When my grandfather died I started adopting some of his accents to sort of remind myself of him. A homage. He was a war hero and he was really great with his hands.
The very winds whispered in soothing accents and maternal Nature bade me weep no more.
I do believe that there are African Americans who have thick accents. My mom has a thick accent my relatives have thick accents. But sometimes you have to adjust when you go into the world of film TV theatre in order to make it accessible to people.
I like doing accents and I like learning as much as I can learn.
I never found accents difficult after learning languages.
Maybe we've been brainwashed by 130 years of Yankee history but Southern identity now has more to do with food accents manners music than the Confederate past. It's something that's open to both races a variety of ethnic groups and people who move here.
In the 'Garnethill' trilogy people always forget that Maureen O'Donnell's dad was a journalist and she did art history at uni and her brother did law but no-one ever thinks they're middle-class - they're just working class because they speak with accents.