I feel stupid asking these sorts
of questions constantly but I really need someone to explain to me the
objection Black people have to using correct grammar. Is it because it's too many words to use and
they feel that they can communicate more effectively by completely eliminating
parts of speech so as to be more concise?
Is it because speaking correct English conforms to a European standard
and to be "really" Black is to rebel against the slave master's
language by butchering his language? Black people embrace every other thing the
slave master beat into us: his religion, his standards of beauty, his social
mores, but I’m supposed to believe that we are rallying against prepositions
and dangling particles because the white man gave it to us?
I've heard the argument that
Black people are simply replicating the patterns of speech from West Africa and
even ancient KMT but that's absurd. We
don't replicate anything else from Africa, why only speech patterns. And maybe I’m the only one who can see the
obvious but it seems clear to me and anyone with half a brain that Black peopel
are clearly replicating the speech patterns of the slave, not the West
African. Is there some moral objection
to speaking correctly I'm unaware of? I'm
really confused why conjugating verbs seems to be so offensive for Black
people. I don't want to assume it's only
because the educational system has handicapped us to be inarticulate. I know that schools in Black neighborhoods
aren’t held to the same standards as those in rich, white neighborhoods but it
CAN'T be because we don't know that they are speaking incorrectly because
everyone has a television and access to
. . . . Oh wait . . . I think I just partially answered my own
question. Almost every Black TV show,
movie, and certainly every Black song on the radio butchers the English
language beyond recognition to some sort of ghetto code so it's very likely
that people just don't comprehend that they are not speaking correctly; they
believe that they are using the English language in its correct usage.
Anyone who knows me knows that
I'm super Black. I'm Blackety, Black,
Black, Power-to-the-People, Raise-Your-Fist-in-Defiance, Red, Black, and Green,
Black. Not once have I ever considered
my correct usage of the English language anything other than an effective tool
for communication. I don't think, and maybe I'm wrong but it doesn't make sense
to me, that using multi-syllabic vocabulary words makes me a sellout. I use the correct tools when I garden. I use the correct tools when I sew. I don't
think that using a Frisbee and a can of sterno will enable to make a gourmet
meal because those aren't the proper utensils. I use the correct tools when I
speak and when I write so that I might be able to effectively communicate my
thoughts and feelings to others. It
seems to me that the Black community is wallowing in butchering the English
language and proud to do so because they . . . I'm not sure why they are so
intent on slaughtering the English language, thus the formulation of my
question. Communication is the
foundation for the way we interact with people and it appears to me that Black
folk are content with third grade linguistics and not much more.
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