By Hannah Woehrle, Rachel Applegate & Amiya Zissler
Focus
Midland HS
1st Place Division 2, News Writing
Diversity Coverage
JUDGING CRITERIA
- Topic relevant to the school or students and reflects lifestyles, challenges and potentials of those from a diverse background
- Sharp, attention-getting lead grabs reader and arouses curiosity
- Shows thorough reporting skills through research and interviewing
- Effective use of facts/quotes from both primary and secondary sources
- Balanced, fair and sensitive presentation
- Sentences, paragraphs of varied length; written clearly, concisely and vividly
- Proper diction/grammar; use of third person
When Senior Olivia Freidinger was five years old, she remembers sitting in front of the television with her mother watching Judge Judy. While her mother worked on her hair, an African American woman appeared on the screen and spoke in the Black vernacular. At that moment, Freidinger’s mother told her that she didn’t want her to talk like that, out of fear that people would think she is ignorant. African American Vernacular English (AAVE) is a variety of English that originated in the American south. It was created by slaves who had to learn the English language quickly and has stayed a prominent part of Black culture today. “My mother is very proud of her culture and her heritage,” Freidinger said. “But she knows that I’m being raised in Midland and she knows the type of people that live here.” Janet Dunn, Freidinger’s mother, grew up in the south in the 1960s and 70s. One of the schools she attended had previously been segregated, but had since integrated. She said her teachers at her previous school knew she was smart, but at her new school, she didn’t talk that much. “All of the white kids spoke so much more differently than I did,” Dunn said. “I felt stupid, and other people thought I and the other Black students were stupid too. People would say, ‘Are you from the farm?’ I never wanted people to think Olivia was stupid, because she isn’t.” Freidinger said that since language is so complex, especially once culture and race are added to it such as with AAVE, she couldn’t quite grasp what her mother meant at just five years old. Throughout elementary school, she took speech therapy lessons. She remembers pronouncing certain words in a way that was different from how they would be pronounced in the Language of Wider Communication, or standard English, but were still recognizable in the Black vernacular. She said that it frustrated her that her speech therapist understood what she was saying, yet drilled it into her brain that it had to be said a different way. “I knew that she knew what I meant to say, but the fact that she needed to correct me so bad, that’s when I realized that my mom’s right,” Freidinger said. “People are not going to get it. They know what I’m saying, but they still think something is wrong with it.” Despite this, Freidinger and Dunn agree that speech therapy helped her gain respect in Midland. “I don’t speak in standard English all the time,” Freidinger said. “At school, I’m going to talk the way my mom expects me to talk and how the white people around me expect me to talk.” Freidinger and Dunn have noticed mockery of the language through the community and school, especially when students read books like The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, where the vernacular is written. “Midland is not an accepting environment,” Dunn said. “The vast majority of people are white, and they don’t know the history or importance of AAVE. It feels like they don’t care either.” Freidinger and Dunn agree that if more students were educated on the history and culture of AAVE, it would have a huge impact on how people view it. “Really think about it,” Dunn said. “When my ancestors came from Africa, they were brought into a new land and forced to speak an entirely new language. This is how AAVE was formed. Trying to adapt and survive by communication, in a language you have never heard of. ‘Pick this cotton, or I will whip you.’ AAVE was formed out of necessity and a will to survive.” Since Freidinger has been in high school, she has developed an immense appreciation for her culture through language. She noticed how words are able to represent what a culture finds important. “Language and culture are so intertwined it’s crazy,” Freidinger said. “A culture’s ability to craft a language is the most important thing. Human Senior Olivia Freidinger has been studying language, specifically African American Vernacular English, and how its racist stereotype leads to ignorance. She hopes to contribute to eliminating this stereotype. Managing Editor Hannah Woehrle | Ads/Exchange Editor Rachel Applegate | Staff Writer Amiya Zissler FROM AN EXPERT English teacher Becky King answers questions about African American Vernacular English. storytelling has kept us alive.” Freidinger believes that the only way to eliminate the stigma around AAVE is by addressing it, despite the response of others. She plans to study comparative literature and linguistics in college to continue learning about language and culture. “Black people are important, Black people are smart, and if you don’t want to listen to what we have to say because of the way that we are saying it, the content of our words are only going to hurt you,” Freidinger said.