Beyond EbonicsJohn Baugh

Civil Rights Act of 1964 Section 601:

no person shall “on the ground of race, color, or national origin, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance."

Recognized the “educational needs and rights of limited English-speaking students”

Civil Rights Act cont.

Section 602: authorizes and directs federal agencies that

are empowered to extend federal financial assistance to any program or activity "to effectuate the provisions of [section 601] by issuing rules, regulations, or orders of general applicability."

Bilingual Education Act Title VII of the of the amended

Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965

Provided supplemental funding for school districts interested in establishing programs to meet the "special educational needs" of large numbers of children of limited English speaking ability in the United States.

Lau v Nichols (1974) Failure of bilingual education in San

Francisco School board asserts it is not a

constitutional right; bilingual education program would only be offered “gratuitously” as personnel permitted Board freely admits low funds, low teacher

preparation, frustration of students, statistical drop-out evidence

Lau v Nichols Loses in district court Loses in appellate court with racial

consequences: “‘surface equality’ ruled adequate and legal and the

language deficiency of the non-English-speakers, as if they knew no language and possessed neither culture nor knowledge, was self-created and self-imposed” (Wang 5).

If they lacked English language proficiency, they were “entitled to attend schools, but they had no right to expect the same educational benefits as the English speakers” (Wang 5).

Supreme Court Decision

“There is no equality of treatment merely by providing students with the same facilities, textbooks, teachers and curriculum; for students who do not understand English are effectively foreclosed from any meaningful education” (Wang 5).

Educational Consequences of Lau v Nichols

Congress amended the bilingual education law by expanding federal involvement in bilingual education

Department of H.E.W. planned enforcement activities nation-wide

Developed language survey instruments

Oakland Resolution 1996

Defined Ebonics as the native language of 28,000 African American students within school district

Argued that it was NOT looking for federal funding under Title VII Earlier policy statement by Oakland School Board

compares speech of African American students to that of other non-speaking immigrants in an effort to gain access to Title VII funds

Political Implications

Distinction between language and dialect “One reason many politicians responded

forcefully, and negatively, to Oakland’s Ebonics assertions arose from concerns that the school district was poised to ask that those consequences be redressed through bilingual education funding for African American students” (Baugh, Beyond Ebonics 37).

Richard Riley, secretary of education

"Elevating `Black English' to the status of a language is not the way to raise standards of achievement in our school and for our students…the administration's policy is that `Ebonics' is a nonstandard form of English and not a foreign language."

Other political moves:

State Rep Peter King (R-NY) Denied federal funding to schools that

supported AAE as a legitimate language.

In Beyond Ebonics, John Baugh states his belief that “African American English is a dialect of English, and not a separate language” (47).

Baugh draws a connection between vernacular African American English and Hawaiian pidgin English on the basis that Native Hawaiians received “special federal categorical funding for bidialectal education” (Beyond Ebonics 64).

HPE and AAVE

What is Hawaiian pidgin English?

Hawai’i Creole English Pidgin vs. Creole

“In today’s enlightened times [2004], I would’ve hoped dat people’s attitudes toward Pidgin would be way bettah now. But generation aftah generation and I dunno if tings wen change all dat much” (Tonouchi 77).

From John Baugh’s essay “Plantation English in America: Nonstandard Varieties and the Quest for Educational Equity”

H1: “Hey, John! How come you always hang out wif da Colored guys?”

JB: “What?” H2: “How come a Hawaiian Brudda like you hangs wif da

Colored guys?” JB: “I ain’t Hawaiian. I’m Black.” H1: “No you not. I got a cousin in Hilo look just like you.” JB: “Say what?” H1: “It’s true. He’s Po’cho (Portuguese) and Hawaiian,

and he look like you.” JB: “No way! Y’all think I could pass for

Hawaiian?”H2: “(Deleted expletive), if we teach you pidgin, ‘da

kine’ talk, oh yeah, you pass for one true Hawaiian Brudda for real.”

Similarities Between AAVE and HPE

• Parallels between African American and Hawaiian history

• Misunderstood/stigmatized dialect

• “The vast majority of African American and Hawaiian students who lack standard English proficiency have fared poorly in our schools.”• “Majority of African American and Hawaiian students trace their linguistic ancestry to American plantations… where standard English was dominant.” (Baugh, “Plantation

English” 466-68)

• School board controversies: Hawaii (1987) and Oakland (1996)

Differences Between AAVE and HPE

“In Hawaii the result of public input was positive. An aroused community of linguists, teachers, and others educated the school board and prevented it from adopting an ill-conceived policy. In Oakland the result was unconstructive: the board’s classification of AAVE as a non-English language served to deflect attention from the core issue—the need for funding to help nonstandard speakers speak SE and to improve academically” (Tamura 23).

Differences (cont’d.)• “HCE has not generated the kind of national debate and

media frenzy brought on by AAVE and most Americans are unaware of the existence of HCE” (Tamura 17).

• “While there is general consensus among linguists about the origins and development of HCE, there is less agreement about AAVE” (Tamura 18).

• Schools in Hawaii received federal funding for bidialectal education: Oakland should have “built its analogy around the categorical program for HPE rather than Title VII” (Baugh, Beyond Ebonics 71).

Why did Hawaiian schools receive federal funding?

“Because Hawaii is not only an island, but also the fiftieth state, the education of HPE speakers had, for many years, been supported by categorical funding devoted to bidialectal education for many Native Hawaiian students who attended the Kamehameha schools.”

• Kamehameha schools have helped close the educational gap.

• “U.S. slave descendents…cannot lay comparable claim to an indigenous heritage in America.”

• The Kamehameha schools serve as a valuable model for how to provide bidialectal education.

(Baugh, “Plantation English” 468-69)

Final Thoughts

“I pray that all students who suffer linguistic dislocation in schools may ultimately find success. It is also my fervent hope that the valuable resources necessary in order to evaluate and redress the plight of nonstandard vernacular speaking students in educational settings be invested in pedagogical advances rather than legal disputes” (Baugh, “Plantation English” 471).

Works Cited

Baugh, John. Beyond Ebonics: Linguistic Pride and Racial Prejudice. New York: Oxford, 2000.

Baugh, John. “Plantation English in America: Nonstandard Varieties and the Quest for Educational Equity.” Research in

the Teaching of English 41 (2007): 465-72.

Harris, John F.  “U.S. Bilingual Education Funds Ruled Out for Ebonics Speakers. Washington Post.  25 Dec. 1996. 

6 Jul. 2009 <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpsrv/politics/govt/admin/stories/riley122596.htm>.

Jammal, S. Legal Obligations of the Juvenile Justice System for Limited English Proficient Youth.  6 Jul. 2009 <http://

74.125.47.132/search?q=cache:DClVO52MZkJ:www.maldef.org/immigration/public_policy/

5.2.3_PowerPoinLEPJuvenileJustice1.ppt+civil+rights+act+1964+601+bilingual&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=

firefox-a>.

Mora, Jill Kerper.  Legal History of Bilingual Education.  26 Jan. 2005.  4 Jul. 2009 <http://coe.sdsu.edu/people/jmora/

Pages/HistoryBE.htm>.

“Pidgin and Creole Languages.” Stanford University Libraries and Academic Information Resources. 27 June 2005.

4 July 2009 <http://www-sul.stanford.edu/depts/ssrg/pidgins/pidgin.html>.

Tamura, Eileen H. “African American vernacular English and Hawai’i Creole English: A Comparison of Two School

Board Controversies.” The Journal of Negro Education 71.1/2 (2002): 17-30.

Tonouchi, Lee. “Da State of Pidgin Address.” College English 67.1 (2004): 75-82.

Wang, L. Ling-Chi.  “Lau v. Nichols: History of a Struggle for Equal and Quality Education (an excerpt).”  Asian American

Bilingual Center Newsletter: v1 n1.  Oct, 1975.  ERIC.  Middlebury Library, Middlebury.  6 Jul. 2009

<www.eric.ed.gov>.