Sociolinguistic Artifacts

There are many people who are upset that the DEA are hiring on individuals who are fluent in AAVE or Ebonics because they see this form of language as “broken” or a “bastardization of English.” What people don’t understand is that the DEA is doing this because it is important to have people who understand these vernaculars because of the discriminatory treatment of blacks in the criminal justice system. They want to better understand and present these types of people in their native language because of the constant misunderstandings of their words when law enforcement is involved. It is important for the DEA to have people on their teams who understand this time of vernacular so there is not discrimination or misunderstandings. [Published on 08-25-2010]