I am proud to be a resident of Oakland, California. The city that is home to the first school board in the nation to proclaim that Black English is a formal language. For centuries, racist educators have used language as a weapon to sabotage the educations of Black english speaking students. It has been a handy tool used to label them "retarded", warehouse them into special education curriculum, and set them upon fast tracks to lifetimes of academic failure.
In 1984, as a university senior, I wrote a paper on Black english. My research was simultaneously inspirational and depressing. I had proven that it was indeed a formal grammatical language. Yet, I never expected ANY school board to extend it the respect it so deserved.
Black english is a combination of African languages and standard english. African Americans should be awarded linguistic medals of honor for its creation against impossible odds. To deter rebellion and increase fear and control, slavemasters deliberately separated African slaves from fellow members of their tribes. Often, these same slavemasters were functionally illiterate and ignorant of standard english themselves. From that linguistic stew of confusion, we fashioned a FORMAL Black english.
Black english STILL merges formal rules of African languages like Ibo, Yoruba, Ewe, Tula, Mandinka, Wolof, and Mende. Just as in French, many of these languages have no "th" sound. Instead, the French speak "t". Instead, Africans speak "d". Thus, "theatre" becomes "tayatra" and "them" becomes "dem", respectively.
Many native African words are included in standard english vocabulary. For example, "goober, okra, uh-huh, and uh-uh" are all FORMAL African words. But, as Black english is slandered as mere "slang", African contributions are also ignored. In this racist America, everything "Black" is bad. (i.e. Blackmail/ Blacklist/Blackball etc...) And, everything "African" is VERY Black and VERY bad.
Black neocons and racist whites who slander and resent ebonics are only behaving as always. They always reject all that is Black. These same persons revere "differences" in other languages. Shakespearean english is regarded as theatrical and scholarly. French, Spanish, and Japanese are viewed as profitable and chic. Clearly, Black english is NOT being rejected for its difference, but for its BLACKNESS.
Some dare to claim that english and Black english are too similar to be separate. This is a bogus argument for ANY subject, but especially for languages. French is very similar to Patois, Creole, and Spanish. But, no neocon is slandering any of these languages. Some dare to reject Black english because elite Blacks do not speak it. Many elite Chinese Americans do not speak Chinese. But, no neocon would dare ignore those Chinese students who do speak it. Some dare to claim that ebonics will increase segregation. That is impossible! In the real world, we ARE segregated by race and class more than ever before! (For evidence, see a classic book titled Two Nations: Hostile, Seperate, & Unequal by Andrew Hacker.)
I am fluent in French. I can hardly imagine how difficult it would have been to learn French without meticulously translating english during instruction. Reading is merely speech written down. If what is written is not what is spoken, the difficulty of the task is intensified. Students who speak Black english are unfairly forced to both decode and translate, simultaneously and automatically.
Just as with ALL other linguistic instruction, ebonics will be used as a BRIDGE to help black students master standard english. Such mastery is mandatory for success in a world where standard english rules in every arena. Neocons fear Black english will replace standard english. Like all racist fears, this is ludicrous.
Our cultural differences are REAL. Students should not be academically abused because of them. Ebonics will be VICTORIOUS in academia. It will intellectually empower Black students. Keep watching Oakland schools. You will see a sudden and drastic increase in Black honors students and graduates. You will see far less Black students being labeled as retarded or suspended, and dropping out.
I love Oakland!...