June Jordan

Whar is said - June Jordan's essay is a story about a class that she taught in Black English. She had the idea to teach the class because of what happened in another class she was teaching. The class read "The Color Purple," and they didn't like the way the book was written. They said the language sounded strange, but Jordan noticed that the students used a similar style of language all the time in conversation. This gives her the idea to teach a class in Black English, and, with the help of her students, make a list of rules and guidelines for using Black English. She also tells the story of one of her students, Willie Jordan. Willie's brother Reggie is killed by the police, and all of the other students in the class had either known Reggie or known someone else who had been killed by the police. They want to write something to the police in Black English, because it is their language and the language that Reggie spoke. They don't know if they should use standard English, which they call the language of the killer, or Black English, which is how Reggie spoke. They decide to stay true to themselves and write in Black English, and their letters are for the most part, ignored. Racism is definitely one of the main issues in this essay. Reggie's murder by the police and the disregard for the students letter written in Black English are both big examples of this.
How she does it - Jordan starts out with an introduction on the English language, then begins to tell her own first person narrative story, mixed with examples of her student's actual writing, and their list of rules and examples of Black English. She ends with Willie Jordan's essay.