UW-Madison Student Says Proper English Is Racist Against Blacks

Not content with just calling conservatives – or anyone else who disagrees with them – racists, the left has now set their sights on a bigger target: the English language. Little did we know that teaching proper English is actually oppressive to black people.

University of Wisconsin-Madison undergraduate Erika Gallagher researched the idea of code-switching and how it affects black Americans. Code switching is the practice of altering speech patterns to conform to the type of speaking that is the most socially accepted. Simply put, code-switching occurs when a person chooses to speak proper English instead of the dialect to which they are most accustomed. An example would be a black person who uses a black slang around their friends and family members, then adopts more mainstream English when they are in the workplace. The university’s newspaper, The Daily Cardinal explains:

Gallagher, a Posse scholar, began her research during her time as an undergraduate Writing Fellow this semester. She said she realized, as she sat in her seminar class of predominantly white students, that she wanted to focus on standard written English and how it excludes marginalized groups.

Gallagher attended classes that emphasized the importance of speaking the English language and determined that these teachings were somehow racist. As a result, she decided to conduct a highly comprehensive study — of three people — to discover how they felt about “code switching.” The Daily Cardinal states:

Gallagher conducted much of her research through three interviews. She talked to UW-Madison student leaders from marginalized groups and asked how they felt about code switching. She said all three “overwhelmingly” said it felt oppressive—one said “it is the biggest form of cognitive dissonance that exists.”

Logic would suggest that the left would eventually run out of new and creative ways to be outraged — but apparently, it’s just too much fun. The notion that teaching proper English is somehow oppressive is the height of foolishness. The obvious reason why this type of thinking is flawed is because it teaches black Americans that speaking proper English is not necessary. It encourages them to continue to speak in a way that will keep them from getting jobs, closing deals, and communicating with the majority of Americans. It is yet another example of an ill-informed leftist policy that harms the people they claim to help. However, it is much deeper than that.

Ideas such as these are indicative of the left’s brand of racism. It is a widely-held belief that it is conservatives who are racist. The Republican Party has been maligned as being the party of bigots. However, the racism that is present on the left is far more treacherous because it is concealed within policies and ideas that are portrayed as promoting tolerance and inclusiveness. The idea that we must accept Ebonics as a valid form of English is the left’s way of saying that Blacks are too dumb to learn how to speak proper English. Not only is this blatantly racist, it’s insulting. Yet this is one of the most prevalent of the left’s false narratives.

The left preaches a message that tells black Americans that they are unable to live successful lives because of racism. They do not encourage black Americans to adopt behaviors that will help them; rather, they encourage black people to demand that the culture accommodates their negative behaviors. They are feeding a sense of entitlement that is par for the course in victimhood culture. The idea that professors should change their teaching methods to accommodate “African American Vernacular English” is ridiculous.

Contrary to what the left thinks, black Americans are not inferior. We are not too stupid to learn how to speak proper English. Gangsta rappers and hip-hop artist are some of the people one would most associate with “black English.” They use it in their performances and records. However, if you listen to many of them speak while being interviewed, they speak normal English. Don’t believe me? Listen to a snippet of 50 Cent’s interview with Tavis Smiley:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=xmd07bq8GqA

Black Americans do not need professors to cater to Black Vernacular English. We do not need our universities to dumb down the English language because of our apparent inferiority. We need to wake up and reject the lies that the left has been feeding us for decades.