Linder affirms that it creates a dichotomy between "success (whiteness) versus failure (blackness)". Pimentel and Sawyer, as well as Linder, identify Larabee as the one who makes this separation clear when he manifests his disregard of African American Vernacular English. The co-authors wrote that Larabee implies that "legitimate forms of intelligence can only be achieved through a Eurocentric perspective, thus advancing the message that Akeelah must be rescued from her African-American ways of knowing, in order to be considered intellectual". Another contraposition commented by scholars was "between the supportive Dr. Larabee and Akeelah's skeptical mother". Pimental and Sawyer said she is portrayed as "an African-American obstructionist", while scholar Gloria Ladson‐Billings asserted she represents the stereotype of "ignorant Black woman". Although Fuchs said the film was able to avoid the "white authority figure saves the underclass child" plotline by introducing Larabee, Ladson‐Billings, Linder, and Pimentel and Sawyer opined that it did not. After all, Larabee, as Linder described, is "a non-threatening black man who has assimilated to white culture and who can be depended on to help assimilate others".