Black Language in the Classroom in Media

Black Language has been a heavily discussed topic for the last few decades. In the effort to make Black Language more widely accepted in America, different forms of media have been used to encourage that acceptance. Varying from comics, to TV shows, and documentaries or even the news, many bases have been covered. But the real question is have they been covered effectively? Generations have been raised to believe a specific way about language, and trying to change that in one fell swoop is going to be tough, that is why many believe that we should start in the classroom. 

 The documentary Talking Black in America discusses this issue in one of its sections. This sequential art form dissects the history of ebonics, and how it is being treated and looked at through education, in the workplace, or daily life. Ebonics is a topic that must be tread lightly on in media because of the way it is received, especially when it comes to in the classroom. Their argument worked because of their use of appeal to emotion through calling out double standards, but fell flat because its audience is already on board with what's being said, meaning it’s not reaching who it needs to. 

“He prolly unaware that he be supporting language discrimination, cuz he appeal to its acceptable form- standard language ideology, also called ‘dominant language ideology.’”  Standard language ideology is when one believes there is a dominant set of rules in a given language, and all of those in a language should all follow these rules in order to communicate effectively. “Dominant language ideology say peeps can say whatevea the heck they want, howeva they want to- BUT AT HOME (Young, 62)!”  In the documentary Nicky Sunshine expresses her concerns for those who are pushed out of opportunities and marginalized for the way they speak (L&L, 8:24). As Young states, people try to say that it’s okay to speak however you want but they really mean to keep it at home, because you will automatically get written off as Sunshine says. 

Black Language has experienced what some would call “friendly fire” in its vying for acceptance. A popular cartoon called Boondocks was created by Aaron McGruder to “represent his desire to reach those he believes should listen to and act upon contemporary problems in African America (Whaley 191).” While the show was well received by its fans, many were outraged by its controversial use of Black Language. Specific episodes such as “Return of the King” and the “S-Word” are notorious for their use of the “soft” variation of the N-word. Boondocks is unafraid to dive into the more skimmed over pieces of Black Language such as the use of these words. I would have enjoyed to talk about Boondocks more but they never quite address the use of Black Language in the classroom directly. The closest they get is the “S-Word” episode where they quite literally recreate something that aired on the news where a teacher says the n-word to a black student. For such a controversial and unapologetic show to not address this topic really makes you look at how few media is willing to defend ebonics place in the classroom.

“Unless you have your own company, you're a rapper, or you're an athlete, with vernacular, you are going to be pushed out of opportunities and marginalized (8:19).” Specifically bringing up where Black Language is given a place in society, Nicky Sunshine brings up the double standard those who use the vernacular face. What she is getting at is the idea that unless you are already in good standing as an upright citizen or some popular sports player who talks cool, your use of vernacular will harm you because of the stereotypes surrounding it. Meaning, many are forced to code switch for “survival” if they want to make it in a standard english oriented society (L&L, 8:29). 

In Smitherman's piece, he addresses the history of where Black Language came from. He addresses one of the biggest problems with opinions surrounding Black Language which is this vernacular push-pull Sunshine is talking about. Linguistic push-pull is simultaneously loving, embracing, and even using black language while hating it at the same time. Sunshine and Smitherman, in their own way, call into question the guidelines for determining what standard English is. “‘Standard American English’ is a form of English that gets to be considered ‘standard’ because it derives from the style of speaking and the language habits of the dominant race, class, gender in U.S. society (Smitherman, 6).” 

As the documentary eers into the education side of ebonics, Sabrina Moore explains the mixed feelings she has as she encourages the language but also understands how the world works. “I am very transparent with them [her students], -you live in a world where you do need to code switch- where privilege does exist. (L&L, 9:36)” Baker-Bell discusses the importance of encouraging a student's home language in the classroom. “Students who absorb negative ideologies about their native language may develop a sense of linguistic inferiority and ‘lose confidence in the learning process, their own abilities, their educators, and school in general (Blaker-Bell 10).” I believe this argument should have been explored a bit more

Hold back is experienced by black students who aren’t fully allowed to express themselves since they are not allowed to write in what is the most comfortable form of language for them. They have to focus on writing in a certain way instead of just having to worry about the content they want to write. The only way teachers have been truly able to validate vernacular’s place in the classroom is because of what it's accomplished in hip hop. “An individual's ability to speak spontaneously authoritatively in the vernacular is not only highly prized but is literally used in verbal combat (L&L, 36:40).” It goes on to talk about how intricate and even beautiful your average vernacular user can be, as well as this natural ability to use double and triple entendres that would take writers a long time to learn. “ (Lipi-Green, 184). The only problem with this argument in the documentary is said by Sharese King in the documentary itself, “AAE has a place, but for the most part, always relegated to entertainment- rap music, R&B, things like that but it’s not okay outside of those realms (L&L, 8:53).”

Towards the end of the documentary they bring in the hip-hop argument, which at the beginning of the documentary had been said to be essentially a cop out argument. Black language is fine when it’s used in entertainment. I believe they were trying to show exactly how intricate the craft of some of the music is and how that should be taken more seriously, but they only mention the craft aspect briefly and focus more on the emotion and cultural importance of it for the section. At least that is what stands out more. The strongest argument they had was when the teachers got into the emotional impact discrediting a students way of speaking would have on them . They addressed the home language and how if a student is put down for the way that they speak, it will make them feel inferior as well as tell them the ones who told them to speak that way are not intelligent either (L&L, 10:45). Completely invalidating their entire life outside of school. They don’t dwell on this argument for long and I think it could have done more for the overall message. One other thing I found the most notable about the classroom section was their use of white teachers to get the message across. Rhetorically, this was an interesting move as for the entire rest of the documentary they used black people in different settings talking about their experiences. 

This documentary's only issue was that it is preaching to the choir, or is something directly made to be shown in a classroom that kids are made to watch. So people who have an opposing view to this will not go out of their way to see the documentary, which is not necessarily a bad thing. These kinds of things have to be gradually introduced. It’s not harsh in any way with how it gives its message, it's overall  very neutral in its delivery. I think we are in a time where more neutral arguments are what's being asked for, so it’s a good documentary for its time. 

Works Cited

Baker-Bell, April. “Dismantling Anti-Black Linguistic Racism in English Language Arts Classrooms: Toward an Anti-Racist Black Language Pedagogy.” Theory into Practice, vol. 59, no. 1, 2020, pp. 8–21, https://doi.org/10.1080/00405841.2019.1665415.

The Language & Life Project. “Talking Black in America.” Youtube, 19 October 2020, Https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QFpVgPl9tQ&t=2392s.

Lippi-Green, Rosina. English with an Accent : Language, Ideology and Discrimination in the United States, Taylor & Francis Group, 2011. pp. 182-210, ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.proxy.lib.uiowa.edu/lib/uiowa/detail.action?docID=958316.

Smitherman, Geneva. Word from the Mother : Language and African Americans / Geneva Smitherman. pp. 1-19, Routledge, 2006.

Whaley, Deborah E. “Graphic Blackness/Anime Noir.” Watching While Black, Rutgers University Press, 2013, p. 187.

Young, Vershawn A. “SHOULD WRITERS USE THEY OWN ENGLISH?” Writing Centers and the New Racism, Utah State University Press, 2011, p. 61-71.