[Music]
speak s spark P participation in the e
evolution of being a always always let
them know you are here k knowledge
spoken its power laid in paths before
you so don’t go silently loose nuisance
from vocal cords add wear them add
rhythm and rhyme to your cry call it the
syntax of survival
you bet open your mouth say something
closed mouths don’t get fed you bet
say something P power power passing
passing test passports blue passports
paid dollars printed cheques phd’s pay
stubs paychecks touching power
permission slips pages and text books
posture presence pedagogy cutting power
passing passport pages and textbook
cutting cold switch access appropriate
appropriations applications cold switch
cash cash cash citizen citizen
citizenship cold switch looks thanks by
Loes boundaries cold switch syntax
language survival power
II explanations hey young miss miss why
don’t you ever call on me what you mean
no wrong with the way I speak ain’t is a
word it got a meaning and I can use it
in a sentence like uh she ain’t going
nowhere and we ain’t got no more what do
you mean that’s how my mama talking her
mama before that so you saying we all
bad ain’t never gonna get right cuz we
two times wrong bro you lame e Ebonics
the ebony language Ebonics the sound of
a people beatin stolen forbidden the
standard English yet created vernacular
canals to maneuver the American language
a language littered with bodies of us
who dared speak of us who dared be
literate Ebonics
the literary resistance of a brilliant
people the language and syntax of black
love a people’s love letter back to
themselves and self love I said self
love cannot be wrong
Ebonics people been saying it wouldn’t
survive yet here we are and here we
still are with mouths full of words that
might break your teeth or liberate your
spirit if you listen to us speak Ebonics
here it still is writing in archiving
our stories like Langston and Richard
Maya and Zora did not
need approval to ding themselves
historical neither do we e English
English only see I’m a middle school bus
driver and this is a middle school bus
and I’m the driver they’re the kids and
I say speak English English only
so it’s after school and I have all
these Mexican kids on the bus and
they’re speaking on and on and this
Mexican Spanish stuff so I tell them I
say hey listen up
today on this bus we’re going to speak
English English only
so I start going over my rosters
checking my routes making sure I know
how to get all these kids home and they
keep on with the Spanish and you know I
don’t know what they’re saying but I bet
they’re talking about me mocking me
saying something real disrespectful and
hey I’m the driver
so I tell them I say listen up if you
guys are going to keep speaking all this
Spanish on this English only speaking
bus you can just get off my bus so I
start the engine
I check my mirrors and I see all these
Mexican kids standing in the aisles like
they want to get off the bus so I open
the door I let them walk off and with
them standing there on the curb I say
real plain like speak English next time
a acceptance
I am mexican-american but maybe you
don’t see me as a mexican-american maybe
you see me that’s a drug dealer or
somebody that doesn’t know anything just
another dumb illegal you hear me
speaking in espanol my syllables dancing
salsa with my tongue celebrating the
sound of my ancestors laughing and
joking with my friends and you think I’m
talking about you you don’t think I
speak English coming up to me slapping
your broken espanol in my face like hola
como estas no I’m not a drug dealer no
I’m not a dumb illegal no I’m not
talking about you
no I don’t want your broken hellos yes I
am sure I am mexican-american I am sure
I speak English an English colored brown
like cacao frijoles and my parents skin
English too creative for spell check or
autocorrect I am sure I am Mexican
American I am sure I speak español and
English both are tied to my survival
okay
knowledge if there’s one thing I know
for sure it’s that knowledge is planted
and harvested in language only those
words that can grow roots and produce
shiny edible fruits will be able to sell
at the market only they will survive to
tell their stories see I’m a farm girl
and my MA spoke gentle to me the hush of
her clattering tongues reminded me so
much of home but that was never a place
I want it to stay beneath opportunities
as the butt of every joke left behind
frankly how long ago left lazy how y’all
doing and cornfields for articulate
speech and city folk how to erode the
south from between my tongue and cheek
like disease if I ever wanted to show up
poor and female and cash my intellect in
for currency see these children whose
skin will signal danger like thunder and
win and tunnel vision Minds cannot go
packing bullets in their mouths like
terrorists they will be shot down passed
over and buried for their inability to
speak in a currency that is not bankrupt
I would not be here if someone did not
mark read through the error I used to
speak so yes I take red ink and I write
bridges into the futures of my students
granting them necessary standards to
stand on teaching them to write to spell
and properly punctuate a legacy that
they exist a legacy that will be read
and understood broadly this syntax will
submit their survivals and that’s one
thing I know for sure
speak speak say something
speak power speak English
Ebonics espanol speak acceptance
accepting people accepting
difference speak knowledge speak
[Applause]
[Music]
speak s spark P participation in the e
evolution of being a always always let
them know you are here k knowledge
spoken its power laid in paths before
you so don’t go silently loose nuisance
from vocal cords add wear them add
rhythm and rhyme to your cry call it the
syntax of survival
you bet open your mouth say something
closed mouths don’t get fed you bet
say something P power power passing
passing test passports blue passports
paid dollars printed cheques phd’s pay
stubs paychecks touching power
permission slips pages and text books
posture presence pedagogy cutting power
passing passport pages and textbook
cutting cold switch access appropriate
appropriations applications cold switch
cash cash cash citizen citizen
citizenship cold switch looks thanks by
Loes boundaries cold switch syntax
language survival power
II explanations hey young miss miss why
don’t you ever call on me what you mean
no wrong with the way I speak ain’t is a
word it got a meaning and I can use it
in a sentence like uh she ain’t going
nowhere and we ain’t got no more what do
you mean that’s how my mama talking her
mama before that so you saying we all
bad ain’t never gonna get right cuz we
two times wrong bro you lame e Ebonics
the ebony language Ebonics the sound of
a people beatin stolen forbidden the
standard English yet created vernacular
canals to maneuver the American language
a language littered with bodies of us
who dared speak of us who dared be
literate Ebonics
the literary resistance of a brilliant
people the language and syntax of black
love a people’s love letter back to
themselves and self love I said self
love cannot be wrong
Ebonics people been saying it wouldn’t
survive yet here we are and here we
still are with mouths full of words that
might break your teeth or liberate your
spirit if you listen to us speak Ebonics
here it still is writing in archiving
our stories like Langston and Richard
Maya and Zora did not
need approval to ding themselves
historical neither do we e English
English only see I’m a middle school bus
driver and this is a middle school bus
and I’m the driver they’re the kids and
I say speak English English only
so it’s after school and I have all
these Mexican kids on the bus and
they’re speaking on and on and this
Mexican Spanish stuff so I tell them I
say hey listen up
today on this bus we’re going to speak
English English only
so I start going over my rosters
checking my routes making sure I know
how to get all these kids home and they
keep on with the Spanish and you know I
don’t know what they’re saying but I bet
they’re talking about me mocking me
saying something real disrespectful and
hey I’m the driver
so I tell them I say listen up if you
guys are going to keep speaking all this
Spanish on this English only speaking
bus you can just get off my bus so I
start the engine
I check my mirrors and I see all these
Mexican kids standing in the aisles like
they want to get off the bus so I open
the door I let them walk off and with
them standing there on the curb I say
real plain like speak English next time
a acceptance
I am mexican-american but maybe you
don’t see me as a mexican-american maybe
you see me that’s a drug dealer or
somebody that doesn’t know anything just
another dumb illegal you hear me
speaking in espanol my syllables dancing
salsa with my tongue celebrating the
sound of my ancestors laughing and
joking with my friends and you think I’m
talking about you you don’t think I
speak English coming up to me slapping
your broken espanol in my face like hola
como estas no I’m not a drug dealer no
I’m not a dumb illegal no I’m not
talking about you
no I don’t want your broken hellos yes I
am sure I am mexican-american I am sure
I speak English an English colored brown
like cacao frijoles and my parents skin
English too creative for spell check or
autocorrect I am sure I am Mexican
American I am sure I speak español and
English both are tied to my survival
okay
knowledge if there’s one thing I know
for sure it’s that knowledge is planted
and harvested in language only those
words that can grow roots and produce
shiny edible fruits will be able to sell
at the market only they will survive to
tell their stories see I’m a farm girl
and my MA spoke gentle to me the hush of
her clattering tongues reminded me so
much of home but that was never a place
I want it to stay beneath opportunities
as the butt of every joke left behind
frankly how long ago left lazy how y’all
doing and cornfields for articulate
speech and city folk how to erode the
south from between my tongue and cheek
like disease if I ever wanted to show up
poor and female and cash my intellect in
for currency see these children whose
skin will signal danger like thunder and
win and tunnel vision Minds cannot go
packing bullets in their mouths like
terrorists they will be shot down passed
over and buried for their inability to
speak in a currency that is not bankrupt
I would not be here if someone did not
mark read through the error I used to
speak so yes I take red ink and I write
bridges into the futures of my students
granting them necessary standards to
stand on teaching them to write to spell
and properly punctuate a legacy that
they exist a legacy that will be read
and understood broadly this syntax will
submit their survivals and that’s one
thing I know for sure
speak speak say something
speak power speak English
Ebonics espanol speak acceptance
accepting people accepting
difference speak knowledge speak
[Applause]
[Music]
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