Ebonics Is Back: Activists Pushing for Black English in Preschools to Boost California’s Literacy Rates

Back in the early 1990s, I took a two-year break from working as a newspaper reporter to earn my master's degree in English. It seemed like a pretty sweet deal … you'd teach two sections of freshman composition and reading comprehension each semester, and the school would waive your tuition … and pay you a $4,000 stipend. (I foolishly thought the stipend was $4,000 a semester, but it turned out it was $4,000 per year — I ate a lot of canned ravioli those two years.)

When I wasn't teaching English classes, my job was to make myself available at the school's writing center, where students could walk in at any time and get one-on-one help with any writing assignments. I remember very well one black student walking in and saying her goal was to write correctly — she'd picked up too much "street" from her girlfriends. Now, if I had been doing my job as instructed, I would have assured her that there was no "correct" way of writing. At the same time, I was taking a class from the English Department's writing specialist, and I don't remember whether the entire class was about BEV: Black English Vernacular. That was what white academics had determined was the appropriate name for what used to be referred to as "ebonics."

So, what was I supposed to do? Help the girl write an academic essay in proper English, or tell her no, everything was fine as is? She was attending college to leave behind the Black English Vernacular.

I bring this up because I see that black activists are encouraging the California school system to "honor" black English as early as preschool.

A Black activist group is urging the California public school system to accommodate "Black English" in schools, arguing that Black children's use of the dialect must be "honored." https://t.co/zy7Vv5kV71
— The Washington Times (@WashTimes) July 8, 2026

I guess it's just called "Black English" now.

Activists are pushing for Black English to be legitimized in preschool as a way to build children’s literacy skills in California.
The Black Californians United for Early Care & Education (BlackECE) is part of a movement to challenge “harmful language hierarchies and affirm Black English as a legitimate, rule-governed language rooted in Black history, culture, and community.”
The movement also seeks to “address how language bias shows up in early learning spaces–and how it can be dismantled.”
“I don’t want my son to walk into any room and feel like his voice is not valued or his perspective can’t be heard because he’s not saying it one way or the other,” the co-founder of BlackECE Ashley Williams told PBS.
…
BlackECE is a nonprofit organization centered around a 10-point policy plan that seeks to gain reparations and help Black children, families, and workers.
California released a plan promoting early dual language learning and calling on the state’s education system to support bilingual children in their development in 2020, but the advocacy group believes that Black vernacular should be included.

Way to set up students for failure. This isn't "honoring" anything — it's giving up.

We looked up examples of Black English sentences:

"He be working late on Tuesdays."

"I'm finna go get some food."

"Don't nobody know where he went."

"She been finished that project."

In other words, not proper English.... https://t.co/xg8QbllwEy
— Rep. Nancy Mace (@RepNancyMace) July 8, 2026

The ads for homeschooling are getting really good.
— Seth Dillon (@SethDillon) July 7, 2026

pic.twitter.com/KYSE6aYxod
— Alan Wolan (@AlanWolan) July 7, 2026

Not one black activist pushing for this is using black English to do it.

It’s funny that the activists are white and not even black that are pushing for this

White liberals will always be the cancer on society
— AA (@mxw1n) July 7, 2026

Oakland, CA schools tried this in 1996 already with predictable results. It's about pulling children down to the lowest ghetto level.

Today it's called "equity" and "inclusion".https://t.co/7oV9iWc3TB pic.twitter.com/vOSiIJchFy
— Courage Is A Habit (@CourageHabit) July 7, 2026

The problem is that English is the international language of business and the rest of the world DOESN’T do “black English”.

Kids that can’t speak and work with “The King’s English” are effectively banned from ever being competitive in the global business community.
— That Guy, Fawkes (@ThatF95046) July 7, 2026

African-American Vernacular English (AAVE) is just functional illiteracy masquerading as some esoteric dialect.
— Augusto Pugnochet - The Anti-Communist Pug (@pugnochet) July 8, 2026