The U.S. Department of Justice is Looking for Fluent Ebonics Speakers
The U.S. Department of Justice is looking for fluent Ebonics speakers. Despite what one might think about the social positioning of language and dialect, the stark reality of effective communication might one day stare you in the face and say, you need to learn this person’s language. Well that’s just what happen to certain elements in our Justice department. They found themselves needing to fill nine drug enforcement jobs with person that were fluent in ebonics, giving merit to a dialect that experts say is often mimicked and little understood.
The U.S. Department of Justice is looking for fluent ebonics speakers to fill nine drug enforcement jobs with the DEA, giving merit to a dialect that experts say is often mimicked and little understood. Collapse
(Eric Kayne/Getty Images)
The federal Drug Enforcment Administration translators would work out of the Atlanta field office according to a Justice Department request, posted online today by The Smoking Gun.
The request is again drawing attention to the form of speech that was hotly debated in the ’90s after a California school district passed a resolution recognizing the legitimacy of what is now more commonly referred to as “African-American English.”
Ebonics detractors often characterize the speech as poor grammar or lazy English, but linguists say it has an important place in history.
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