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Letter to Susan Ward, SF Chronicle reporter
Thank you for Wed. article on Tyrell Taylor in the SF Chronicle
However...
However...
Susan,
Your coverage was extensive and thorough.
However, our Bayview community is very distraught by the general tone of your piece.
While it is always crucial as a reporter to cover both sides of law enforcement encounters, you clearly emphasized PD position, and chose to conclude your article with statements from Tyrelle's job Corps mentor, which alluded to recidivism, therefore prejudicing the general public into viewing Tyrelle's atrocious shooting as a righteous retribution.
We deeply deplore your article's grave lack of perspective on environmental racism and the tragic scarcity of resources for our Bayview Youth, who often out of despair goes back to illicit activities as a mean of survival.
Therefore, sadly, your article, faithful to the corporate media's agenda, reinforces the legitimization of the criminalization of Poor Youth of Color
Maybe if the corporate media finally challenged the San Francisco City Government to create realistic, immediate avenues for our Youth, we could get our babies out of the Death Loop.
Regretfully.
mesha Monge-Irizarry
Idriss Stelley Foundation
Your coverage was extensive and thorough.
However, our Bayview community is very distraught by the general tone of your piece.
While it is always crucial as a reporter to cover both sides of law enforcement encounters, you clearly emphasized PD position, and chose to conclude your article with statements from Tyrelle's job Corps mentor, which alluded to recidivism, therefore prejudicing the general public into viewing Tyrelle's atrocious shooting as a righteous retribution.
We deeply deplore your article's grave lack of perspective on environmental racism and the tragic scarcity of resources for our Bayview Youth, who often out of despair goes back to illicit activities as a mean of survival.
Therefore, sadly, your article, faithful to the corporate media's agenda, reinforces the legitimization of the criminalization of Poor Youth of Color
Maybe if the corporate media finally challenged the San Francisco City Government to create realistic, immediate avenues for our Youth, we could get our babies out of the Death Loop.
Regretfully.
mesha Monge-Irizarry
Idriss Stelley Foundation
For more information:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Justice4Tyrell/
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Sustandardly vernacularized Steve said:
"...and often speak incoherent and sustandard English"
"...and often speak incoherent and sustandard English"
What is standard English and where is it spoken? Is black English substandarded?
He can't get beyond inciteful speech, then he'd have to support his assertions with facts/sources and, sadly he can't hold up an end of anargument. He is just regurgitated AM-whack job radio speech---totally irrelevant.
There is standard English, its rules are widely accepted and taught in schools all across the country. Failure to read, write, and speak standard English is often associated with poor socioeconimic status. Here's a link to an English language reference:
http://www.edufind.com/english/grammar/
Steve may not be very tactful, but if the African American community valued education like the Asian community (rather than black kids being criticized by their peers for "acting white" is they speak well and are good students) it could only help them.
http://www.edufind.com/english/grammar/
Steve may not be very tactful, but if the African American community valued education like the Asian community (rather than black kids being criticized by their peers for "acting white" is they speak well and are good students) it could only help them.
Actually Black English, and I'm not talking about slang, is one of many variations of the English language. Black English is not substandard English (which is what Steve implied) and is in fact rule based in its grammar and pronunciation. The attitudes against Black English are based on ignorance and misinformtion are often laced with class and race based prejudices.
What I just said isn't even controversial in the field of linguistics, even black linguist John McWhorter, who is usually labeled a conservative (heard of him?) goes even further and describes black English as probably the richest dialect within the English language. I'd suggest John Rickford, John Baugh, and William Labov who are all leading linguists in the area of black English.
Do black children (though not all them speak this way, anyways) need to learn standard English? Yes, I would agree in the sense that it will increase their ability to navigate and survive our society. I believe teaching them to be bidialectical is most appropriate (how you talk at home and with friends versus how you talk at work and school). However any degradation of black English based on the idea that it is substandard is both racist and actually prevents black children in the learning of standard English.
PS: language is probably the smallest of the obstacles facing urban youth.
What I just said isn't even controversial in the field of linguistics, even black linguist John McWhorter, who is usually labeled a conservative (heard of him?) goes even further and describes black English as probably the richest dialect within the English language. I'd suggest John Rickford, John Baugh, and William Labov who are all leading linguists in the area of black English.
Do black children (though not all them speak this way, anyways) need to learn standard English? Yes, I would agree in the sense that it will increase their ability to navigate and survive our society. I believe teaching them to be bidialectical is most appropriate (how you talk at home and with friends versus how you talk at work and school). However any degradation of black English based on the idea that it is substandard is both racist and actually prevents black children in the learning of standard English.
PS: language is probably the smallest of the obstacles facing urban youth.
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