I put the following pet peeve on my Twitter account after earlier receiving an email so laced with Ebonics I did not know what they were talking about:
@DeniseGabbard “Pet peeve is people writing in Ebonics- bad enough they talk that way.”
Let me state that I don’t have a racist bone in my body, and to me each person is unique, and special.
My vent was simply that the English language is being butchered. People in the South talk differently than those out west, than those in New York, but they still use correct English when writing.
The reason I am asking is that I received this reply to my post: “That is SUCH A RACIST comment… omg… ” from a Brazilian girl, @NakaAlves.
So I was wondering how people around
the country feel about it, and if it offended anyone. Is it racist, and should I apologize?
Filed under: Random Thoughts...., Uncategorized Tagged: | controversy, racism
Denise,
I’m returning the favor! Found your blog and it’s fantastic!
To answer your question, I personally don’t feel that it’s racist in the least. It just shows that you have pride in the English language. For the Brazilian girl using Ebonics, it fell onto her to use proper English to you, as you may not be adept in using it. Ebonics is for those who choose to use it among themselves not to everyone.
Case in point. If I were to speak to my cousins in Amharic (my native language) and you were present, would that not be rude, especially if we all could speak English? The exception would be if it was something directed to them in a private manner, then we would excuse ourselves from your company.
Then again, if my cousins and I were talking Amharic among ourselves and you just butted in, saying, “Speak English! You’re in America!”, you would be wrong because in America there is no official language and freedom of speech dictates that we could speak whatever language we chose to. Unless working in an official government capcity, then we’d have to use English.
Ebonics is considered a vernacular language, but I feel that it is more of a patois or a creole than anything else.
Do I use it? Of course I do, but I can also be really proper in my use of English as well.
I do think that the current “dumbing down” of America is giving a large swath of American citizens the excuse to cling onto being lazy when it comes to learning proper English.
For me, English is my third language that I’ve learned fluently. To quote my mother as she drilled into my head growing up as a young thug…
“If you’re going to speak a language learn it properly, so as to avoid miscommunication and so that you don’t make me look like a fool for not teaching you how to speak correctly!”
So, therefore, any language I choose to speak, I will speak it as “perfect” as I can and without an accent if I can help it. Other people on the otherhand, may not have had similar upbringing in this regard.
Should you apologise? I wouldn’t.
You definitely should apologize, especially if you didn’t mean it to be that way. Racist or not, it’s rude to post something insulting like that on Twitter. Everyone has a right to speak/write the way they want so long as it’s not “hate” which your post was (pet peeve = hate/annoyance). Who are you actually referring to when you said, “bad enough THEY talk that way?” How else can that be construed?
And, why is it important to point out that the girl is Brazilian? You mean she’s not American? Or, what? Black? White? You may not have a racist bone, but you do have a racist tone.
Hi Joselito, and thanks for taking the time to read and reply to my blog!
I think what I’ve learned (or probably already knew, and had forgotten) is that everyone perceives things differently, and that perception is, in each person’s mind, reality.
In your mind, and probably the young girl’s- what I said was hateful. In mine, it wasn’t at all– just a pet peeve which is defined as
“n. Informal.
Something about which one frequently complains; a particular personal vexation.” according to an online dictionary.
I referred to the people who speak that way, whether they be white, black, purple, Asian, American,Brazilian, European– my point was that there are many dialects around the world, and indeed many here in the United States. But when it comes to the written word, people generally try to adhere to correct English. And I have to agree with Destroyerdivine in his above comment,
” I do think that the current “dumbing down” of America is giving a large swath of American citizens the excuse to cling onto being lazy when it comes to learning proper English.”
That being said, I guess my apology would just be if I offended anyone accidentally– because it was not intended as “hate speech” and I certainly feel that free speech is in play here as well!
Denise,
Thanks for pointing at my comment! Not to be all argumentive with Joselito, as I do respect his view point, but I feel that this era of political correctness is another reason people are quick to call others racist. To Joselito, I wouldn’t jump to an assumption over one twitter comment. You have to have more information than just one line of text to be able to call a person a racist. Unless they’re dropping the “N-bomb” or any other racial epitet, you have to assume that person isn’t racist to be completely fair.
Let’s look at twitter. A one line phrase? Or a quick text which provides very little information? You can’t “construe” anything. But then again, if you’re overly sensitive on every twitter comment, there will be a steady stream of angry posts on just about any subject. Wouldn’t you?
-D. Divine
“Whenever we hurt anyone unintentionally, we should apologize. If people get hurt at everything we say, we should think twice before speaking”
140 characters (without the period at the end). That’s worth an RT, no? Thank you Ms. Gabbard for listening. There is the element of public perception we play with when engaging in social networks like Twitter and Facebook. It’s important that we realize foremost the responsibility of influence as writers, especially if we choose to follow strangers on Twitter. What we say can be heavily misconstrued and, as such, should be said with consequence in mind.
I, myself, am far from ultimate virtue and harbor imperfections in my own mind but would never utter anything that could lead to results I’d rather avoid. What I do strive for is to mean what I say and say what I mean when speaking to family, friends, and strangers–especially on Twitter and Facebook. That way, I would never have to apologize unless I am gravely mistaken. I learned that through the same experience you just had.
Twitter is a toy which we all can play with. The fact that it’s limited with 140 character tweets encourage many of us to use short-hand abbreviations and language that our closest followers would understand. It is not, by any means, an academic exercise to polish our English. In fact, the opposite would be true. So, misconstrued statements will abound so long as sensitivities are prominent amongst readers. Solution? Delete them! Or, ignore.
The fact that you invite opinions on the post of whether you should be deemed a racist could mean many things but I can think of two: 1) you are genuinely feeling awkward about it and very sensitive to being perceived as a bigot, which would warrant an apology; or 2) you are looking for someone to justify your tweet so that you’re not alone in thinking that people who speak ebonics, primarily the black population, should educate themselves with “proper” English-which suggest that they are the ones “dumbing down” America (that is where the racist tone is resonated).
To be more argumentative, much of the perceived and perpetuated racism that still exist in our country happen from “not meaning it”. That’s how entrenched it is. Bigotry is implanted so deep in our subconscious that it surfaces through our acts and words without it ever being intentional. As soon as we can define it, we can uproot it. If it is learned, it can be unlearned. That is really the true impetus in my wanting to engage in this discourse, for it is important to me to no longer be passive, as most uneducated people would do, not for political correctness but of spiritual and cultural value.
(Sorry for the essay.)