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howardstudent · 3 years

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Reflection 3

Writing, Literacy, and Discourse

11 November 2020

There is a unique linguistic expression that black Americans originated and can possess that can be referred to as African American Vernacular English, AAVE, or Black English. Black English is most often an oral tradition but over time, due in part to black people gaining access to literacy, it has been recorded through physical writing, online media, and even on one’s skin. AAVE is a powerful tool of the black community but it does face stigmatization and has been associated with illiteracy, stupidity, and a lack of education. As most media has become digitized over the past 20 years, “Afro-digitization” has arisen tangentially. Most interestingly, tattoos have evolved to be part of black culture and have their own symbolic meanings as a visual media. The black community has an extraordinary ability to utilize existing forms of communication and apply special meaning and significance to them.

It is said that AAVE began to sprout roots within the first century of the British colonization of America (Winford). Because slavery prohibited the education of African Americans in any way, they developed their own version of English using elements derived from the English dialects of British settlers, their native African languages, and potentially even some creole influence coming from slaves from the Caribbean (Winford). AAVE is deeply intertwined with black American history and has evolved through the centuries. Within the black community, it has been the common vernacular and is usually viewed as a key aspect of the African American experience. Outside of the community, it is associated with ignorance and a lack of intelligence. This is intentional as nearly all aspects of blackness in America are demonized. While accents, like a country one, may be viewed as less than articulate, they are still accepted as a valid approach to the English language. June Jordan writes about her experience as a professor who eventually comes to teach a class on Black English. She also discusses how a student’s brother is shot and killed by a police officer and how her student’s respond to the tragedy. All semester, Jordan would preach the power, beauty, and significance of Black English, therefore it is no surprise the students wanted to address the police in their and Reggie Jordan’s, the victim, native language (133). Standard English is literally the language of his murderer, but the students were afraid they would not be taken seriously; they were right and their message was rejected by every news outlet they reached out to (Jordan 134). Even with this widespread rejection of Black English, it is still widely used by the black community and can be found anywhere black people are.

One can even find Black English in every corner of the internet. It is almost more common online, as code-switching is not as much of a necessity in spaces like Tumblr blogs, YouTube, or “Black Twitter.” The intended audience of online black authors is often other black people which has allowed “Afro-digitalization” to take place. Of course, there are still digital pieces of media produced by black people written or spoken in Standard English, but it seems that the target audience determines which is preferred and chosen. Carmen Kynard notes that the way her black students interacted with technology was influenced by their unique histories and experiences (143). Her findings also suggested that Black English created an environment that allowed for complex discussions among her students (145). Standard English leaves little room for successful sarcasm or deep passion, but online AAVE grants a deeper expression of emotion and intention. Black English lacks strict grammatical rules so elements like capitalization for emphasis or lack of punctuation to express a continuous stream of thoughts are perfectly legitimate choices. It seems that black people made a choice to approach online spaces using the vernacular they are most comfortable with and ran with it. Kynard argues for the use of AAVE in digital academic settings, but the basic principles of “Afro-digitalization” may be observed all over the internet. “Afro-digitalization” extends beyond language and can include how black people interact with any online resource; it could be argued that the manner in which black people share recipes in a visual form where they emphasize spices, like Lowry’s or Old Bay, or when sharing their choreographed dances there is emphasis on facial expressions and energy are further examples of “Afro-digitalization” as these are aspects of black culture in real life being displayed digitally.

Tattoos outside of the Western world almost exclusively hold a cultural significance, as opposed to their primarily aesthetic Western purpose. In the black community, tattoos fulfill both functions simultaneously. David Kirkland explores this precise phenomenon through his study of Derrick Todd’s tattoo collection (157). Kirkland describes these chosen tattoos as a form of literacy which “implies a potential to make meaning and an opportunity to comment on one’s reality through a symbol system that uses more than words” (158). Todd explains how his tattoos hold significance to him but also communicate to the world ideas and experiences he wants to share. Kirkland goes on to discuss tattoos as a mechanism of coping and maintains a conversation about the multifaceted aspects of tattoos, such as them sharing something about the person they are engraved in but they can also be about other people, like loved-ones (166). These chosen physical engravings are personal but are also social (171). Just like all forms of communication, the tattoos serve to say something; and the black community understands this and attempts to listen to their meaning, purpose, and messaging.

Black people have always been able to establish a distinct culture, even with the oppression they have faced, sometimes the culture develops directly from that oppression. A restriction from Standard English motivated the creation of African American Vernacular English. A lack of room for discussion by, for, and about black people prompted the creation of black spaces on the internet which allowed “Afro-digitalization” to occur. Within the black community, tattoos are known to hold cultural and aesthetic significance, and they reveal information about the individual they are inscribed upon. These are different manners in which black literacy has manifested itself. They are all so different and creative, but primarily, they express the resilience of the black spirit and the desire to be heard.

Works Cited

Jordan, June. “Nobody Mean More to Me Than You and the Future Life of Willie Jordan.” Visions and Cyphers: Explorations of Literacy, Discourse, and Black Writing Experiences, edited by David F. Green, Inprint Editions, 2016, pp. 123–135.

Kynard, Carmen. “‘Wanted: Some Black Long Distance [Writers]’: Blackboard Flava-Flavin and Other AfroDigital Experiences in the Classroom.” Visions and Cyphers: Explorations of Literacy, Discourse, and Black Writing Experiences, edited by David F. Green, Inprint Editions, 2016, pp. 137–154.

Kirkland, David. “The Skin We Ink: Tattoos, Literacy, and a New English Education.” Visions and Cyphers: Explorations of Literacy, Discourse, and Black Writing Experiences, edited by David F. Green, Inprint Editions, 2016, pp. 156–174.

Winford, Donald. “The Origins of African American Vernacular English.” Oxford Handbooks Online, 1 July 2015, www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199795390.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780199795390-e-5#:~:text=The roots of AAVE were,in the Carolinas and Georgia.

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