"Fletch F. Fletch" wrote:
and many do not and/or can not speak English.

They do. But they don't speak your dialect. Nor do you speak the
Queen's dialect, and I'm sure that there are British people who look
down their nose at you for that fault.

But those British people do not sit in nearly all of the seats of power in
this country, so there is no consequence other than the disdain of a few
Brits.

We don't live in Britain, which still has an aristocracy by law. In
this country, all citizens are equal, and to look down on another
citizen for the way they talk is rude and crude.

Racists are trying to establish a pseudo-class system in lieu of race,
because technically, class discrimination isn't illegal. But looking
down on any other person for any reason other than their being
intentionally disruptive is simply *wrong*.

The consequence of speaking only ebonics is *obvious*.

It is, but should it be, assuming that you understand the person
correctly?

I had a lot of resentment in high school about a math teachers whose
German accent I simply could not process (and in fact I have a lot of
trouble with foreign accents - though I've never had any trouble
understanding a black person)

I'd fall off
my damn chair if I ever heard a Supreme Court Justice or a Cabinet
Secretary, etc. speaking ebonics and so would you I presume.

I might out of surprise, but I hope not. I have no doubt that
Clarence Thomas and Colin Powell are capable of doing so, and perhaps
they actually do so when they let their hair down. So what?

lojbab
--
lojbab
Bob LeChevalier, Founder, The Logical Language Group
(Opinions are my own; I do not speak for the organization.)
Artificial language Loglan/Lojban: http://www.lojban.org