[Mike]

Blacks are not lazy. You don't say a word about slang and phonetic words used by white people (fuggedaboutit, youse, gnarly, tubular, hooch, as if, you are so dead, etc.), but when black people use deviations from the English language, the country gets up in arms. Apparently, there is a double standard in this country that says blacks cannot afford to do silly, care-free things that help define their culture, but white folks can act as silly as they want. After reading what you wrote, I'm starting to believe that is true. Where I'm from, ignorance is ignorance, and broken English is broken English. If you have a problem with the way some (not all) black folks speak, then you should also have a problem with the way some white folks speak when they break the laws of grammar and punctuation. Sounds like you want total assimilation with the dominant culture and view your way of communicating as the only one worth using. Some people find Seinfeld funny because his New York accent and Jewish mannerisms (oye, aaah), but people like Cedric the Entertainer or the Wayans Brothers are looked down upon. I'm not saying I like their particular brand of humor or dialect, but I don't understand how you can find limitless fault with one dialect but not another. How can you begin to over-generalize your findings all the way across black America when you have maybe encountered 1 percent of all blacks in this country? That's a pretty small sample size for reaching the conclusion you've supposedly reached. My point is that you can log some serious hours watching African Americans and hanging around them, but you don't go home to an African-American home and spend the night. You are not immersed into a culture of inferiority day and night where you are told that you won't amount to anything by both blacks and whites. Your cultural identity isn't questioned when you make strides toward success and achievement. No matter how close you are situated to blacks, you're not black. How can you suggest that we made it and somehow lost it? You're really not in a credible position to make the statements you are trying to make. I agree Ebonics should not be formally taught to black children in an educational system, but I do not see it as bringing down the race. The factors that led to Ebonics should be looked at more closely than the dialect itself - it is a symptom of shoddy education, poverty, inequality and rejection from mainstream society.

User Detail :  

Name : Mike, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Religion : Baptist, Age : 23, City : Chicago, State : IL Country : United States, Occupation : Ed. Admin. and Law School Student, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Lower middle class,