Dare To Ask Talk And News About Our Differences - This topic has 8 replies, 9 voices, and was last updated 18 years, 2 months ago by
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- What cultural connections (customs) do African Americans have to Africa? Also, how is Ebonics related to that tradition?
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Name : David P., Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Humanist, Age : 31, City : Kankakee, State : IL Country : United States, Occupation : Instructor, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Lower middle class,About 10 years ago, my family researched our family tree. The farthest back we got was to an African slave, owned by a English man (also my great, great...somebody)in Virginia. Anything before that is news to me. Most blacks' stories are like mine. We don't have any connection because our ancestors were not allowed one. Therefore, two hundred years later, my connection and loyalty lie with the US. I am a black American, not African-American. African-American, to me, suggests that I was not born here and as long as I pay taxes, this country is mine. Ebonics has nothing to do with Africa. It's just communication that we invented and are still inventing.User Detail :
Name : Monika, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Religion : Christian, Age : 26, City : Houston, State : TX Country : United States, Occupation : Applications Development, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,I may not be the best person to answer this, but... As far as I know, most of our African culture was stripped from us over the course of several hundred years, so most African Americans no longer really have a strong cultural tie to Africa. In recent times, many blacks have taken the time to rediscover their ancestry and history. It's becoming quite widespread.Ebonics? Well, no it does not fit. Ebonics is what developed when it was illegal to teach blacks to read or write. Blacks were also not taught proper English. Then, even after it was legal to do so, many efforts were made to prevent blacks from learning much of anything. Well, you have to communicate some way. Ebonics is what developed. I've been told that Yiddish arose in a simila fashion.
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Name : Wayne24396, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Age : 43, City : Parsippany, State : NJ Country : United States, Occupation : marketing, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,Check out 'Losing the Race,' a great book by a black linguist named James McWhorter. Among other things, he discusses Ebonics from a scholarly perspective. If you read the entire book, you might be surprised at his perspective.User Detail :
Name : Ashlee, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Western European American, Religion : Episcopalian, Age : 33, City : Lakeland, State : FL Country : United States, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class,As a white man,I can't answer directly to the question but here is a few observations I have found. I have been to various countries in Europe and Africa, seeing both regions through the eyes of a soldier and as a tourist while on leave. Black America really has nothing in common with Africa. The culture Black America comes closest to is the Irish culture, which is not surprising, American history show that the Irish were the white people blacks came in contact with the most frequently after slavery due to similar socio-economic circumstances. As for Ebonics, it is actually a dead dialect (among whites) from southern regions of England. It was spoken by immigrants in Virginia and the dialect grew to various southern states. It was actually spoken by a lot of white southerners until the early 20th century, when English was standardized. The whites who spoke the dialect became stigmatized as being uneducated, since 'King's English' was being taught in the schools. Now look at the history of black education (particularly in the South) and you have the reason ebonics is still spoken. I have, while in the South ran into an occasional white man that happened to live in rural areas still speak itUser Detail :
Name : Eric25198, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Christian, Age : 27, City : Heidelberg, State : NA Country : Germany, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Lower middle class,it has nothign to do with african traditin, im from nigeria and when we hear of people mostly african americans and how they talk here(ebonics) it makes us laughs, not to sound rude in any way, but africans (real ones) who come FROM our culture look at african american ove here as ......one might say...silly, or to be blunt-stupid, because of ebonics. Ebonics has nothing at all in any shape or from anything to do with africa in any way at all...User Detail :
Name : David25899, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Religion : Christian, Age : 20, City : UPland, State : CA Country : United States, Occupation : Student, Education level : High School Diploma, Social class : Upper middle class,Every thing African American do has a connection to Africa wheather we know it or not, ranging from are dance to the way we act inside of the house of God (church) or (chuuuch). For example are rythmic movement when we are dancing. the call and responce we use in the streets as well in the church, are break dancing or Kappa Watia. our braids, and the method in which we braid ,(adding extentions)etc. All of this has a correlation with africa or african people. Many africans in many tribes would braid their hairs using some kind of decoration intertwined in the braids. Other tribes would pierce their noses or some body part other than their ears. While majority of other african tribes would incorporate dance in various ceremonies, (war, hunting celeration,etc) they would all use the vivacious beat of a drum,and the call and responce method. and the dance moves we use today are similar to those of africa.User Detail :
Name : vitrol_2g, Gender : F, Race : Black/African American, Age : 21, City : detroit, State : MI Country : United States, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,Okay let me address your ebonics question. White people invented Ebonics! Sounds silly I know, but let me explain. Slaves were thought to be less intelligent than white slave owners. Also, we were slaves and we needed to be controlled. What is the best way to control a person, an animal, anything. You take it/them away from familiar surroundings and make it/them dependent on you (the owner) for everything. As a result, it was imperative that we (1) did not learn English (2) did not become education (3) remain submissive (4) remain stifled. Slave owners spoke to blacks in broken english for two main reasons (1) they believed blacks to not intelligent enough to learn english and (2) learning English was one step closer to attaining the knowledge that was denied to 'keep them in their place'. Therefore, the first English blacks learned was the broken English spoken by the slave masters. It evolved into a language that the slave masters could not understand. That is a brief history. It has nothing to do with Africa!User Detail :
Name : Joe30610, City : Jacksonville, State : FL Country : United States,Contrary to popular belief, 'Ebonics' (an alternate term is African American Vernacular English, or AAVE)is not poor English. It is actually a dialect of Standard American English, and makes use of mostly English words with some anglicisms of African words. It uses grammar rules which are common in African languages (such as the rules governing the conjugation of the verb 'to be') and that's why it sounds like poor grammar to Standard English speakers. AAVE is a legitimate dialect and deserves a status which reflects that.User Detail :
Name : Rebecca, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Mormon, Age : 21, City : Ottawa, State : NA Country : Canada, Occupation : Linguistics student, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,
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