Just damn! I guess it must be time for me to go back to Diversity (All Hail Diversity!) Awareness Training. I must of missed the last memo from the Multiculturist Police. Long time reader and commenter extraordinaire, Addision, brought this to my attention.
Can you spell 'insult'? Cop transcripts do
WTF? What's going on here?
Lemme aks you sumpin'.D'ya think the Denver Police Department policy of transcribing poh-lice interviews in black dialect is racially insensitive? Or am I jus' bein' hyxsterical?
I don't know. Let's read on.
Anyone who reads transcripts of interviews in the police killing of a 15-year-old mentally retarded black child gets a chance to make up his or her mind.Anybody can read those transcripts and watch the videotapes on which they're based now that District Attorney Bill Ritter has decided not to charge Officer James Turney in the shooting of Paul Childs.
What's he getting at here?
What readers find may shock and/or confuse.
I'm waiting to be shocked and confused. Get to the fucking point already!
Police say they try to transcribe the words in interviews exactly as they are pronounced by the person being questioned. The cops say they do it across the board.
Uh oh! The cops must be doin' sumpin' wrong!
Every mispronunciation gets written phonetically, regardless of the race of the speaker, Denver's public safety manager insisted.
Oh shit! Here it comes!
"I know the implication is that someone is trying to put a racial spin on something," explained Al LaCabe, who is African-American. "But the transcriptionists are trying to be as accurate as possible."So if someone says "aks" instead of "ask," that becomes public record for the Denver police. Likewise, something becomes "sumpin'." Police becomes "poh-lice." Bathroom becomes "baf'room." And certain sentences in the investigation of one of Denver's most controversial, racially charged police shootings read like "Uncle Tom's Cabin."
Now wait a minute! When did this shit change? Godammit! When they change the fucking rules they're supposed to tell us this shit. Wasn't it just a few years ago in Oakland, California that they wanted to teach children in Ebonics? They told us Ebonics was a real language, not slang, but an honest to God language. It was based on African languages. So here we have the politically correct Denver (and believe me, Denver is a politically correct city) Police Department actually transcribing statements in Ebonics and people are getting pissed about it? This reminds me of David Pryor, a comedian in the 60's, who did an impression of Lyndon Johnson saying "It took me 15 years to learn how to say Negro and then they go and change it to black".
I think the transcriptions make the speakers sound stupid. The translations seemed tortured. Another wedge gets driven into an already divided community."It's not only insensitive, it's insulting," said the Rev. Gill Ford, the NAACP's regional director and a member of the state's Peace Officer Standards and Training Board.
Listen Gill, that's the way they talk. If they didn't talk that way, they'd "be actin' white." Maybe you ought to take that up with the school system. Dammit! It's Ebonics. It's a language. At least that's what you've told us.
It tags blacks as dumb, Ford explained. That dumbness presumes an inability to communicate well. That lack of good communication lets folks blow off your complaints, "because you don't even understand English."
I'm glad you said that Gill, 'cause if I did, you would call me a racist motherfucker.
"That," Ford concluded, "is a stereotype and a half."
No shit!
Barbara Wilcots, an African-American who teaches English at the University of Denver, agreed. None of us use standard English all the time, she said.
So let us know when we are supposed to turn the universal translating machine on.
You say tomato; I say toe-mot-toe.
I say tomater, but I've been living in the South for 18 years, but I guess if I were making a statement to the cops I would pronounce it tomato. Unless I said, "I threw a tomater at the stupid fucking asshole who keeps changing the fucking rules."
"It becomes racist if you accept deviations from majority people, but not minorities," Wilcots continued.
Or if someone who is looking for an axe to grind says it's racist.
Ford says that's how it looks.
If you're looking to be offended.
"I don't see this as mending fences," he said. "All it does is add insult to injury.
So does that mean Ebonics is not a language?
"I wonder how they translate the interviews with first-generation Mexican-Americans or other Hispanics. Where's the dialect for first-generation Africans?"
So Ebonics is not a language? That stuff in Oakland was actually bullshit?
Forget that. How do you spell "police"?For black dialect, the Denver cops go with "poh-lice."
I just call 'em cops.
Phonetically, that would seem to concern not-so-well-off lice.
Them lice be poh! 'Cept that would actually be poor leece. What the fuck is a leece? Some people have way too much time on their hands. Hey, come on down to the South. You can bitch about the Confederate flag.
GMAFB!
You can argue that it would "be better if it had not been done this way," he said.
Or you can argue that someone is looking for racism where none exists, but that's just me.
But "in reading transcripts from the Denver Police Department I have seen those kinds of words used by people of all races.""If a white person says a word incorrectly, such that it can be spelled differently, it will be. We accurately reproduce exactly what was said."
White trash is not an accepted language. But Ebonics is. Or isn't it? What's the current line on that? Can't someone just come up with a set of rules so we stupid folks know when we're offending people?
God help the evidence file and the prosecution if self-described redneck comedian Jeff Foxworthy or a real-life version of "Sopranos" Mafioso Paulie Walnuts ever witnesses or commits a crime in Denver.
I'm sure that "The porch done fell down and killed all them dogs that was asleepin' underneath it" would be transcibed correctly. Or howza 'bout "I had Paulie whack that motherfucker"?
Just remember, LaCabe maintained, "nobody is trying to belittle anyone."
We're just respecting Ebonics as a language and trying to failthfully transcribe the statements in that language. If Ebonics is not a language, please let us know. Dammit! We're trying to give you what you want here. Make up your minds!
Even if they are attributing to them words that don't appear in any dictionary.
As far as I know there is no Ebonics dictionary, but y'all still wanted to teach children using Ebonics.
Maybe you can figure out the derivation of the word "trippeded" that Childs' 16-year-old sister, Ashley, said as she tried to talk after watching her brother get shot several times at close range by a cop.But try looking up the word "shew," which appears twice in the transcript of the interview with Childs' cousin, Natondria Brown.
Try finding the name Natondia in suggested names for little girls.
"If you listen to the tape," LaCabe said, "what you hear is what gets printed. If that's what was said, that's what was said."
Listen to the tape and decide.
"Do they have in their mind how they think poor and minority people talk?" Wilcots wondered.
Is Ebonics a language or not?
Who knows? I'm just waiting for the Denver cops to transcribe the interview of a guy with a lisp.
No one has ever suggested that lisping is a language. Ebonics, on the other hand is. Or is it?
Get back to me so I know whether this is bullshit or not.
Posted by denny at October 28, 2003 09:37 PMOh, I'd go with bullshit, but that's just MHO.
Another case of PC run amok. Seems to be a lot of that going around these days. Geez, wouldn't want to offend anyone would we?
Posted by: Gina on October 28, 2003 11:43 PMSo, when the suspect says "Fo shizzle my nizzle," the cop needs to transcribe "I whole-heartedly concur with you my African-American brother."
Right?
Posted by: beaker on October 29, 2003 12:04 AMJust more proof that... we live in a free society, yet we can no longer feel free to speak our minds for fear of making a politically incorrect statement and offending someone.
Readers might enjoy my blog entry on same topic: Correct this...
PiC and Proud!
Posted by: tallglassofmilk on October 29, 2003 01:12 AMOh Ebonics is only allowed in Jet magazine and other "black" publications. It's a black thing, you white oppressors wouldn't understand.
/loaded sarcasm
(Bleagh--just trying to write that out made me nauseous...)
--TwoDragons, who is Irish, Italian and German and doesn't give a shit how her speech is spelled out in a newspaper. NYAH!
Posted by: TwoDragons on October 29, 2003 02:26 AMSo let me get this straight: Rev. Ford wants the police to stop accurately recording the testimony of witnesses and suspects and would rather that they, instead, record their interpretation of what the witness or suspect meant to say? Wow. Under those rules we won't have any problem convicting Bill next time, whether he does anything or not!
Re: Grognard #5
I think you're looking at it backwards.
If the police transcribe interrogation tapes as correctly as possible the defense lawyer can try to get a dismissal on account of 'obvious police bias'.
If the police transcribe the interrogation tapes into what they believe the suspect's words would mean in standard English, the Defense lawyer would have a damn fine case for dismissal due to police tampering with evidence.
Sounds like a win-win for the Defense to me.
John Bouler
Posted by: Jbouler on October 29, 2003 03:55 PMWow... these people sure have an axe to grind. I couldn't agree with your post more. The sad truth is that the most vocal part of the black community is always going to find a reason to be offended... if they're not crying about something, they will be out of the spotlight, and since most of these "reverends" who are so outspoken make their living by crying in the public spotlight, that would make them "po".
Maybe by the next generation the situation will be better. I wonder when the people within the black community are going to tell these extremist cry-babies to shut up. It only hurts their cause.
Posted by: Skeleton Jack on October 29, 2003 04:29 PMAhhh, I have the column written by Mike Royko!
When You Try To Talk In Ebonics, The Words Just Get in The Way
Excerpt: You go some hoods in Chitown and you hears the homies there talking Polonics. That be the way some Polish honkies talk.
Excerpt: Like Shakespeare. When that Hamlet dude was messed up in his head, what he say? Hamlet say: To be or not to be? That be the question.
Good rant, Denny.
Posted by: Oldbones on October 29, 2003 06:48 PMAnother mass emailing to my buds who don't visit blog world! This one MUST be shared.
Posted by: Indigo on October 29, 2003 09:39 PMI totally agree with you on this, Denny. It's gotten to the point where it's ridiculous. I suppose if Ebonics is considered a valid language, I want to know when they're going to make White Trash a valid language. I speak fluent White Trash, and I think it should be made a valid language. Gads! Give me a break!
Posted by: Dawn on October 29, 2003 09:54 PMOldbones - Damn I miss Mike Royko!
Posted by: Denny Wilson on October 29, 2003 11:30 PMDenny, I miss the hell outa him too. One of the reasons I like your blog so much is you often sound like you're channeling the guy. Imagine Royko being allowed to cuss in his columns.
Posted by: Oldbones on October 30, 2003 07:49 AMLisping is a speech impediment. Ebonics is a brain impediment.
Posted by: Kim du Toit on October 30, 2003 02:03 PMOh shit, I shouldn't have posted that. Now the Race Police (poh-lice?) are going to be all over my African-American ass.
Posted by: Kim du Toit on October 30, 2003 02:04 PMMy favorite Ebonics term is "adipose tissue."
As in:
"Adipose tissue tink Ah'm gonna do dat but ah aint!"
The whole concept of Ebonics is simply to create an excuse so that inner-city blacks will not be held to the same standards as others...those other being the patrons of the hegemonic, patriarchal, evil White Man's American system--or so the proponents of Ebonics might tell you.
If a person speaks "Ebonics", where do they most often find employment? Assembly lines, janitorial staff, fast food restaurants, manual labor tasks, grocery stores ("stock boys"), and, if "lucky", the music industry. The trend is that all of the jobs, save the music industry (and that's a rant in itself), require almost no application of any aptitude and they particularly do not require speaking or writing skills.
And what are the implications to the crime-rate associated with those who speak "Ebonics"? When unable (and unwilling) to find a job due to an inability to even comprehend or speak proper English, the idea of becoming a thief becomes all the more likely, as its rewards instant, its caveats minor--"What are they chances they'll catch me."
The acceptance of "Ebonics" is the acceptance of a permanant American second-class, inhabited almost completely by inner-city blacks. The "compassion" of what we call liberals and Leftists has outcomes and this is one of them: A permanent slave class, skilled just enough to stock shelves at Wal-Mart around 2:00AM on Sunday morning but unable to even get through an interview for a better job, as the language barrier between themselves and the employer is too great.
Anecdotally, I shop "Super" Wal-Mart at extremely late (early) hours and usually arrive whilst shelves are being restocked. I kid you not, I cannot understand 75% of the conversations the shelvers are having--I understood more of a conversation a Russian man was having with his significant other, in Russian. The congruence amongst the shelvers? They were all black, all male, and all between the ages--I'd guess--of 20-30 years old. Some might make the point that, "Oh, those jobs are just stepping stones." I would agree if I didn't recall some of the same people from a year and half ago and if I wasn't aware that they will probably move horizontally in the job market, not vertically. Rather than a shelver at Wal-Mart, they find employ as a fork-lift operator, a roofer, a car-wash attendant, etc.
It is really quite a shame. So much potential is wasted because people, people who claim to be doing what they do "with others best interests at heart", hold a particular group of people, identified entirely by race and income, to lower standards than others. I still (and will for a long time to come) contend that, since the abolition of slavery, the worst thing to happen to blacks was--and is--the guilt of white "liberals". The 21st century of one of brains, not so much brawn, and everyone should have the opportunity to provide input, rather than find themselves stuck in go-nowhere bottom-of-the-ladder positions for their whole lives.
The same goes for the concept of "African-American". Excuse the language--but this particular subject infuriates me to no end--unless your ass was born in Africa and traveled to America and became a citizen, you are not African-American. Damned Kim du Toit and Charleze Theron are African-Americans, not Jess Jackson, Al Sharpton, Carol Moseley-Braun, anyone on the Congressional Black Caucus, etc.
I see this got become quite long. I'll quit.
Posted by: addison on October 30, 2003 09:59 PM...got become quite long... Geesh. And I wrote about proper English usage--oh, the irony.
Posted by: addison on October 30, 2003 10:01 PMAddison - I've been composing, in my brain, or what passes for my brain, a letter from the Imperial Wizard of the KKK to Robert Byrd, complimenting him on his strategy of using liberal paternalism to destroy American blacks. It is nice to see, that in spite of liberals, there is a growing black middle class. They, and not the racist, white, cross over Republicans in Dunwoody, are the people who threw Cynthia McKinney out of office. As the black middle class makes more money, they find they have the same values and issues as white conservatives: crime, failing education, high taxes, declining values and other problems that liberalism has caused. It's a slow process, but I think they are beginning to see what false messiahs the Jesse Jacksons, Al Sharptons, and Cythia McKinneys are.
Posted by: Denny Wilson on October 30, 2003 10:16 PMAnd that's why, long term, modern "liberalism" is a loser. It strives on, relies on, feeds on negativity. Americans aren't, for the most part, negative. And they don't particularly like being treated as though they are stupid.
Off-Topic: I'm feeling a bit of schadenfraude. It must be a horrible day to be a partisan-hack Democrat, what with the economic news and all. A large portion of the Democrat platform relied on a poor economy in order to impugn Bush...bad for Americans, good for them. And that's why they'll lose. When we do well, they have no platform.
Posted by: addison on October 31, 2003 12:15 AMYes, addison, over on dKos they're actually lamenting the fact that the economy is improving. Some are trying to comfort others by explaining how the indicators don't really mean anything; of course, these are the same folks who went on at length about the significance of these same indicators when they were in the red...
I thought I knew a person who I once thought was good, but this one couldn't talk to me, for they seem to be so thick. qwite Indignant if you ask me. well they can bump a stuffed if thats who this one get her kicks, rather thing this one is in my opinion rather very sick im joking around.
just wish some one like that would be more open minded,
Posted by: uofreah on July 25, 2004 11:28 PM