call me Mrs. Salow and I feel it is appropriate.91裸聊视频�

Valencia Bey, 49, was born and raised in Chicago and now lives in nearby Oak Park, Illinois. She spent most of her summers in Shelby, Mississippi, with her maternal grandparents and extended family.

91裸聊视频淵ou just did NOT call elders by their first name,91裸聊视频� said Bey, who is black. 91裸聊视频淚 was taught by folks who felt the way Ms. Angelou did. Addressing someone as Mr. or Miss was a sign of respect, especially those who came from the Jim Crow South, where calling a grown black person by their first name was a sign of disrespect. White people would purposely not call them Mr. or Mrs. or Miss to reinforce that they were considered inferior.91裸聊视频�

Against the backdrop of African-American history, such honorifics are heavy indeed.

91裸聊视频淟ike Angelou, our elders have lived lives some of us can only imagine, especially if they grew up in a society that was founded on white supremacy,91裸聊视频� wrote Britni Danielle, in a piece about the tweet at Essence online.

91裸聊视频淥ften times, they weren91裸聊视频檛 given the respect they were due by the outside world, which regularly sought to humiliate and dehumanize them at every turn. Those who did dare speak up and demand their propers did so knowing the price could be steep,91裸聊视频� she wrote.

The 55-year-old Lucy O91裸聊视频橠onnell, with a nearly 18-year-old daughter and a 21-year-old son in Los Angeles, was raised in Arlington, Virginia.

91裸聊视频淭wo of my daughter91裸聊视频檚 friends initially addressed me as Mrs., and I have to say I hadn91裸聊视频檛 even given it a thought until then. I told them that they were welcome to call me by my first name but that if it was important in their households to address adults more formally that was fine, too,91裸聊视频� said O91裸聊视频橠onnell, who is white. 91裸聊视频淏oth switched to Lucy pretty quickly. The only tradition I can91裸聊视频檛 abide is Mrs. and a husband91裸聊视频檚 first and last name.91裸聊视频�

Danielle acknowledged young blacks responding to Phipps91裸聊视频� tweet who thought Angelou was out of line, writing:

91裸聊视频淲e live in a time where some people don91裸聊视频檛 really value the things and people who came before them. That91裸聊视频檚 how we get shirts declaring, 91裸聊视频業91裸聊视频檓 not my ancestors,91裸聊视频� or people looking to cancel dead Black writers like Angelou because they do not like an answer they91裸聊视频檇 given decades ago without understanding the context of the times.91裸聊视频�

Leanne Italie, The Associated Press

Like us on and follow us on .