In the early sixteen hundreds African Americans were being taken from their homeland, African, to be sold as slaves here in the United States. These African Americans, slaves, were separated from their tribes and were not able to communicate with other slaves, or their masters. There were and still are various forms of "African Tongue" amongst different tribes, and all are quite diverse from one another. Because there was a lack of schooling, due to fear of slaves becoming highly educated, slaves were forced to educate themselves on the English language. This enabled them to communicate with each other and their masters. Their own way of understanding was by forming their own dialect, mixing their native tongue with "Proper English". This dialect became known as "Ebonics", or also known as "Black English". This dialect became very common amongst the African American population. It has expanded through speech, letters, and schooling, and has been passed down from Black generation to Black generation. But a lot has changed since the sixteen hundreds. Now education is equally available to all races and "Black English" is not as common as it was in the past. In fact, until a few years ago it has been considered as "Improper English or even "slang". This was until 1996 when you, the Oakland School Board, decided to recognize "Ebonics" as it's own language apart from English. You stated that "Black English" is the "Primary Language" of the African American people, and that the young black students should study their "primary language". But can Ebonics be considered its own language when most of its words derived from the English and African American language? No, because Ebonics is not and should not be considered its own language, but rather a "dialect" of the English language. The Oakland School Board should not recognize...