This is a warning to those that laugh at Ebonics...
Ok, it goes without saying that Ebonics has been blown completely out of proportion. Ebonics is not a language, it's a DIALECT. Teachers understanding their students so the students don't feel left out is a wonderful thing. If I understand correctly, the Ebonics program in the Oakland schools was never intended as an excuse to teach kids to speak bad English, but a way to level the playing ground a bit by making African-American students feel understood. In that way, the linguistic differences could be bridged, making learning easier.
But by recognizing Ebonics officially, the Oakland school system has opened up that dialect to ridicule and racist divisionary tactics. And we are ALL guilty of taking advantage of the situation. Don't think so? Think about it. How many Ebonics jokes have you heard or told lately? I've heard a slew of them, and thought they were really funny, up until yesterday. That's when I recognized a rather racist joke, reworked to replace "black" with "Ebonics". I won't repeat the joke, but it suddenly made me realize what was happening. This has become an outlet for those people that like to disparage others based on physical or cultural differences. It's a PC excuse for non-PC behaviour. It's a cover for doing that which wouldn't normally be exceptable.
Watch yourselves, folks. If you pride yourself, as I do, on being anti-racist, consider the jokes you're hearing or telling. Think about whether they portray Ebonics as the language of the stupid; whether they portray the speaker of Ebonics as part of the criminal element or having little or no moral fiber.
Beware the trap.