If Black English Isn’t a Language, Then Tell Me, What is? James Arthur Baldwin was a Black American novelist, essayist, playwright, poet and social critic. He was born in Harlem and migrated to France due to the American prejudice against the black. His works expose the intricacies of racial, sexual and class divisions of the Western society. Baldwin considers American English, alien to the expression of his experiences and perspectives. For him it was the language of the dominant white culture. In this essay “If Black English Isn’t a Language, Then Tell Me, What is?” Baldwin defines the development of language as a political act through which a group of people assert their distinct identity. The racial prejudice that the white man has against the black people is there in the ill treatment of Black English too. Black English is the language spoken by Black people in America. It differs from the White American’s English in many respects. The objection of White Americans is not against Black Language but against the role of the language. Since a language is the identity of a person and it undoubtedly reveals the speaker. It is the label of Black Americans. People evolve a language in order to describe and thus control their circumstances. Therefore the same French language has different versions in different former colonies of France. A Frenchman living in Paris speaks a different language from that of the man living in Marseilles; neither sounds very much like a man living in Quebec, and they would all have great difficulty in understanding what the man from Guadeloupe, or Martinique, or a man from Senegal. But the common language of all these areas is French. Each "common" language has turned out to be different according to their culture and nature. They each have very different realities to articulate, or control. Therefore they are different in their own way. A similar tension can be seen in the Basque countries, and in Wales. Basque country is an autonomous community in the Northern Spain with strong cultural traditions and a distinct language. They face threat of discrimination by the difference in the language. In Wales, welsh, a Celtic language is spoken. Welsh language is under the threat of extinction under the dominance of English. These countries have the determination not to allow their languages to be destroyed. This determination also feeds the flames in Ireland too. The Irish have been forced to undergo at the hands of the English due to the contempt for the Irish language. Language is also a political instrument. It is the most vivid and crucial key to reveal the private identity of a person. It connects one with the similar kind of persons and divorces one from the larger public due to the difference of the language. There have been, and are, times, and places, when to speak a certain language could be dangerous or fatal. Or, one may speak the same language, but if it is a dialectical variant, it too becomes problematic. This is true in France, and is absolutely true in England. The range of accents in England makes it comprehensible for the English and totally incomprehensible for everyone else. When one opens his mouth in England with a different accent he can be said to "put your business in the street" that means reveal what you are. So you reveal your parents, your youth, your school, your salary, your selfesteem, and unfortunately risks one’s future. Baldwin argues that Black English has significantly influenced Standard American English. ‘Jazz,’ for example, is a very specific sexual term, as in ‘jazz me, baby,’ but white people purified it into the ‘Jazz Age.’ ‘Beat to his socks’ was once the black's most total and despairing image of poverty, was transformed into a thing called the ‘Beat Generation,’ the phenomenon of it was largely composed of uptight, middle-class white people, imitating poverty. Thus the White men purified and diluted the Black English and included in their language. Baldwin argues that without Black English, the White English would have been poorer. The formation of Black English is rooted in American history. Black English is the creation of the black diaspora. Blacks came to the United States chained to each other. They were from different tribes so they spoke different languages. Therefore they were not able to communicate each other and could not be united. The White men tried to impose Christianity upon the slaves, and they were given Bible and were gathered into churches. Thus they began to learn the master’s language and slowly Black English began to be formed. While conveying messages, they added new words and expression that only his fellow man could understand. In order to escape the danger from the White men, the Black people conveyed the message with a speed, and in a language, that the white man could not possibly understand. Thus the language came into existence by means of brutal necessity, and the rules of the language were dictated by what the language must convey. If Black people are a reality, Black English is also a reality. They affirm that Black English is a language and not a dialect. A dialect is a variation of a language. The White men would patronizingly call Black English as a dialect since it was evolved from this language. But the passion, the skill, and the sheer intelligence with which this language is formed needs great recognition. And this language brought this people from utterly unknown to, or despised by 'history' to their present situation. Therefore the Black English transcended by means of a dialect and become a language. Americans never had any interest in educating black people. If they did it was to serve white purposes. A child cannot be taught by anyone who hates him. A Black child was taught with the demand that the child should renounce his Black experience and enter a limbo in which he will no longer be black, and in which he knows that he can never become white. Black people have lost too many black children that way. Finally, in a country where so many criminals become heroes and black people are either in prison or standing in the futureless streets to suffer, both the Black children, and his elder, have nothing to learn from the people of a country that has managed to learn so little.