Beyond Ebonics: Linguistic Pride and Racial Prejudice

The decision by the Oakland, California school board to declare "Ebonics" the official language of their African American students unleashed a firestorm of controversy with overtly racial overtones. While the vast majority of linguists were caught off guard by these events, equivocating over technical distinctions between a language and a dialect, journalists, legislators, and the public demanded to know more about Ebonics and the controversial claims being asserted by its proponents. In Beyond …