Do you remember the great “Ebonics” controversy of the 90s? Briefly, it was the discovery of an entirely new language spoken by black Americans. Allied with the idea that every culture, means of expression and “way of knowing” was equally valuable and no culture was better than any other, a great many academics and leftist politicians tried to push aside “standard English” in favor of the lazy articulation, obscenity-laced slang and misogynistic immersion of inner city, black ghetto culture.

In the name of equity and authenticity, black kids were supposed to be able to ignore standard English in writing and speech and teachers were to give not only equal, but more credit for their substitution of Ebonics. To do otherwise was to be—wait for it—racist and a white supremist continuation of the horrors of slavery.

Democrat politicians gladly embraced the lunacy. In a 2007 speech at a black Baptist church, Hillary Clinton trotted out her best faux-black accent and drawled: “I don’t feel noways tarrrred.”  

That cringeworthy attempt at racial pandering spawned more than justified ridicule since:

Graphic: X Post

Circa 2025, even black politicians with private school educations like Jasmine Crockett perfectly capable of speaking Standard English, which is their default mode of speech, often slur into Ebonics when they think it’s in their political interest:  

Despite being raised in the suburbs, educated in private school, and trained as a lawyer, Crockett speaks to black audiences as if they’re incapable of understanding plain English. She doesn't simply advocate for policies. She doesn’t just present facts. Everything she communicates is filtered through a forced, exaggerated, hyper-stylized “ghetto” effect—because she believes that’s what black people need in order to understand or connect with anything.

While Ebonics as an educational/political movement dissolved of its own pretense, it’s now called, among linguists, “African American Vernacular English.” That doesn’t mean, however, its offspring have entirely disappeared. The political implications are just too useful to totally abandon.

Metropolitan State University of Denver would appear to be in Crockett’s linguistic corner: 

Metropolitan State University of Denver flags “Standard American English” as a concern for “anti-racist” initiatives on a web page dedicated to “Linguistic White Supremacy.”

The page appears on the school’s Writing Center section and prompts professors to counter white supremacy in the classroom through initiatives such as “Grading with Equity,” “Restorative Justice Approaches to Plagiarism,” and an “Anti-Racist Book Club.”

“Consider how you can design assignments, pedagogy, response/grading practices that acknowledge that racism exists in our assignments, pedagogy, response/grading practices,” the center says.

The university also warns against “Standard American English,” which is “a social construct that privileges white communities and maintains social and racial hierarchies.” 

Keeping in mind these ideas come from a college, consider this:

The Writing Center names an example of an assignment that may exploit students: “Write About the Biggest Obstacle You’ve Overcome in Life.”

“This prompt is alienating because the biggest struggle some of your students may have faced is losing a pet, while others may be refugees from war-torn countries,” the page says. “Provide prompts that will not force a student to relive trauma.”

The page further advises that professors should “[a]void assumptions of American cultural knowledge.”

Wouldn’t marvelously diverse essays about student’s personal experiences be inclusive? Wouldn’t non-standard English expositions of their strength and perseverance be antiracist?

What’s the purpose of higher education if not to provide students with the background of “American cultural knowledge” and the culture and immeasurable contributions of western civilization? Students should pay as much as $100,000 a year to advance not at all beyond their level of knowledge when first setting foot on campus?

Sadly, Metropolitan State University’s folly is unsurprising and all too familiar. I’ve found more than a few teachers of college English caught up in this kind of nonsense. I discovered that stance made life far easier for them. If one doesn’t have to worry about such things as grammar, punctuation or coherence in writing, grading is a breeze. If one can ignore the canon and require no evidence of actual learning, substituting “alternate ways of knowing” instead, teaching prep time is slashed to virtually nothing.

And if everyone is a white supremacist and everything is racist, all one need do is mouth the usual “antiracist” platitudes rather than teach any sort of meaningful content.

So, the dumbing down of education, and American culture, continues apace.

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Mike McDaniel is a USAF veteran, classically trained musician, Japanese and European fencer, life-long athlete, firearm instructor, retired police officer and high school and college English teacher. He is a published author and blogger. His home blog is Stately McDaniel Manor.