mintflavoredroses:

queerkents:

Just a reminder: thirsty and salty are both AAVE so if you’re white, you shouldn’t say them as a joke, it’s racist (which is the most important thing) and it makes you look like a poser (which is DEFINITELY way less important but still true). Some black slang has long since entered the mainstream lexicon and can’t be blocked out anymore and that’s okay (words like “dude” and “man” and “cool” and even “rock n’ roll” are all based in AAVE), but it’s our job as white people to stay away from using current slang as jokes. Instead of calling Pearl thirsty you can just call her desperate; instead of calling Pearl salty you can just call her bitter (this post is directed at the Steven Universe fandom, FYI).

I know it seems funny and cool to use AAVE like this but you should examine why you think these words are funny in the first place. Is it because they’re dank memes, or because you think anything black people say or do is inherently hilarious (which is part of why they became memes in the first place)? If it’s the second, you should know that’s rooted in the exotification of black people and black culture and ‘others’ them, which is obviously not okay. Obviously I’m not an authority on the subject so here’s a link to two black people speaking out about non-black people using AAVE if you’re curious as to why it’s racist: http://fuckyourracism.tumblr.com/post/93391303112/aave-and-why-it-is-more-than-likely-cultural http://killbenedictcumberbatch.tumblr.com/post/83363441082/zodikat-killbenedictcumberbatch-bae-is-aave Using AAVE at all (except for like, “ancient” AAVE, duh) should be kept to a minimum, and it DEFINITELY shouldn’t be used as a joke or to make you seem quirky or funny or cool.

This isn’t to shame any non-black people who’ve used it without knowing or guilt-tripping you at all, because we’re all learning, it’s just some education on your dash because I think the Steven Universe fandom is better than this. Consider this call-out a vote of confidence, I think we can do better.



I’m gonna reblog this ‘cuz overall I agree, but I’m gonna respond to elaborate on some things I’ve been thinking about for a while.

There’s been such an upswing in white people discovering AAVE, appropriating it, using it incorrectly, bastardizing it, then destroying the original context and making it problematic.

Right now I’m noticing this with af (as fuck), and fuckboy.

Honestly if I see one more post on my dash that says something like “bird af” or “arms af” or “couple af”, I’m gonna lose it. See the above “incorrect usage and bastardization”, after the appropriation stage.

Fuckboy has skyrocketed into the destruction phase, mostly because white AFAB trans-masculine people claimed it was a transphobic slur (which never actually existed??) and white feminists began using it to describe any man regardless of how ain’t-shit he actually is…not to mention the fact some people claimed fuckboy originated from the skeleton war meme (which it didn’t???).

This situation has really been irking me, as a black girl who struggles with what “blackness” is supposed to be. Black people, as a cultural influence on each other, have developed our own language as a way of personal communication WITHIN the community. That’s AAVE. Our speech patterns and terms, our slang, our grammar, our daily lives interspersed into the English language, in a way that reflects the daily lives of our communities. That’s ANY area-specific dialect. Except AAVE isn’t just for one city in one state. It transcends an entire race of people.

When you take that, you’re really, truly, no joke, taking part of our culture. When you mock us, you’re poking fun at how entire communities and cities and neighborhoods speak. And if we’re not being mocked for it, or praised for not using it, it’s being stolen from us. Then we’re being mocked again, and put down for “harmful connotation”.

The basic bitch fiasco? That’s the full-blown destruction sequence.

I’m starting to ramble, but as a black person, my personal opinion is that I don’t mind “sharing” AAVE, per se. I don’t have a strong opinion aside from ‘Don’t be an ass about it. Don’t use it for fun, or because you think it’s a joke to talk “like us”.’ Of course, many other black people will not share that state of mind, and my opinion is solely my own. Additionally, I can never condone the appropriation and theft of black culture.

But at the very least, if you’re gonna use it, use it right. Respect the origins. Don’t create your own narrative for a story you aren’t even a character in. Don’t manufacture a background for a term that already has a history. Don’t change the connotations of a word that already has a meaning.

Just be respectful.