[Richard-M30062]

You speak like you think, and you think like you speak; therefore, if Ebonics is a language or dialect that developed during slavery, doesn't it contain and transmit the psychology of the slave? And if so, isn't this "language" in reality a pathology that is keeping a large percentage of black Americans from achieving any level of (black or white) societal achievement? Doesn't it keep too many black Americans thinking like slaves? If you think like a slave, is it possible to be any kind of a success anywhere on this planet? So shouldn't the eradication of Ebonics be a primary goal? Can black Americans achieve true equaliy while so many are speaking and thinking, in my opinion, like slaves?

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Name : Richard-M30062, Gender : M, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Gnostic, Age : 40+, City : Kalamazoo, State : MI Country : United States, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Lower class, 

[Kim H.]

Ebonics originated the same way most languages develop - out of necessity to communicate. I don't think most of us black people in the United States see this language as an embodiment of a "slave pathology." That is a very subjective call, because you have to look at who is in power within the "power structure," i.e. who is calling all the shots, who is deeming that this language is "less-than"?

When Ebonics is spoken as the primary language, the speaker should understand that people who use this as a primary language are not making the power decisions in this society. Therefore, as with any speaker of a foreign language, those who use Ebonics should learn standard (white) English so that they can switch back and forth using the language that serves them best in a given situation.

The slave mentality that you elude to has mostly to do with believing that one is inferior, worthless, has inferior intelligence, etc., i.e. the basic belief system employed when one race of people is in need of conquering another. You do what you have to do to break down a people in order to "possess" them. I find that embracing even a smidgen of any of the beliefs employed by the oppressor is far more damaging to blacks in the United States than anything else. And it is believing the lie of inferiority that keeps so many people from leading successful lives. Not just blacks folks, either; there are a lot of white people who feel the same way and are stuck. But then I have to ask the question: What is success? And whose measure of success is it?

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Name : Kim H., Gender : F, Race : Black/African American, Religion : Humanist, Age : 43, City : Minneapolis, State : MN Country : United States, Occupation : Actress, Playwright and Director, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, 

[Mark]

There is something in linguistics called the "Whorf-Sapir" hypothesis, which essentially states that language defines thought. Without a word for something in your language, you cannot have the concept for it in your head. I think your post essentially is saying the same thing. People talk "like slaves," therefore they can only think "like slaves."

Ignoring the concept that Ebonics="talking like slaves" (which I would vigorously contest), you may find it interesting to note the Whorf-Sapir hypothesis has been so disproven as to be something of a joke. I think it has been shown that language can provide a framework for thought, but in absolutely no way defines the limits of thought.

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Name : Mark, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Age : 29, City : San Francisco, State : CA Country : United States, Occupation : Musician/Nerd, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, 

[Brian23038]

I've always felt that the way you speak and carry yourself is very important, and if you change the way you speak/carry yourself to fit each situation, you are not being truthful to yourself or others. Ebonics may be an important part of black history, but I do not feel there is room for it to be taught in schools as a second or primary language. Why should we encourage our children to sound like fools? Those who speak Ebonics sound like idiots (to me, anyway). I apologize to anyone who speaks it as a result of not knowing any other language, your case is the only acceptable reason to speak it, and please, for your own well-being, learn real (not white) English.

Living in the Detroit area, I come in contact with many blacks, and I also have many friends and associates who are black. I have yet to meet someone who speaks this "language," nor have I seen anyone on the cover of any magazine telling of how speaking Ebonics has made their life more successful than they could have ever dreamed.

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Name : Brian23038, Gender : M, Race : White/Caucasian, Age : 30, City : Detroit, State : MI Country : United States, Education level : Technical School, Social class : Lower middle class, 

[Tom-Bell]

Ebonics isn't a language, it is a pidgin dialect spoken by the uneducated. Speaking Ebonics is like wearing a t-shirt which says 'Don't Hire Me, I'm a Loser' The US has free public education for anyone who wants it. If you don't learn to speak proper English and don't succeed in life, don't blame anyone but yourself for your ignorance.

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Name : Tom-Bell, Gender : M, Race : White/Caucasian, Age : 42, City : Aurora, State : CO Country : United States, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, 

[Richard-M]

Of course language does not define the limits of thought; after all, which came first, the brain or the word for the brain? But you yourself say that "language can provide a framework for thought," and Ebonics is widely acknowledged to have been developed in slavery. Slavery is then the framework for the language, and we have to consider the conditions of slave life to appreciate this. The slave wanted/needed freedom above all else.If total freedom was not possible they took what they could get. Like walking at a ridiculously slow pace to the fields, for example. This at least gave them them the freedom to assert their individuality, to protest, and to think. Avoidance of responsibility would, in the vast majority of slaves, be paramount. Responsibility consumes more personal time, more personal thought, and if you screw up, more personal beatings, and the master could kill you with virtual impunity. So, it was in the slave's best interest to appear stupid, not only to save their personal time, but their masters egos, which, if deflated, was generally lethal. After all, who would assign responsibility to an idiot? In order to appear stupid, they had to sound stupid. The masters ears were everywhere. And so stupidity, if only the appearance, is fundamental to the structure of ebonics. But the two are one and the same, and a strategy that helps one to survive in one context (slavery) is patholological in another (freedom). And consider the fact that in ebonics the possessive 's' is nonexistent (sympathesisers say dropped). This leaves one unable to verbally render the distinction between 'Bakun house', 'pancake house', 'Common House',etc. While this may have been a life-saving strategy during slavery, it is dysfunctunal beyond the point of pathology today. You see, I've thought about this a lot. I cannot accept the idea that black people are inferior, so I've had to come up with a theory that explains the absolutely abominable behavior of so many black people that I see every single f-ck-ng day. Aside from inherent inferiority and my theory, how else are the lousy test scores of african-americans to be satisfactorily explained? Please respond, man, you're good. Richard

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Name : Richard-M, Gender : M, City : Kalamazoo, State : MI Country : United States, 

[Mandi]

I think most people probably should know by now that 'ebonics' doesn't exist any more than the tooth fairy. Some person, who probably thought they were clever, made the term up in an attempt to get other people to think they were clever. The only language that black Americans speak is American English, the same one everyone else does. There are differences in the way that Americans all over the country speak, generally due to varying education levels and regional colloquialisms, not racial differences. There are of course slang words that are used in black communities more often than in white ones, but the situation is easily reversible. Moreover, if you take two people; one black, one white; of the same region and same educational/socioecomonic level, more often than not they will use all the same words. Thus, I would urge people who consider themselves to be of at least average intelligence to stop dignifying this term; it only perpetuates a gross stereotype that makes you look as dumb as the person who coined it.

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Name : Mandi, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Religion : Baptist, Age : 21, City : Boston, State : MA Country : United States, Occupation : student, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, 

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