ABSTRACT
Chapter Five argues that the controversies over Oakland, California’s 1996 Ebonics Resolution, and California’s 1998 Proposition 227 banning bilingual education were not both examples of “language panics.” Of the two, only the Oakland Ebonics Resolution can be validly described as such. The resolution asserted that “Ebonics” (Black Vernacular English) was a distinct “language” that was not a dialect of English. It claimed that Ebonics was African-American students’ “primary language,” and directed the school system to develop a program “for imparting instruction to African-American students in their primary language …, and to facilitate their acquisition of English language skills.” Virtually overnight the resolution was harshly criticized by news media, educators, politicians, prominent African Americans, and the general public across the nation. Criticism did not abate until the Board backed away from the most inflammatory portions of the resolution.
The chapter argues that this panic cannot be explained solely by racism. Rather the panic and its accompanying anger were also about the symbolic role the school plays in ensuring deference toward Standard English. The anger was aggravated by the Oakland School Board arrogating to itself the authority to determine linguistic legitimacy. The chapter concludes that the similarities and differences between the two controversies demonstrate the symbolic power of both Standard English and the school in American public culture.
