{"id":75927,"date":"2020-08-20T00:19:09","date_gmt":"2020-08-20T04:19:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/?p=75927"},"modified":"2020-08-20T00:19:09","modified_gmt":"2020-08-20T04:19:09","slug":"black-linguistic-justice-professors-demand-end-to-standard-english-as-the-norm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/black-linguistic-justice-professors-demand-end-to-standard-english-as-the-norm\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Black linguistic justice\u2019: Professors demand end to standard English as the norm"},"content":{"rendered":"

Abolish ‘White Mainstream English,’ English professors argue\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

A national professional association of writing instructors recently published a list of demands that argued the current emphasis on standard English is rooted in racism and called for a complete overhaul of how language is taught.<\/p>\n

It was published by a subcommittee with the Conference on College Composition and Communication, part of the National Council of Teachers of English.<\/p>\n

The statement called for an end to \u201cWhite Mainstream English,\u201d arguing such an action would \u201cdecolonize\u201d students\u2019 minds and the English language, as well as help students \u201cunlearn white supremacy.\u201d<\/p>\n

The demands were written by five English professors and a writing scholar and the document is titled: \u201cThis Ain\u2019t Another Statement! This is a DEMAND for Black Linguistic Justice!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe language of Black students has been monitored, dismissed, demonized\u2014and taught from the positioning that using standard English and academic language means success,\u201d the professors argued.<\/p>\n

They added such a set-up \u201ccreates a climate of racialized inferiority toward Black Language and Black humanity.\u201d<\/p>\n

The roughly 3,000-word statement<\/a> emphasizes five main demands as solutions:<\/p>\n

We demand that teachers stop using academic language and standard English as the accepted communicative norm, which reflects white mainstream English<\/p>\n

We demand that teachers stop teaching black students to code-switch! Instead, we must teach black students about anti-black linguistic racism and white linguistic supremacy<\/p>\n

We demand that political discussions and Praxis Center Black Language as teacher-researcher activism for classrooms and communities<\/p>\n

We demand black linguistic consciousness<\/p>\n

We demand that black dispositions are centered in the research and teaching of black language.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The entire statement included 33 exclamation points peppered throughout. The demands were penned by a special committee that is also calling itself the \u201cWhy We Cain\u2019t Breathe!\u201d committee, according to the association\u2019s website. (The word “cain’t” is described online as a mainly southern U.S. nonstandard form of can’t.)<\/p>\n

\n

Welcome to #BlackLinguisticJusticeWeek<\/a>!!!<\/p>\n

* Yes, we are the same authors of the 2020 CCCC Special Committee for the Statement on Anti-Black Racism and Black Linguistic Justice, Or, Why We Cain't Breathe! that was released yesterday by CCCC. <\/p>\n

See today\u2019s demand below. pic.twitter.com\/6EhoVhytUp<\/a><\/p>\n

— Ebonically Speaking (@aprilbakerbell) August 4, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n