As Leonie C. R. Smith says, " Education, we are told, is the key that opens the imaginary door to success. Eucation, therefore, is supposed to uplift us from misery - to improve our economic situation in life. However, the path to acquiring an education advanced academic literacy is fraught with difficulty, and opening the door to success comes with a price."
For many genreations, African Americans, especially woman, have been told that the way we use language is called slang. Many African American women authors such as Zora Neal Hurston and Maya Angelou are best examples of keeping it real and telling it like it is in their books. They are not afraid to let people know how they feel and how it is. Words that we use, how we express ourselves through music and books is interpratated as slang. The way we express our culture and the way we see the world in our own words is different from everyone else. We keep it real and never sugar coat anything. With black women literacy and the connection to the reading, we can compare that our stories are very personal and that they have some type of meaning to it.
Instead of feeling that the "white man" is tearing us down, we should embrace the beauty of black english and not feel so bad about what we say and how we portay it. Our language at the end of the day is proper english because its black english.
- Manisha Gilliam
I love this article! I think you did an amazing job explaining how you feel about the idea of black english. I think that we as a whole should embrace the way we speak and not be ashamed of it, but I also believe that we should know when is a proper place to use that different vernacular of English. I just believe it is a way that we express ourselves, the same way some people dance, sing, write; we speak differently which is just our own personal way of expressing ourselves.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the post up to a certain point. Yes we as African-Americans have our own slang, which race does not? But there is a time and place to use it. One wouln't walk into a job interview, dap the interviewer up and then progress by saying things like "dog, hommie, ain't, etc." It is just not proper professionalism.
ReplyDeleteDon't get me wrong I definatly believe that we as African-Americans need to stay close to our culture involving the way we dress, cook, and speak. But we should also know when to come off as being professional and speak proper english. After all we have to better then the white man in order to get ahead.
-Adrienne Carlisle
I really like how you summed that up. We should be proud of our language because even though people criticize it, a lot of the slang and terms we used gets integrated into everyday English (i.e. "bling"). I also love how you tied in Hurton and Angelou too. They integrated the creative way blacks use language and made it work for them. They are world famous for their works but they didn't have to conform and compromise to do it.-Sarita Smith
ReplyDeleteI agree. I feel as though you stated what was the true underlying message, we should embrace our language. It is a creative langage filled with self expression and creativeness.
ReplyDelete-Jacquelyn D. Patterson
I agree. When I was younger, black kids would make fun of me for speaking proper. Now when I get around black kids and they speak horrible english, I quickly correct them. They make fun of..like always and say I am white. I don't care, but I will not be so quick to shoot them down because of the way they speak. I too, will embrace there black english.
ReplyDelete-Maeghan Leonard
I agree with the statement. I like how you said that it is our language and at the end of the day is proper english because its black english.I feel this way because I feel our language is the minoirty, just like us as people. Some people do not accept it, but they have to because it is life. There is nothing we can do about it. We could conform to what the "White man" sees as correct, but we do not because we want to have something that distinguishes us from others.
ReplyDelete-Jennifer Warren
I agree with your post to a certain extent. I feel as though we should embrace our language and the way we speak but i also feel as though there a time and place to use this language.
ReplyDelete-Aarenne Milton
I think that we should love our language and what it has to offer. Some of our words have even made it to the Webster's dictionary! It is just one more thing that makes black people unique from any other race.
ReplyDelete-Chene' Greene