“Black English” is a seminar that will examine black dialect, commonly referred to as “ebonics.” The seminar’s objectives are to introduce Black English, give the history of it and argue legitimizing it as an accepted form of language.

“Speaking Black (English) is not something to be ashamed of, it doesn’t make you inferior,” Rahiman said. “Some argue that it’s its own dialect, some argue that it’s its own language. At any rate, (it) has its own structure, it has its own syntax. It has everything a language or a dialect would have.”

Black English was first conceptualized when African slaves were brought from their homeland to America. It’s a combination of English words and African syntax, according to assistant professor in the Residential College of Arts and Humanities Austin Jackson.

“What we’re talking about is a dialect of English that is a mixture of the Niger, Congo languages that slave Africans brought with them when they were enslaved,” Jackson said. “When they were enslaved, they brought with them their languages (and) cultures.”

Jackson said a variety of factors contribute to why Black English is often frowned upon in American society.

“Some people think that it is slang, or broken English, when it is not,” Jackson said. “It’s similar to how Boston English is a dialect of Boston, or southern English is a dialect of the South.”
The problem becomes deeper when stigmas against black Americans are factored in.

“It’s not a matter of understanding it, but black people themselves, especially urban-black people that live in places, such as Detroit, or South Central Los Angeles or Harlem, those people are stigmatized and looked down upon,” Jackson said. “Our attitudes about them are reflected on how we view their language.”

Many black Americans go back and forth between Black English and the more commonly accepted form of standard English. According to Rahiman, this is beneficial.

“If you know how to navigate two different settings, that’s an advantage,” he said. “It’s like knowing another language or having a deeper understanding of a different culture. If you already know how to act, your learning curve is considerably less than someone else.”

Ignacio Andrade, student leadership coordinator with the Office for Inclusion and Intercultural Initiatives, said events like this provide the first step toward understanding other cultures.

“When we stop to think about the differences, we also have the opportunity to understand how different we are as far as background and culture,” Andrade said. “These type of events allow people to pause and think about how different but more importantly how similar we are despite being from different countries and backgrounds here at MSU.”