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November 15, 2009

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Letter: Ebonics contributes nothing to blacks or whites in society

Wednesday, Feb. 5, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

I was acquainted with this fact on a trip to Panama City, Panama.

Sitting next to a black man on a bus there I commented to him on his perfect enunciation of English.

All black people in Panama City speak English well. As a matter of fact, we are the only group here that is bilingual. All other cultures -- Chinese, Japanese, Panamanians and Spanish -- speak only Spanish. With us it's a point of pride. We are Americans descended from the blacks who built the Panama Canal. And so our desire has been to identify ourselves as Americans not Pan Americans. As a consequence we hold many of the better positions on the Canal."

So ebonics, as I see it, contributes nothing to the benefit of blacks or whites in this society.

B. Rostron

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