are dedicated to the education of all children to do in the face of such
beliefs and tactics?
Speaking up
There were a number of media reports on the Oakland controversy that
were particularly interesting for unusual perspectives, observations, or
negative slant and factual inaccuracies. Some – but not all – of the
negative or misleading articles appeared in high profile conservative
publications where the Oakland resolution was treated “as just one more
multiculturalist scam” (Nunberg 1997).
Discussion Questions and Exercises
Discussion references
Applebome, P. (1997) Dispute over Ebonics Reflects a Volatile
Mix That Roils Urban Education. The New York Times, March
1.
Heilbrunn, J. (1997) Speech Therapy: Ebonics. It’s Worse Than
You Think. The New Republic January 20.
See also Rickford’s response to Heilbrunn’s inaccuracies and
biases, in:
Rickford, J.R. (1999) The Ebonics Controversy in My
Background: A Sociolinguist’s Experiences and Reflections.
Journal of Sociolinguistics 3: 267–275.
Rich, F. (1997) The Ebonic Plague. The New York Times, January
8.See also Sclafiani’s analysis of the NYT coverage:
Sclafani, J. (2008) The Intertextual Origins of Public Opinion:
Constructing Ebonics in The New York Times. Discourse and
Society> 19: 507–527.