'EBONICS' TRANSLATORS RAISE THORNY ISSUE

A recent article regarding the Drug Enforcement Administration
requesting interpreters of "ebonics" caused a stir in the community.
If the focus shifted to the fundamental flaws of the language
argument, and to the legitimacy of successful communication across
cultures, the issue would be less inflammatory and more unifying.

The need for assistance to accurately understand what has been
described as "a combination of English vocabulary and African
language structure" and labeled as "ebonics" is valid on its face for
the purposes that the DEA proposes. A real need exists to correctly
understand conversations that do not follow the standard rules of English.

The real issue is the methodology and presentation the DEA used in
soliciting potential employees, and perhaps the job description and
job title. If the DEA states that it needs ebonics translators, the
inference is drawn that ebonics is a language.

If taken further, it can be assumed that there are people who are
officially, competently and certifiably trained to translate or
interpret ebonics, which in is nothing more than a buzzword to
describe a social phenomenon that has proven to be politically,
emotionally and racially controversial. I don't think it is racist to
voice the need for assistance in understanding a verbal manipulation
of the English language.

Some people do speak a manipulated version of English, and if the
majority of those people happen to be African-American, it is still
not racist unless they are being somehow penalized for speaking in
such a manner. It is simply a cultural diversity issue that needs to
be addressed to establish unity and some kind of identification
across cultural barriers -- but that does not equate to racism or
discrimination.

Because I do care a great deal about preserving the integrity of the
English language, both spoken and written, my concern is that
educated and influential U.S. citizens are failing to recognize the
difference between cultural issues and language issues.

Jennifer Harris

Augusta