How White People Promote the Legacy of Minstrel Shows By Using AAVE

“Racism is like a Cadillac; they bring out a new model every year." – Malcolm X.

Image by Joey Pierre

(Disclaimer: This article focuses on the white appropriation of Black culture because of the problematic history that whiteness has imposed on Blackness. But yes, non-Black people also appropriate AAVE. If you're a non-Black person who can see themselves in what I've written, I encourage you not to look away and reflect on this critical issue).  

"Hey, sis!"

I know this will be a tough pill to swallow, so resist the urge to “cancel” me, white people. We need to talk about one of the ways anti-Blackness casually manifests itself, and that’s through our use of African American Vernacular English (AAVE). We’ve become too comfortable in our appropriation of AAVE and ignorantly take its rich history for granted.

Everyone in our society is conditioned by a white hegemonic culture that dictates the bits and pieces of Blackness we engage with. Though it's not our fault, it's no coincidence that the primary method of engaging with Black culture for white people is to imitate AAVE. 

(Please note that I am using the term AAVE, however, not every Black person identifies as American. For instance, there are Black-Latine, Black-Canadians, etc.).  

“Gurrrrrrl."

What is AAVE?

One of my favorite people on Instagram, Ebony Donnley, is a writer, audio engineer, UCLA alum, and a badass DJ who expanded on AAVE on an Instagram live during Black History Month. Although the roots of AAVE are intensely debated, Ebony described AAVE as a language rooted in Black solidarity between Black people of different national origins. He added that the Transatlantic slave trade violently grouped various African ethnic groups with different languages—colonizers didn't want enslaved Africans communicating with each other. Though white supremacy pathologizes AAVE as “Non-Standard Negro English,” Ebony articulated that AAVE developed as a coded tool for survival from oppressive white supremacist people and systems. White supremacy would have you believe otherwise; however, AAVE is not just some fun way to talk, but a language rooted in Black Liberation.

"Chile."

For more on this piece please visit medium.com/@joeypierre