I have a real bone to pick with English elitist who tend to view themselves as the gatekeepers of who and what is intelligent or not. Call me triggered as Wiens reminds me of the Humanities Department in my Authority or Identity blog post from week six. I understand the desire for grammatical perfection, especially in the technical writing field, but something about his writing makes me believe Wiens may be a bit of a pompous person. I had another word here but because this is an academic assignment, I will save my colloquialisms for my friends. This leads me to my next point; African American English is absolutely good English. It is full of vibrant expression and said with a certain style and flair can make even the blandest sentence come to life.
I remember awhile back the fight for AAVE as a dialect and being so proud of my people for continuing to fight the good fight for our humanity in this country – even in the way we use the English language. One thing about it, we must make something our own. Toni Morrison and Zora Neale Hurston were good for keeping our history’s English dialects alive and fighting for the right to use it in their acclaimed literature. AAVE is a stamp of pride, our continuous imprint in this world and the push for those on the outside to learn, grow, and change their perspective of who we are and the way we use the English language.
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