Black Language, white systems: How schools police Black speech !!
What do a courtroom in 1979 Michigan and a government report in 1985 Britain have in common? The answer: Black language, and the systems that tried to silence it.This episode dives into why the way we speak is about so much more than grammar — it’s about race, power, and who gets to be heard. From the Ann Arbor AAVE case to the Swan Report in the UK, we’re looking at how schools, governments, and institutions have treated Black English as a problem instead of a culture.Language isn’t neutral. And in this episode, we’re saying it plainly: language justice is racial justice.
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Is Black British English a form of Time Travel via Afrofuturism?⏳
What does it mean to speak the future while carrying the past? In this episode, we dive into Black British English as an Afrofuturist language, one shaped by migration, resistance, and imagination. We explore how the hybrid dialects of Black Britain remix ancestral languages, colonizer tongues, and global Black languages to create something radically new: a sonic space where survival and style converge. Using the visionary work of Janelle Monáe especially her android mythology via albums like The ArchAndroid and Dirty Computer we think through how language itself can be cyborg, insurgent, and speculative. Just like Monáe constructs a Black queer future through sound, costume, and narrative, Black British English crafts a world beyond Empire through voice and vernacular. From “mandem” to “allow it,” every utterance becomes a glitch in linear time, a tool for refusing the present and imagining otherwise. This episode asks: What does our accent say about our future? And how do we use language to hack the system just like Janelle does?
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The Diaspora Loved It 🇯🇲🇸🇷🇸🇱 Nigerians Dragged Me Over Sabi & Pikini 🤓
What if Jamaican Patwa and West African Pidgin aren’t broken English but living African languages? After my viral interview with Professor Hubert Devonish on the Caribbean roots of words like “pikini” and “sabi”, the diaspora responded with love — but not without backlash. Some people in the comments called us liars and a conversation about language and unity became distracted by a fight about identity. This podcast is my response. Join me as I unpack why I stand by the theory that Caribbean languages like Patwa and surinamese creole carry a deep African linguistic history seen in west African pidgins till today! It is the reason why we must unlearn colonial ideas about what counts as “proper” language. We’ll explore linguistic resistance, the Middle Passage, and how African languages didn’t die they adapted, survived, and returned. This is about more than words. It’s about memory, power, and reclaiming what’s ours. Follow us on instagram
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🇳🇬God Forbid Challenge : Why This Trend is Not Non-Black People’s Portion
In this podcast episode, I talk about all things wrong with non-Black people jumping aboard and on the “God Forbid Challenge” currently trending on social media. I take you through a range of issues mentioned below too, including:1. Accent Discrimination- Research shows that attention to linguistic cues like accents may be more potent than visual cues like skin color (Kinzler et al., 2007, 2009) when it comes to discrimination.2. Blaccent Blackface- the phenomena of white people temporarily inhabiting a Black persona for a saucy tweet or comedic Instagram caption. When white people do this, not only are they making the uncomfortable choice to act like something they are not, they suggest that Blackness is something to be slipped in and out of: donned when it’s time to make your followers laugh or see you differently, and shorn when it’s time to be taken seriously- Study Breaks, Imani BenberrySo settle, get ready to learn and most of all share.Follow our instagram for me @theblackbritishenglishpodcast
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Reflections on my trip to the Jamaican Language Unit
This episode is all about my visit to the Jamaican Language Unit (JLU) at the University of the West Indies, Mona—and trust me, it was a beautiful experience! I got to sit down with Professor Hubert Devonish, the man behind it all, to talk about his work globally and locally on giving Jamaican Patois the recognition and flowers it deserves and the push to make Patois an official language. If you’ve ever wondered about the work being done to preserve and promote Caribbean languages on the islands this one’s for you. Tune in for all my reflections from my trip. Further links- JAMAICAN LANGUAGE UNIT WEBSITE- https://www.mona.uwi.edu/dllp/jlu/background Swan report- https://education-uk.org/documents/swann/swann1985.html
A podcast by your favourite Creole Polyglot Ife Thompson talking all things Black British English, Language justice & joy and Black Language practices.
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