2. LET us not misunderstand the Oakland School Board’s
intentions regarding “Ebonics,” the new word for the way
black people talk. A construction of “ebony” and “phonics,”
Ebonics is a bogus word – appropriately, I suppose, since the
concept of “black English” is, too. The Houston Chronicle,
12/29/1996.
3. I, too, have been looking for examples [of Ebonics], but the
half-dozen or so newspapers I read regularly have given us
very little in the way of genuine Ebonics. The best example I
found was on the Internet. English: Toys R Us. Ebonics: We
Be Toys. I like the Ebonics version better. Mike Royko,
syndicated newspaper column, 12/29/1996.
4. At the Virginia Polytechnic Institute, an African American
student gets an email entitled “Ebonic Loan Application.” The
fake document was packed with stereotyped and racist
images; for example, under “place of birth” were the
following choices: charity hospital, free public hospital,
cotton patch, back alley, zoo.Reactions and suggested remedies are disproportionate, with long-
term, widespread and in extreme cases, destructive results. Actual
resolutions sometimes result in a change in the law, one designed to
further penalize the deviants and put more stringent controls in place:
1. Georgia Senate rejects Ebonics for curriculum. Don’t know
much about science books. Don’t know much about the French
I took ... Georgia lawmakers do know one thing – nobody be
teaching Ebonics in state classrooms. A Senate committee has
approved a bill prohibiting the controversial topic. The full
Senate and the House will consider it later. The Chattanooga
Times, February 13, 1997.
2. Cornell Review, a conservative student publication, published
a parody – a description, in ebonics, of courses that might be
taught in Cornell’s Africana Studies and Resource Center. An
excerpt from a prospective course, Racism in American
Society: Da white man be evil an he tryin to keep da
brotherman down. We s got Sharpton an Farakhan, so who da