DEA hires Ebonics Experts but Public Disapproves

Opinion from Grio.com By H.Samy Alim and Imani Perry 9:12 AM on 08/25/2010

When the headlines appeared this week that the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) had issued a request to hire up to nine linguists proficient in Ebonics, it appeared it might be yet another cruel joke about the language of African-Americans. After all, who can forget the onslaught of racist “humor” and the angry vitriolic comments that circulated internationally after the “Oakland Ebonics controversy” a little over a decade ago.

…READ rest of the article on how white supremacy played a role in the formation of black English.

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What is this blog about…chatting about racism

If you are new to blogging, google and learn!

Meet Curiosity. Bring Your Beginner's Mind.

I will be posting news related stories and guides to our learning experience. You may be one of a number of students from our course posting here, too. Everyone will be commenting on weekly blog posts on the readings from Rethinking the Color Line by Charles Gallagher.

We will also eventually be discussing James Baldwin and his book The Fire Next Time.

All is designed to tap into the wisdom of the crowd.

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Welcome!

If you want to change the world out there, this is the wrong course.

Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself. – Tolstoy

I want to invite you on a journey into how human beings turned being superior or inferior into a masterful game we forgot we made up in the first place. Playing the game cause some people great anxiety and others great righteousness. Then there are a few human beings who with the extraordinary talents EVERY human being has alters the landscape of what it means to play the game. Think Nelson Mandela. Imprisoned by his oppressors in SOLITARY CONFINEMENT–no contact with human beings–for 27 years. And he is happy. He is a happy man. Bitterness seems far from his way of life. What is that? How can that be?

When this journey we are about to take will be a rollercoaster. Strap your selt belt on, we are about to go on a terrifying ride but at the end…joy is promised.

I invite you to begin with this amazing TED Talk called THE DANGER OF A SINGLE STORY. What I promise is a course that is unpredictable, not full of cliché conversations and it will make you angry before it sets you free. If that’s for you, join me. Do it for yourself not the world.

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