We Hit Peak 2019

[Dill]

(12-17-2019, 07:34 PM)fredtoast Wrote:
Al Sharpton is a big reason many white people think blacks can't use proper grammar.  Black people can't have it both ways.  They can't promote improper grammar and then act offended when white people compliment the ones that can speak properly.

A few years ago they were asking for extra tax payer money be devoted to special programs to teach black kids to use proper English instead of African-American Vernacular English.  Now they are saying people who use AAVE are "incredibly articulate" and anyone who thinks differently is racist.

So which is it?

I would phrase this differently. I would say many white people complain that blacks speak and sometimes promote a non-standard dialect which is different from the dominant dialect--dominant because of the social, political and economic power of those who speak it, not because it is "proper" in some absolute sense transcending all variations of English.


Whether black people want it "both ways" is also not the best way to frame the consequences, since "black people" do not speak with one voice.

If SOME black people want community dialect respected in our education system and SOME OTHERS do not, that is not "black people having it both ways" any more than my disagreement with you on this issue is "white people" wanting it both ways.