To some linguists, Ebonics is a dialect — a variation of Standard English spoken by a minority group in the United States. To the Drug Enforcement Administration, Ebonics has become somewhat more unintelligible.
“You can maybe get a general idea of what they’re saying, but you have to understand that this has to hold up in court,” special agent Michael Sanders told the Telegraph. Ebonics has long been characterized as an incomplete form of English. Now, the DEA is looking for linguists capable of “translating” this dialect into its more understandable counterpart. “You need someone to say I know what they mean when they say ‘ballin’ or ‘pinching pennies’,” explained Sanders.
The thought of characterizing Ebonics or African American Vernacular English (AAVE) as a separate language may seem unnecessary or even racist. After all, opponents of the civil rights movement in the ’60s presented the dialect as proof of racial supremacy. They supposed African Americans were incapable of speaking Standard English. What they didn’t understand was that Ebonics was just as complex as the language they claimed to be superior.
“A lot of times people think you’re just dealing with a few slang words, and that you can finesse your way around [understanding Ebonics],” John Rickford, a Stanford University linguistics professor, told the Associated Press. “And it’s not — it’s a big vocabulary. You’ll have some significant differences [from Standard English].”
While the name “Ebonics” may lead some to assume the dialect is a racial phenomenon, it doesn’t have to be. A white child raised in urban Philadelphia is just as likely to speak Ebonics, as an African American child raised in China is to speak Mandarin.
The problem is not that one child is black or the other is white. It is that both will struggle later in life unless they are first instructed in their native language.
Language is an integral part of culturel and many African Americans positively identify with AAVE. This is why it so important the stigmatization carried by the language is erased. The DEA’s pragmatism, while not ground breaking, has inched us closer to this task.
In 1996, however, something a little more revolutionary occurred. The Oakland Unified School District passed a resolution elevating Ebonics to a distinct language in their schools.
Then, the goal of the district’s board was not to eliminate instruction in Standard English but to facilitate learning English for Ebonics speakers.
The board defended their decision, insisting that Ebonics was not only a variation of English but also that it had “retained a West and Niger-Congo African linguistic structure.” They felt that like Spanish-speaking students were aided in learning English so should Ebonics-speaking students. In fact, studies have shown that teaching Ebonics-speakers in Ebonics improves their writing of Standard English. Go figure.
Then, Rev. Jesse Jackson said, “The intent is to teach these children standard American, competitive English, because if they cannot read, they cannot reason.”
The Clinton administration disagreed, denying the schools funding to teach in their students’ native tongue.
If the DEA recognized the need to “translate” Ebonics to U.S. courts, why can’t U.S. courts recognize the need that Ebonics-speakers have for Title VIII or bilingual language funding? Is it more important to imprison Americans than it is to educate them?
Not surprisingly, the opinion of this newspaper is, “No.”
Nevertheless, we must remain pragmatic. The de facto language of the United States is still English and the success of any individual in this country — native or foreign-born — is partly based on their mastery of English, not Ebonics or any other language.
Hence, teaching students in Ebonics should not create a reliance on the language. The goal, as Rev. Jackson said, is to produce a competitive mastery of English.
Kudos DEA.
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