Language as Proof of Power in The Art of Black English

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“Because we wanted our the messages to be published…” (Jordan 371) It was there, in that line, that I came to the initial belief that the best decision for June Jordan’s students was to write the opening, group paragraph to Newsday and the Brooklyn police in Standard English. I quickly wrote down my belief, for I wanted to remember it as I read on. I knew that whatever was to come could be powerful enough to sway me, or raw enough to leave me lost. Before I delve in to my final belief on the ultimate choice made by the students of June Jordan’s class, “The Art of Black English”, I must justify the reasoning behind paying tribute to Reggie Jordan in the “language of [his] killers” (Jordan 372) and in the tongue of his oppressors.
What was the ultimate goal for the students of June Jordan? If it truly was to get their message published in Newsday for all the public to see—as they explicitly state—then there is no doubt their introduction would be written in Standard English. bell hooks, American author and social activist believed that “using the [black] vernacular means that Standard English may be needed if one wishes to reach into a more inclusive audience.” (hooks 172) For the student’s introductory message to be perceived with respect and acknowledgment and equated as intelligent by the predominantly White community, their statement would need to abide by the rules and structures that create Standard English. Like it or not, it was the reality of the era these students were writing in, and not much has significantly changed since then.
I understand the heavy weight that was pressing down upon these students’ shoulders. On one hand, one could not properly pay tribute and respects to the brutally murdered Reggie Jordan by wr...

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...is our present reality. However, the discussion raised by Jordan and her students is one that every modern classroom should engage in. With the illumination of these relevant issues that both cross and exist within racial lines, the new generation of students can carry on the ultimate goals of Willie Jordan and his classmates: to hold on to language, as it is akin the possession of power in a time where there is a lack thereof.

Works Cited

Hooks, Bell. "Language: Teaching New Worlds/New Words." Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom. New York: Routledge, 1994. 167-75. Print.

Jordan, June. "Nobody Mean More to Me Than You and the Future Life of Willie Jordan." Harvard Educational Review 58.3 (1988): 363-74. Web.

MacNeil, Robert, and William Cran. "Bad-Mouthing Black English." Do You Speak American? Orlando: Harcourt, 2005. 115-49. Print.

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