[Tracy]

I grew up in a predominantly black area, which afforded me a chance to observe another culture. There is one thing I never understood: I see the black community trying hard to get equality (I feel they had it years ago and that the tide is turning, but that's another post). With the leaders of the black community trying so hard, why on earth is Ebonics accepted? Does this not make those who use it seem uneducated and lazy? I don't buy the line that Ebonics is leveling the playing field for African Americans. Is there a reason, besides laziness, that hinders black youths from learning proper grammar? Using Ebonics as a guide, I should have passed Trig with an A; after all, I had a hard time learning trig, so I should have been given an A. The largest thing holding the black community back is the black community, and Ebonics is a perfect example. I grew up in the same surroundings as my friends, went to the same school and had the same breaks. But while they deal crack, I'm making a good living and taking care of my wife and house.

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Name : Tracy, Gender : M, Race : White/Caucasian, City : Farmington, State : MI Country : United States, Occupation : Technical Writer, Education level : Technical School, 

[Mary-A22178]

In college I did some research on Ebonics and learned some very interesting things. According to what I read, slaves developed the language in order to have private conversations that could not be understood by the slaveholders. As for why black children today still speak in Ebonics, we all learn our speech patterns from our parents, starting at birth. That's why people from Wisconsin, for instance, have a distinctive accent that can be discerned by people from other states. Once a person has established those patterns, it is very difficult to overcome them. Black children speak like their parents, who speak like their parents, and so on. To go to school and be told that the speech they hear at home every day is 'wrong' or 'inferior' is something I can't even imagine. As a former English teacher, I think children do need to learn standard English, precisely because they will be judged by the majority on the way they speak. But I think it can be done in a culturally sensitive manner that does not place a judgment on their parents, their home or them.

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Name : Mary-A22178, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Presbyterian, Age : 45, City : Traverse City, State : MI Country : United States, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, 

[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.

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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, 

[Ife21369]

I don't not like your generalizations. There are lazy Ebonic-speaking people, but they do not represent the entire black community. I am black, and I have never done/dealt drugs, I speak perfect English and I have a great job. I don't fit into your little stereotypical box, so please don't generalize.

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Name : Ife21369, Gender : F, Race : Black/African American, City : Houston, State : TX Country : United States, 

[Yuna]

It's hard to believe that you've supposedly lived in a black environment all of your life and you don't get Ebonics. It kind of makes me doubt that people of other races could ever understand something that one race goes through, if you've been around us all of your life and still can't understand. But I'm gonna keep hope alive!

To give a summary, I'm a black woman who has grown up in a black environment all my life. Except that my mother went to white schools growing up and therefore never spoke Ebonics, and neither did I. I also went to white private schools growing up. However, I try to learn Ebonics as much as I can. This is because Ebonics is black. It shows others that you are black and not afraid of being black. It's something that is culturally our own. Every race needs something, some ritual, some way of speaking that is their own. That is why every race alters the English language just a bit: to make it identifiably theirs. And that is not limited to races. East Coast white people speak differently from West Coasters. Southern white people speak real different, as well as Southern black people. Asian people and Hispanic and Indian and Native American people all have their own versions. Ebonics shows that you are down with your race, because only people of your race actually know the meaning of your slang vocabulary.

I also have to disagree that we are equal, but as you have, I'll save it for another post. However, as for it holding black people back: to an extent, it has. We all need to speak 'proper' English because it is universally understood. It's used in business, taught as a foreign language, etc. But some black people aren't taught well enough in schools how to speak 'proper' English. I've been to private and public schools and can attest to that. Some of the public schools weren't challenging at all, and the teachers did not care if someone failed or skipped a class or whatever. My mom made sure I did well in school. I think parents should have more of a stake in their kids' education. But it's like a cycle. The parent is not educated well, so the kid doesn't become well-educated. It's very complicated. Ebonics is not the culprit. We should, need and deserve to have our unique slang. The education system is the culprit for not teaching some black kids the proper way well enough.

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Name : Yuna, Gender : F, Age : 17, City : Queens, State : NY Country : United States, 

[RH]

As an undergraduate I majored in English and wrote a pretty hefty paper on the origins and use of Ebonics by African Americans. I think it is accepted because it is a part of African-American culture and is a means of expression. I think many people are misinformed about the political aspects of the debate surrounding Ebonics. The primary misconception is that African Americans want Ebonics accepted as a primary language in school, or even to be taught. In reality, I believe most advocates of Ebonics want African-American children to not be punished or castigated for using it. That doesn't mean standard English should be forsaken. It simply means that if a child answers a question using Ebonics, that child should not be embarrassed or punished for speaking non-standard English. Similarly, a student who speaks French as their native tongue is not called stupid by their teacher when they slip in a French phrase during class.

Critics of this approach argue that Ebonics is nothing more than 'broken English,' but that is untrue. Ebonics has a uniform structure, and it is easy to tell when someone is speaking incorrect Ebonics. A white person imitating Ebonics might say, 'I ain't be got nothin'.' Any person familiar with Ebonics would know this is 'incorrect' ('I ain't got nothin' is correct). The long and short of it is that advocates want this language acknowledged - not taught - for the larger purpose of making black students feel that our culture is legitimate and worthwhile.

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Name : RH, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Religion : Agnostic, Age : 27, City : Syracuse, State : NY Country : United States, Occupation : Law student, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, 

[Lucy22439]

Since the term Ebonics was coined, there has been a lot of distortion of its original meaning and purpose. The original meaning of the term Ebonics was a distinct dialect spoken by many blacks in the United States. The original purpose of integrating Ebonics into the classroom was not to teach children Ebonics as an alternative to standard English, but for teachers and other educators to understand the structure of Ebonics so they could better teach standard English to children who speak the dialect. It's similar to ESL teachers being familiar with their students' primary language so they can better teach them English. Another consideration regarding ESL classes is that schools with a lot of ESL students get extra money for teaching ESL classes. Extra money is quite attractive to impoverished districts like those in Oakland. This led to the movement to declare Ebonics a separate language, so schools with a lot of students speaking the dialect could qualify for more funding.

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Name : Lucy22439, Gender : F, Race : Hispanic/Latino (may be any race), Age : 26, City : San Jose, State : CA Country : United States, Occupation : Engineer, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, 

[Netta]

When you accept a culture, you accept their language. No language is 'better' than another - all are used equally well within their own cultures for communication, to express solidarity, and so on. So black youths are not lazy, they're just communicating with each other in a familiar way. Also, the perception of what is 'lazy' changes over time. Italian and French used to be considered slang, because if you spoke 'properly,' you spoke Latin.

As for your crack-dealing friends, maybe they just fell in with the wrong people, maybe they made the bad choice and you made the right choice. It happens. Not everything is determined by race, you know.

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Name : Netta, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Agnostic, Age : 18, City : Armidale, State : NA Country : Australia, Occupation : Student, Education level : High School Diploma, Social class : Middle class, 

[KC-Tate26522]

I'm not an English major, but I think I've got a pretty good grasp on the language, and I also speak in Ebonics. In fact, whenever my friends and I converse in public, others have no earthly idea of what we're saying. Please understand that Ebonics is the closest thing we have to a native tongue. Keep in mind that many blacks do not (and will never) know their native tongues. It was forbidden for our ancestors to speak their native language when they reached this country; hence, our Mother tongue was lost.

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Name : KC-Tate26522, Gender : F, Race : Black/African American, Age : 28, City : Jacksonville, State : FL Country : United States, Occupation : paralegal, 

[ED25471]

How do you say 'cosine' in Ebonics?

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Name : ED25471, Gender : F, Race : Black/African American, Age : 44, City : Kansas City, State : MO Country : United States, 

[Carter]

My recollection of the Ebonics debate was that it was sparked by some Oakland school board members who were trying to get extra ESL funding, they argued that teachers who aren't familiar with ebonics were not able to understand the children and they wanted this money to train them (this is a recollection from 1996, I believe, sorry if I misrepresent anything). I believe the uproar started when one board member was quoted as saying 'basically we need more money for our schools and this is the only way we think we can get it'. So I think there is confusion and misunderstand on all sides of this. Now for all I know this person could have been quoted out of context, and this might not have been the viewpoint of the larger group. However, I personally believe this was a lousy idea, as ESL funding was really meant to help immigrant children who didn't speak English when they arrived in America. To say Ebonics is a variant on English is one thing, but to say it's an entirely separate language I think really insults black kids, because that implies that black kids can't speak English, which is ridiculous. They are just as smart and capable as any kids. All kids I've ever seen speak using some kind of slang, but you probably can make a point that to succeed in today's world you do seriously handicap yourself if you aren't able to write and communicate with people different than you. But honestly, as long as everyone knows what you're saying I don't see what the big deal is. Diversity is good for all of us, the majority of the words that we call 'English' have simply been adopted from other languages, European, Asian, African and Arabic. The larger issue I saw in all of this was that you have a school so drastically underfunded that it felt its only solution was a need to resort to this kind of scheme - this highlights a huge inequity in educational opportunities faced by urban kids in poorer areas. I think the media loves to play the race-baiting angle because it stirs people up, but this issue definitely came up due to economic circumstances, not cultural ones.

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Name : Carter, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : I believe in God, Age : 29, City : Chicago, State : IL Country : United States, Occupation : Administrative Assistant, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Lower middle class, 

[Jennifer]

Actually, there are plenty of books on the subject of Black English, or Ebonics. You should get one. It is derived from various African languages, such as Ewe and Yoruba, which is why it has its own syntax and structure. It's no different than Creole or Yiddish in that regard. Languages arise and change when different peoples come into contact with each other. Language is not a stagnant thing, it is extremely fluid, always changing throughout time. You do not speak the Queen's English, do you?

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Name : Jennifer, Gender : F, Race : Black/African American, Age : 26, City : Houston, State : TX Country : United States, Occupation : Writer and Activist, 

[Ric-M30040]

Well-spoken English is the 'language of success' in this country, and that applies to everyone. Sorry to break the news. Unless you plan on making a living without communicating (and good luck with that), you'll need to play the game. That means taking the time and making an effort to learn to speak correctly. If you don't, then by definition, you are lazy.

Sadly, as a business owner, I've turned away many workers because they couldn't speak well: immigrants, back-woods Southerners and Ebonics-speaking applicants. I am a huge fan of office diversity, by the way, but I can't have someone answering my phones and talking like a moron. What would that say about my company? I'll take a well-spoken purple pygmy any day over a white male in a double-breasted suit who doesn't care enough about himself, or our society, to simply learn how to talk.

Also, it doesn't matter if Ebonics is a 'real' language or not. You can't realistically expect to speak Spanish in the United States and get by, and that's a bon a fide language spoken by far more people than Ebonics.

To my fellow respondee: Ask any linguist or historian and they will laugh you out of the room with that: French and Italian being the 'ebonics of Latin' crapola. Where'd you hear that? The Internet?

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Name : Ric-M30040, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Agnostic, Age : 28, City : New York, State : NY Country : United States, Occupation : Communications, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, 

[rikki altshuler]

to most blacks speak ebonics?

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Name : rikki altshuler, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Jewish, Age : 24, City : gainesville, State : FL Country : United States, Occupation : student/server, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, 

[William O.]

I see you've taken the reality road and your points are exact with in the realm of what the U.S. stance on official languages spoken in this country. Yet Global and Multi-National business pride themselves on diversity and hiring individuals who communicate in other language forms - I gather that your business is limited your local market. The U.S. seeks to be divers in its national culture; yet, the U.S. government applications of standards are limited by the understanding of those who apply the standards. I say this to help you understand the reasoning for such a standard. There is no justification within the government for changing the national language to a multi-tongue system of communication, but that is not to say that the U.S. should not make efforts to educate is people on common languages amongst their regional neighbors. On the case of Ebonics, this deviation from the English language has merit and is no more than of the case of history repeating itself. The English language originates from base languages - Latin as one example. The change in parlance is based on the conditional affect placed on people by their peers as well as opportunities to make complex or simplify object identification. References to existing English words are no more than that and Ebonics (or slang) is no more than that. It is the impact of dialects, nuances, the need to communicate with differences, and the evolution of languages

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Name : William O., Gender : M, Race : Black/African American, City : Washington, State : DC Country : United States, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, 

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