Amen to that! I've long been convinced that language is a far more important factor than racial appearance in belonging to the group. To put it another way, people identify others with their ears far more than with their eyes.
This part of the post caught my attention as well. Efforts to promote such things as "Eubonics" will never help the black child succeed, where excellent language skills will.
The oratory skills of Ambassador Alan Keyes are an excellent example. Beyond his highly commendable moral leadership one cannot but appreciate listening to him for his "command" of the language, whether you agree with his conservative views or not (and I greatly do!!). Now compare the respect and appreciation for the demonstrated "learning" of an Alan Keyes to a Rev Jesse Jackson for example .... no contest!
I always want to "correct" African-American's (in private of course) when they say "Axe" instead of "Ask" ... but never knowing how they might take such correction, I never do. Cry's of Eubonics or being called a racist always cross my mind. But this one word and it's misuse are what stand out the most as an example of learning that this well writen piece makes me think about.
Excellent writeup and discussion ...
Those who support and promote "Ebonics" in our schools are in my opinion the worse kind of racists. These people seek only to keep black people down and "on the reservation" as Alan Keyes would put it. It is difficult to think of a worse crime that could be perpetrated upon our young black people then to teach them that "gangsta talk" is an acceptable way to communicate in our society.
What a sad waste of young talent, for to teach them in this manner, their doom is sealed as they will never function normally in society. No company will hire them. Nobody will want to do business with them. It is an unspeakable thing to turn a young person into the world without the communication skills he/she will need to be successful.
About the only successful lines of work that one who cannot speak English properly can engage in is professional sports and rap music. But so few ever make it to the top of those fields that it is hardly worth a mention. What are the other 99.9% of these people going to do for a living? Probably nothing as they are effectively doomed to the welfare rolls for life and many of them will end up in jail, with additional cost to our society.
The liberals pushing this Ebonics agenda sicken me. They are destroying the lives of so many black people who could contribute so much to our society, if only they were held to the same educational standards as everybody else.