Ebonics crucial to American culture, unknown to many

It’s no secret that black culture is profited from, marketed and commercialized. Ebonics, also known as African American Vernacular English (AAVE), is black culture straight from the roots. It is a variety dialect, ethnolect and sociolect of American English. It is most commonly spoken amongst urban, middle and lower class African Americans. Ebonics is the language black people speak and the way that it’s spoken. It simply means black speech. It was created by Africans who wanted a sense of unification and identity, so the common white person would not understand. But as of today, AAVE is spoken on a national level by people who don’t even know it. According to linguisticsociety.org, scholars use the term Ebonics to highlight the African roots of African American speech and its connections with languages spoken in the Black Diaspora.
In the 90s, black sitcoms and television shows were predominant on cable networks, which started the common trend for cultural appropriation, but that’s a story for another day. Shows like The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Sister Sister, Martin, Bernie Mac’s Def Comedy Jam, The Jamie Foxx Show, Kenan and Kel, Family Matters and plenty more debuted on networks displaying black culture and speaking Ebonics. With the abundance of black television shows came the normalization of Ebonics in everyday life but instead of it being exclusively for black people, everyone was using it. It goes to show the intertwining of Ebonics and “regular” English in American culture.
Two years ago, Peaches Monroe created the slang term “on fleek.” The phrase was in many commercials, it was featured on t-shirts upon t-shirts, even celebrities used it, yet she did not get a penny off the phenomenon she created.
Have you ever had “beef” with someone? Ebonics. Remember the television show, MTV Cribs? Ebonics. Did you get some new “kicks” over the weekend? Ebonics. But it’s not just words; it’s phrases and the way black people speak. It’s seen as improper and “ghetto” on a black person, from which the language derives from, but on anyone else, it’s trendy.
But because black culture and Ebonics has been commercialized, it is okay to “talk black” because it’s trendy and cool and brings personality to an otherwise boring person. It is a part of black culture, but like everything else, we can’t have anything to ourselves. Almost as if black people live and breathe to help replenish the white person’s aesthetic.
As stated before, Ebonics is also classified under pronunciation. When a nonblack person of color or white person “talks black,” this means they are speaking like the trendy, ghetto black person. It is regarded as a sign of limited education when a person does not speak “the correct way.” This comes from the association of Ebonics between indentured servants and slaves in American history and their known socioeconomic status.
In areas on the West Coast, Ebonics is recognized as a language and taken into consideration along with regular English in mostly elementary and middle schools. Especially areas like Oakland where black is the predominant race. Negative connotations came with Oakland’s school districts decision to recognize Ebonics. It was believed that schools were teaching Ebonics rather than respecting and acknowledging its existence alongside “regular” English. Ebonics/AAVE is when a black person talks and drops the ‘g’ from plain words like dropping or dancing or replacing isn’t or aren’t with ain’t.
All in all, Ebonics is not largely known across the United States. The average American probably has not heard of Ebonics or African American Vernacular English because of America’s whitewashed history and disrespect for black culture.