AAVE Ebonics and the way I speak

I didn't hear of Ebonics or AAVE till I reached college. My black friends from NYC also didn't hear of Ebonics or AAVE till they reached college. I mean we all knew and used the dialect they were referring to. But the actual designation was never necessary. And clearly we used it to different degrees. Furthermore, Spanglish is another dialect that mixed with my vernancular. The point is that my linguistic journey has been a complicated conglomerate. So when I see people policing language as appropriative claiming "if you're not black, you cannot use that language" I eyebrow raise and get frustrated. I did not have a choice in whether I spoke in ebonics. My Mom, Dad, friends and many people around me spoke in it, so I grew up speaking in it. I learned code switching early as my parents always emphasized the proper language for the proper time. And yes there was a stigma around the language as improper, but I still used it because it was natural for me. I never used it in a sarcastic manner, it was just the way I spoke. That's the issue with ebonics and AAVE being enforced as a language only blacks can use. I don't become upset with my black (non-latino) friends who grew up saying chancla because I know it was forced upon them. I grew up in a diverse neighborhood so I've picked up the slang and vernancular of several cultures. Some of that happens to be black. Now of course certain words are clearly "off limits" and there's a clear tone that makes you an appropriating asshole. but before you call someone out who is using ebonics and isn't black, perhaps you should check yourself. I'm not ignorant to the roots of my language. I know the words that came from my Puerto Rican roots. I know the words that I picked up from my black friends growing up. I know the etymology (not perfectly of course, but I have an idea of where what came from).

Is the stigma still there? Yes. It's a stigma not only placed on blacks, but basically all lower class inner city kids ( so basically predominantly black and latino populations, but not only them). My students in class speak to me in ebonics regularly. I always correct them (code switching is an unfortunate reality we live with and it'd be irresponsible of me not to get them prepared for the scrutiny they will face in traditional academia). If you ask me to stop speaking ebonics because I am not black, my answer is simple: no. That's because it's my language. It's what I grew up speaking. I did not choose to speak it, it was forced on me. When ever I strayed from it, I frequently was told I was "talking white." As a writer I'm constantly confused as to how to speak. Do I maintain clean and crisp prose or do I slip into my New York vernancular where I slip into a smattering of ebonics, slang and odd pronunciation of er endings. Point is before you call someone out be sure it's for good reason.