Date: Wed, 15 Jan 1997 12:19:15 +0100 (MET)
Subject: M-G: Re: M-I: Hooked on Ebonics


Rakesh,

Have to answer this privately and to M-G  because of the three post limit on 
M-I. So much that is interesting is going on just know so my posts to M-I 
have to be wheighed carefully.

I accept you very half assed and rickety defense of Ebonics. I do not agree 
with your reasoning nor your putting certain conditions on this defense. 
Communists do not put conditions on principle (in this case the language 
question) they defend these things on principle unconditionally! I think 
that Zeynep should put you over her knee and give you some lessons! One of 
them could be the Kurdish question which in a way is linked to the question 
of Ebonics!

Bob Malecki

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>Bob rightly asks me for a principled stand on the language question.
>
>1. I agree that teachers should bring in work written in Black English. For
>example, my students enjoyed reading poems from Sonia Sanchez's *Homegirls
>and Handgrenades* and a collection of Amiri Baraka's work.  If students
>want to attempt to write poems in the same language or discuss the poetry
>in the language it was written, I think this should not only be tolerated
>but celebrated. However, I do not think it is necessary for the teacher to
>speak himself in Black English, though the teacher can note that some of
>the student's constructions in Black English are indeed awkward. Moreover,
>it was my experience that what the students find most stimulating about
>poetry in Black English is not the syntax but the metaphors chosen.
>
>2. I do not think such work should be assigned for Black students only; it
>should be incorporated into the general curriculum. It is great American
>poetry. African-American students should also be aware that not only great
>Black poetry is written in Black English--for example, Gwendolyn Brooks and
>Langston Hughes.And very importantly, students should be exposed to world
>literature. My greatest fear of this Ebonics programme is that students
>will only be assigned work in Black English and then standard English works
>by African-Americans--all in the name of boosting self-confidence through
>role models. But this is the most insidious form of racism of all, as it
>isolates black kids into a black world, keeping them outside the pale of
>common humanity and eventually too different to be understood.
>
>3. Assigning great works in Black English is not the same thing as training
>in Ebonics for black kids only. Ebonics is supposedly an African-based
>language system. I don't think there is any proof for this; it is of course
>true that black music draws from West African musical traditions.
>
>4. I don't think the language African-American students bring into the
>classroom should be studied to derive its rules and to declare it a
>coherent and viable language. As I have noted many times, students must
>become self-reflexive about the language they bring into the classroom.
>This would entail tapping it for its rich metaphoric structure but also
>determining to what extent this language reflects servile characteristics,
>imposed and self-imposing social isolation, anti-intellectualism and
>misogyny.  As students become excited about learning, they come to realize
>that part of the way they talk is indeed about "acting stupid." (Please
>note that this is true of all students who all speak in roughly the same
>way.) They begin to reach for more complex sentence forms and word choices
>and fight against the anti-intellectual inhibitions which some of their
>classmates feel correctly to be embedded in the language they bring to the
>classroom.
>
>So my answer to Bob's question is this: I think all students should be
>exposed to works in Black English and to works written by African-Americans
>which are not in Black English (Richard Wright's Black Boy is a wonderful
>example); I don't think teachers should require students to speak in the
>Queen's English, though work written in this language should indeed be
>assigned.  Rather I think students should be schooled to become
>self-reflexive about the way they speak and write as they are exposed to a
>wide variety of writing styles and attempt to expand their conceptual
>universe and their linguistic possibilities.  In this way, I am opposed to
>both Ebonics and standard English.
>
>Rakesh
>
>
>>Rakesh!
>>
>>Ever since this debate started on Ebonics you have been trying to find a way
>>to not take a principled position on the language question. I find it
>>particully despicable!
>>And waste a letter to M-I in order to state this. Your latest below about
>>the school board antics does not in the least change the central manner of
>>this question. Do children have the right to language which they feel
>>comfortable with or not?
>>
>>Do Communists defend this right or not. Despite anything the schoolboard
>>says or does?
>>
>>You are doing a flim-flam on this stuff Rakesh.Just answer the fucking
>>questions. Please.
>>
>>Bob Malecki
>>
>>----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>--------------------------------------------
>>Check Out My HomePage where you can,
>>
>>Read the book! Ha Ha Ha McNamara,
>>Vietnam-My Bellybutton is my Crystalball!
>>
>>Or Get The Latest Issue of,
>>
>>COCKROACH, a zine for poor and working-class people
>>
>>HTTP://WWW.ALGONET.SE/~MALECKI
>>
>>If The links are not working you can write to me
>>from my home page and get the latest issue of COCKROACH!
>>--------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>
>>>This was sent to me by a veteran Oakland educator who mentions that since
>>>the City of Oakland guaranteed the Raiders football team profits upon
>>>return from Los Angeles to Oakland, the City will now have to make
>>>substantial budget cuts on top of those being forced by Governor Pete
>>>Wilson. Hundreds and soon thousands of people will soon be cut off general
>>>assistance and AFDC; times limits are being shortened, and cities are no
>>>longer required to use funds for general assistance. It also seems that, lo
>>>and behold, the return of the Silver and Black has not provided many jobs
>>>at all, though the construction firms which were awarded contracts to fix
>>>the Oakland-Alameda Coliseum for the Raiders have made a killing and seem
>>>to have bought off enough people on the Board of Supervisors and City
>>>Council. This would be one of those construction projects guaranteed by the
>>>state which no one needed and will now be paid for by gutting public
>>>education and throwing people on the street.
>>>________________
>>>
>>>Hi.....I think your critique is well put.  I saw the issue immediately as a
>>>"smoke screen" to divert attention from the real problems, which you
>>>correctly underscore. (I wonder also whether it meant to divert from the
>>>powder keg the city is sitting on vis-a-vis forthcoming budget cuts the
>>>power strucure is making to pay for the return of the Raiders?)  I also saw
>>>it as afrocentric politics behind the scene.  It would be important to find
>>>out who it was that pushed for it in terms of local black leadership.  On
>>>the other side of the coin, I see it as simply a means to legitimize the
>>>working class black child's street "language" and thereby hopefully
>>>contribute to his/her self esteem and thus self confidence which can
>>>nurture their academic success.
>>>
>>>Finally, the issue has highlighted yet another aspect of black class
>>>divisions and has showcased the political opportunism of Jesse Jackson.
>>>Interesting stuff.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>     --- from list marxism-international-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>     --- from list marxism-international-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---
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>
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>
>     --- from list marxism-international-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---
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