Linguistic Discrimination in School AfricanAmerican English

Summary

The video describes how African-American English, also called African-American Vernacular English, was sometimes treated as evidence that Black students were less academically capable.

Three Black boys attending the predominantly white Martin Luther King School in suburban Ann Arbor reportedly received less attention and support from teachers. Former students recall feeling isolated and not being treated like their classmates.

Their mother, Annie, says her children were repeatedly tested and placed in special-education classes. She believed they were not receiving an equal education and that their language should not prevent them from learning.

Social worker Ruth Rattler, who knew the community the boys came from, became concerned about their difficulties. She argued that language can trigger assumptions and criticism, and that the children were being harmed by adults’ lack of understanding of their linguistic background.

After efforts to address the issue with school administrators failed, Rattler sought legal help from attorney Ken Lewis. The legal team initially considered poverty as a basis for the case, but concluded it did not offer a suitable constitutional claim. They then focused on language and linked its unequal impact on Black students to race.

The video says a federal judge formally recognized that African-American English could pose a significant linguistic barrier to academic achievement and found the school district insensitive to many of its Black students’ linguistic backgrounds.

Years later, educators in Oakland, California, made a related argument by describing Black English as a separate language called Ebonics. That claim prompted national controversy.

Speakers and Sources Featured

• Unnamed narrator/reporter and interviewer: Provides background and asks questions.
• Former students: One recalls teachers seeming to regard them as unteachable; another remembers not being treated like other students. The subtitles do not clearly identify which student says each quotation.
• Annie: Describes her children’s testing, special-education placement, and unequal treatment.
• Ruth Rattler: A social worker familiar with the boys’ community who raised concerns about linguistic discrimination.
• Ken Lewis: Explains the legal strategy behind the case.
• Federal judge: Referenced through the narrator’s account of the court’s recognition of the linguistic barrier.