Ellington

Big Willie 'Shakespeare' McBride: "Welcome to Hair Did University's Language Arts and Across Cultures Series, a subsidiary of the James Brown Say it Loud Ebonics Speech Academy. Before we begin with our lesson titled 'Explorations in Understanding Ebonics (formerly Negro Dialect): Conjugation of the Verbs 'Be' and 'Bees',' allow me to address the unassuming 'faux pas' of Senator Harry Reid.

"I recall listening to a well-known light-skinned Negro orator named Malcolm X when he said: 'They will break your legs and call you a cripple, poke your eyes out and tell you that you are blind.' Did you know that Malcolm X dropped out of the eighth grade? And you have just heard how he formulated a clear sentence to a mass of dark and light-skinned people, probably considered illiterate or inarticulate.

"Frederick Douglass, another light-skinned Negro orator, learned to read and write from his white playmates on the plantation. And he had to sneak around to get his education because slave owners believed educated Negroes were dangerous.

"Until people discard their narcissistic views regarding other cultures, you will always hear someone say what Senator Reid said about the president. Let's begin with today's lesson. Shall we?

"Look at the sentence 'It 'BE' that way.' The verb 'BE' is used to describe a temporary condition. Now, look at 'It 'BEES' that way.' The verb 'Bees' is used to describe a permanent condition.

"Class is dismissed. Until our next meeting, be careful out there."