Wanted by the Drug Enforcement Administration: Ebonics translators. - CNN
The current state of our country is not stable. There are many lives that have been altered and destroyed due to errors made by the local, national, state and federal government. President Obama made it a point to inform us all as American citizens that there would be millions of jobs created; yet I personally do not think he intended for a job as an "Ebonics Translator" to be developed by the DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration. The creation of this job position may be one of the most racist and stereotypical things that this country has ever done. First the label of Ebonics being an "African American Language" is the most ignorant thing I have ever heard of in regards to the depiction and representation of a group of people. Do people of African descent or from the continent of Africa speak Ebonics ? Is Ebonics the language of Africa or any other country world wide ? During my years of studying in formal school, undergraduate, graduate and doctoral learning, I have never taken a class in Ebonics. I have taken required courses in English and I have taken French, German and Spanish by choice, but I have never seen an Ebonics 100 class in any of my college catalogs. The fact that this language has been placed upon black people as their spoken language is another complete slap to the face and to any educated black. EBONICS IS SLANG : PERIOD ! Nothing more and nothing less than spoken slang. Blacks, whites, Europeans, Asians etc all speak slang. The fact that this has been turned into a completely unnecessary obsession by the DEA is unwarranted and very unnecessary. Every culture has words, sayings and terminology that is used in conversation. This is a fact. Northerners may say that they want a "pop" or "soda" in reference to a coke or sprite beverage. Southerners may say that they want a "coke" in reference to any beverage that is carbonated ( whether its a coke, sprite or Pepsi it may be called a "Coke"). This is understood and not questioned to the point where a restaurant may feel the need to hire an interpreter or translator to help them figure out what type of drink the customer is trying to order.
The next take on this will focus on Ebonics and daily use. Listen to pretty much any form of music in 2010 and there is slang strewn throughout the course of a song. Hip hop is filled with slang as well and non slang words. Hip hop has artists from every ethnicity in the world. The language of Hip Hop is universal. So my next question is, "Would The DEA Feel The Need To Question All Musicians About Their Lyrics ?" Slang has become apart of culture worldwide, especially here within the United States of America. Turn on your television at any time and you can see commercials that may have Ebonics spoken in it by black people and white people. Even McDonald's has realized the influence of hip hop culture and the use of slang (Ebonics, improper spelling, etc) and has used this to sell food products. McDonald's slogan "I'm Lovin' It" is not even spelled correctly. Now would I need a translator to interpret to me what the intended message is ? No I would not. From my viewpoint I see this move by the DEA as not only a racist and stereotypical move, but I also see this as a complete waste of money. When you say that Ebonics is the spoken language of African Americans, you are basically saying that the drug problem is enormous within the black community and that we need help in trying to eradicate the drug problem by speaking their language. First of all the problem does not lie within a person speech; the problem lies within an action. I as an individual can speak in "Ebonics" all day and not be talking about drugs, drug use or drug dealing. A person can use a word at any time and give it meaning to whatever they choose to give it to. This seems to be a smoke screen for the DEA to lock up many individuals that they feel could potentially be involved in drug dealing without any actual evidence. This is really sad that the United States of America would allow something like this to take place and to feel that this is necessary for the improvement of our country. It pains me to see that we can invest money into hiring translators for "Ebonics" but we still have not been able to invest enough money to find and capture Osama Bin Laden. That does not make any type of sense. Its illogical.
No comments:
Post a Comment