October 19, 2010

• EBONICS IS A FORMAL LANGUAGE & A LINGUISTIC MASTERPIECE!!!

  {2009 -- In 1976, as a 13 year old undergraduate student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, I discovered the inspirational and hypnotic work of a scholar named Dr. Geneva Smitherman. In 1984, her fascinating wisdom on the history of languages compelled me to compose a formal research paper. It was a linguistic analysis of “Black Vernacular English”. In 1996, as a rebel radio producer and host at KPFA in Berkeley, California, when its new moniker “Ebonics” exploded as a national controversy, I penned three columns...  I repost them now as a tribute to the beloved Dr. Smitherman. To date, Dr. Smitherman remains a very special academic mentor and sista idol…Enjoy!}

  1996

  EBONICS: BLACK ENGLISH/WHITE WEAPON

   

  I am proud to be a resident of Oakland, California. Oakland 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, slave masters deliberately separated African slaves from fellow members of their tribes. Often, these same slave masters 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, Separate, & 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!!!...

   

  1996

   

  REVISIONIST RACISTS - HISTORY & EBONICS

   

  It is no surprise that the most accurate recounts of history are never found in standard textbooks. The best sources of accurate history are classic works by Native American and African-American authors like Sun Bear and  J. A. Rogers, respectively. Perhaps stories are always best told by victims rather than villains. Villains must always mythologize reality to dilute the poison of their own evil. Victims must reflect reality to dilute the poison of their own demise.

  The rabid ranting of those who oppose Ebonics (primarily racist Caucasians and neocons in blackface) evidences something far greater than an arrogant ignorance of linguistics. It is a classic example of the dangers of denial. The very same denial that allows some to believe that the children of African slaves speak no remnant of ancient African languages, is the same denial that breeds blind patriotism.

  Immigrants master standard English precisely because it is instructed as a second language. Ebonics will be used in exactly the same fashion with the exact same results. Only racists dare to compare persons of color as if we all came over on the same happy tourist ship. Just as our arrivals at these shores are vastly different, so are our histories, environments and experiences, especially in classrooms.

  All Caucasians still benefit from slavery and racism. From the U. S. prison system to Fortune 500 corporations,  all capital can be traced back to free African labor and stolen resources. “The Pilgrims” were prostitutes and debtors, who stole every square inch of this land. They butchered millions of Native Americans and kidnapped millions of Africans. They lied to capitalist African chiefs about the uniquely bestial nature of slavery in the United States. They destroyed the top soil in Africa so that now Africans endure more desert and famine than any humans anywhere else on earth. But....we are to pretend that none of this is fact.

  Just as we are supposed to believe African children are merely thuggish retards with a penchant for slang, so are we to believe that America is the “home of the brave and the land of the free”. Delusion and denial will never protect anyone from reality. In Oakland, we dare to be realistic about our history and our future!

  History does repeat itself. For every action there is a reaction. Whether we believe any truth or not, it remains the truth.

  “Indians” have been cast out upon reservations. But, this is still their land. Mexicans are labeled “illegal aliens”. But, they were here BEFORE the label makers. “Ebonics” is slandered and distorted. But, we are Africans and we do speak it. Currently, it does hinder success in the classroom. We have decided to remove that hindrance by treating black English as the language that it is. It will be used as all other languages in the instruction of standard English.

  No fool has the right to tell one who is barefoot to “pull yourself up by your own boot strap”; especially if free Black labor is what purchased the fool’s designer boots. The vast majority of those who dare to bash Black English are nominally literate themselves. Classic example: Renowned sambo neocon Armstrong Williams’ speech before Congress regarding Ebonics. He busted more verbs and mispronounced more words than any Oakland student I have heard. It was truly comical, pathetically so. He also blatantly lied about his “French” instruction being 100% free of any English translation. (To tell the truth would have been to support Ebonics.) I hope Armstrong finds time to get some standard English tips from one of our budding Black scholars here, soon.

  Standard English is mandatory in the marketplaces of America. Ebonics will be used expressly for the mastery of standard English; much like an instructional boot strap, to properly cover the feet of those now barefoot in academia.

  To accept the truth is to expose a lie. To accept Ebonics is to admit a linguistic conspiracy against African language. In patriotic fashion, it is better that Black students remain uneducated, than to admit that educators have been racist and wrong. Without apology or permission, the Oakland School Board has decided to right that wrong.

  Wounds heal best in open air. The failure of Black children in academia is a national and ancient wound. The chaotic winds of this debate will eventually form a scab. It will secure an intellectual revolution.  

  ___________________________________________________________________________________________________

   

  1996

   

  ON ARROGANT IGNORANCE

  As a voracious reader, researcher, scholar, author, producer, talk show host, musicologist DJ, and tri-lingual revolutionary intellectual, I am always amazed by the bold fools who do not possess a library card, and never visit a book store, who dare to challenge my claims. I am always repulsed by the racist whites who will never heal from the wound that the Ebonics issue has inflicted upon their white supremacist delusions of intellectual grandeur. I am always amused by the eurocentric Blacks who mimic such bigoted bravado.

  Those who object to Ebonics are afraid to admit that anything African can be legitimate and equivalent in any fashion. They are tricked by racist news editors who have blatantly lied about the Oakland School Board’s plans. They have absolutely no interest in the academic failures or futures of African students. They are singularly obsessed with the fact that uppity rebel niggers acted to save nigger children without neocon white permission or uncle tom apology.

  Like the Oakland School Board, I will continue to ignore all who are arrogant about their ignorance of languages and cultures. But for those who are afrocentric and aware, I submit the following book list as my column this week. I do so for those who are aware that “language” extends far beyond vocabulary/slang  to include verbal conjugation, syntax, phonetics, articulation, cadence, enunciation, and much more. “Ebonics” is a new term for an ancient issue. Research “Black English” for droves of other resources.

  In 1977, (Martin Luther King Junior School Children v. Ann Arbor School Board), 30 African parents won a lawsuit that charged their children were poorly educated, due to the lack of recognition of Black English as a barrier to standard English instruction. Is this news to you? All real news is never on TV! So, please read on:

   

  The Study of Nonstandard English - William Labov

  Language in the Inner City - William Labov

  Lexicon of Black English - J. Dillard

  Perspectives on Black English - J. Dillard

  Rappin’ & Stylin’ Out - Thomas Kochman

  The African Element in American English - David Dalby

  Issues in Black English - Bernice Cullinan

  Talkin’ & Testifyin’: The Language of Black America - Geneva Smitherman

  Twice as Less: Black English and the Performance of Black Students in Mathematics & Science - Eleanor Orr

  Runnin’ Down Some Lines: The Language and Culture of Black Teenagers - Edith Folb

  Ebonics - The Language of The African American- Olufola Sababu

  ETC....

   

  Seek the truth. It will free your mind and soul. Knowledge is power. Education is salvation. For decades, racist educators have used Black English as a tool for academic isolation and annihilation. In Oakland, we have reclaimed that weapon. It is being fashioned into a tool for intellectual revolution in academia. The New World Order is in progress. The Revolution is in the streets...

   

   

  My first and foremost academic idol - Dr. Geneva Smitherman:

  

   

  
  

   

  {I still want to be you when I grow up...Thank you sista sage!...AB}

  https://www.msu.edu/~smither4/
  

   

   

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