Jive Alive!

By Ezra Johnson

In recent weeks, there has been a fair amount of media attention paid to `Ebonics,' the allegedly distinct language of African-Americans (according to the school board of Oakland, Calif.) Jesse Jackson, among others, has weighed in against the idea, maintaining that most black people have only a rudimentary command of Ebonics and for the most part speak only English.

Jackson cited his own poor grades in foreign language throughout high school and college, even admitting publicly, "Don't know much about the French I took." One presumes that the same goes for Ebonics. But few will look kindly on Jackson's feeble attempt to suppress a living language out of spite, simply because he couldn't get the hang of it in high school. Let Jackson continue to write, preach, and speak in English, which he does so well. But let a thousand flowers bloom! At least that's how I see it.

The powers that be at the Herald seem to agree. Not afraid to confront a controversial topic, they have commissioned entire articles and columns in Ebonics--including this one. In retrospect, I apologize to white readers who have likely found the column totally incomprehensible for this reason.

If Ebonics wereever offered at Yale, or if there was ever an Ebonics department (and stranger things have happened), there are several possibilities:

1) It might get confused with the Economics department, leading eventually to the merger of the two disciplines around the year 2015.

2) Many with four years of high school Ebonics under the belt would still enroll in Ebonics 115, thereby earning themselves `an easy A' (as we say in Ebonics) and making it hard going for the true beginners.

3) Definite marketing potential for the mail-order tapes `Hooked on Ebonics.'

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