Ebonics Influence On Middle Class

I went to a predominately black school for middle school. Where ebonics ruled over the “white people talk” or what society calls english. My entire life, inside the classroom and out I spoke ebonics. It was my native dialect. I was also under the impression that everyone in the world spoke in such vernacular. It was not until I enrolled in a private boarding school in rural Pennsylvania where I discovered that my original hypothesis was incorrect. One day in 9th grade I forgot to bring my textbook to class. I raised my hand and told my teacher “I done forgot my book at da crib, I finna go back and grab that jawn.” The teacher squinted at me in anguish as if hearing my way of talk brought pain to her. “Pardon me?” she replied. I pointed to a

classmates textbook and she nodded. As I walked back to my dorm I can remember feeling truly as an outsider. It was like I was in a foreign country where no one spoke my language and the only way that I could communicate was by pointing. As a fourteen year old this puzzled me. I was able to understand their was of speaking english so why couldn’t they understand mine?I remember talking to my senior mentor, Charles, and he told me the only way to make it through this school was to behave and talk like them. (Them being the white students and facilitated that inhabited my school). At first I was reluctant, I exclaimed “why should I have to change myself to fit in when they do not have to change themselves?” He told me that the way I talk is unintelligible and that no one would ever take me serious speaking in ebonics. (i never knew there was an official word for my vernacular until then). I simply told him, “ I got into here speaking in ebonics and I am going to leave here speaking ebonics.” At this point I was so sure in making sure that this white school did not interfere or try to change my identity.