The basic argument here is that standard English is, you guessed it, racist.The College Fix reports:
‘Black linguistic justice’: Professors demand end to standard English as the normA national professional association of writing instructors recently published a list of demands that argued the current emphasis on standard English is rooted in racism and called for a complete overhaul of how language is taught.It was published by a subcommittee with the Conference on College Composition and Communication, part of the National Council of Teachers of English.The statement called for an end to “White Mainstream English,” arguing such an action would “decolonize” students’ minds and the English language, as well as help students “unlearn white supremacy.”The demands were written by five English professors and a writing scholar and the document is titled: “This Ain’t Another Statement! This is a DEMAND for Black Linguistic Justice!”“The language of Black students has been monitored, dismissed, demonized—and taught from the positioning that using standard English and academic language means success,” the professors argued.They added such a set-up “creates a climate of racialized inferiority toward Black Language and Black humanity.”The roughly 3,000-word statement emphasizes five main demands as solutions:
We demand that teachers stop using academic language and standard English as the accepted communicative norm, which reflects white mainstream EnglishWe demand that teachers stop teaching black students to code-switch! Instead, we must teach black students about anti-black linguistic racism and white linguistic supremacyWe demand that political discussions and Praxis Center Black Language as teacher-researcher activism for classrooms and communitiesWe demand black linguistic consciousness
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