Soap Box
Ebonics: A ‘Trend’ to be Arrested
by Adam E. Abraham
What is the obsession we have with trying to orchestrate one special dispensation after another for black people? While blacks are by no means alone, we have become synonymous with the idea of "special treatment." However, that song has overstayed both its welcome, and its necessity. From "40 acres and a mule" and "reparations," to affirmative action, government set-aside programs, and now, ebonics, the list of "exemption initiatives" offered ostensibly on behalf of black people is a long, and sometimes absurd one. The path it leads us down is more arduous and treacherous than one founded on individual honor, social responsibility, and cultural achievement that bring benefits and enrichment, rather than destruction.
While some of these initiatives were at one time, social necessities, and clearly had the best of intentions of the general citizenry at heart, I suspect that today, proposals such as ebonics amount to little more than attempted extortion. They hold the esteem of a generation of Americans, of all races, cultures, and ethnicities, up for ransom. Living by the wedge that they create between racial and cultural groups, well-meaning initiatives such as ebonics contribute to a perception that black Americans are helpless and incompetent, almost to pandemic proportions. And if blacks can no longer be considered "the White Man’s Burden," too often, we are our own, for blacks are the greatest victims of, and pay the highest price for their cultural dysfunction. Is this the self-determination legacy we want to create? I think not. Ebonics is symptomatic of a deeper malaise that can only be "rooted out" one person at a time. It’s an issue for one’s heart and soul.
Last modified: Dec 23,, 2002