Championing Linguistic Justice: BLAM UK’s Open Letter to tes magazine

Championing Linguistic Justice: BLAM UK’s Open Letter to tes magazine

In a bold move towards promoting linguistic justice and dismantling racial discrimination, BLAM UK, a prominent grassroots organisation advocating for the Black community in the UK, recently penned an open letter to tes magazine. This letter addresses concerns regarding the article titled ‘Slang Safeguarding Risks’, published on February 14th, 2024.

At the core of BLAM UK’s mission lies a commitment to advocating against anti-Black racism and injustice, particularly focusing on its detrimental effects on the well-being of Black communities and safeguarding the legal and child rights of its members. Our organisation’s letter articulates three main points of contention with the article, highlighting its racially discriminatory and harmful nature:

1. Harm to Racial Esteem and Well-being: BLAM UK stresses how the article’s characterization of Black British English (BBE) as “slang” perpetuates negative stereotypes and undermines the linguistic identity and self-esteem of Black children.
2. Normalisation of Anti-Black Linguistic Racism: The organisation emphasises how the article contributes to the normalisation of linguistic racism by flagging BBE words and phrases as “misogynistic” or “sexist” without understanding their cultural significance and context within the Black community.
3. Violation of Children’s Rights: BLAM UK argues that the article’s approach to policing BBE in schools violates the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which emphasises the importance of minority children enjoying their own culture and language.

Moreover, BLAM UK challenges the concept of “Slang Safeguarding,” advocating for a more inclusive approach that acknowledges and respects linguistic diversity among children, particularly Black children.

The letter concludes with a call to action, urging tes magazine to remove the article, provide training on language discrimination for its team, and adjust future articles to celebrate and educate on BBE and other languages used by students from Black backgrounds. BLAM UK also extends an olive branch, expressing willingness to collaborate with tes magazine to promote linguistic justice and provide education on Black British English and heritage.

This open letter exemplifies BLAM UK’s unwavering commitment to advocating for racial justice and empowering the Black community. By challenging harmful narratives and advocating for linguistic inclusivity, BLAM UK continues to pave the way for a more equitable and just society.

In the face of silence or inaction, BLAM UK remains steadfast in its determination to pursue further action, underscoring the urgency and importance of addressing these issues.

As we move forward, let us heed BLAM UK’s call to action and strive towards a future where linguistic diversity is celebrated, and all children are empowered to embrace their cultural heritage without fear of discrimination or prejudice.

Our Letter to TES magazine –

Re: Banning and Policing of the Use of Black British English  

This is a letter from Black Learning Achievement and Mental Health (“BLAM”), a Black grassroots organisation that supports the Black Community in the UK under three limbs: cultural education, advocacy and wellbeing. 

In a very short summary, we have a shared commitment to advocating on anti-Black racism/ injustice with particular concern for the impacts of these injustices on the well-being of Black communities and/or safeguarding the legal & child rights of members of our community. More details can be found about BLAM here. 

Fundamentally, we write to raise our concerns with your ‘slang safeguarding risks’ article published on the 14th February 2024 and ask that you revise your article with immediate effect as it is racially discriminatory and harmful. We state this for the three following reasons:

1. It harms the racial esteem and in turn well-being of Black children 
2. It reproduces and normalises Anti-Black Linguistic Racism
3. It is not in line with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989)

We note from the tes magazine article, that you want to ensure parents, teachers and carers are ‘vigilant about the world that our students are living in and, as much as possible, make sure that we are part of it’. We hope to work constructively with you and your team to address this issue and to ensure Black British English speaking students’ rights are respected going forwards.

History of the Black British English Language

Oxford Dictionary defines language as 

“the principal method of human communication, consisting of words used in a structured and conventional way and conveyed by speech, writing, or gesture.”

Black British English (‘BBE’) is a Black language form. It is a Creolised language including influences from Patois, Nigerian Pidgin, African-American Venacular English (AAVE) and BBE terms. BBE is sometimes incorrectly referred to as ‘slang’ as it is in your article. BBE has its own syntactic and grammatical structure which is different to white mainstream English. However, the differences does not mean that BBE is or should be referred to as slang.

The freedom to use and embrace BBE is crucial. Words such as ‘bunda’ and ‘nyash’ have derived from Nigerian Pidgin and Gambian Creole. Flagging words like this as possibly ‘misogynistic’, ‘sexist’ or a ‘potential safeguarding issue(s)’ is gross misinformation and discriminatory. Highlighting these words and phrases with origins in Black heritage, without an understanding of the cultural practices of BBE speakers, aids in the continued negative perception of Black British English. In fact, using ‘sexist’ and ‘misogynistic’ when referring to BBE phrases such as ‘bunda’, speaks to the lack of cultural analysis and awareness of this article. It is ill-informed as there is a clear and ongoing history of these phrases being used to celebrate women of Black heritage. Whilst it can be argued that those words, like all words, can be used in ways that can be deemed problematic, the assumption that these words are inherently problematic emboldens education providers that have for years been policing BBE in school with long-term consequences such as exclusions. The urgency to revise the article becomes especially important when we understand that BBE speakers are ‘five times more likely to be excluded than their white peers’. The article facilitates the use of racist practices and policies around language which have, and will, result in Black children being negatively labelled, harshly sanctioned and ultimately excluded.

It is harmful and degrading, in particular to the identity of Black students who use this language. It can also lead to the internalisation of negative perceptions about themselves and their fellow language speakers. To that effect, it is important to highlight the policing of BBE speech amounts to institutionalised code-switching. We at BLAM UK along with many Linguistic Activists reject code-switching because it places whiteness and white mainstream English on a pedestal while showcasing Blackness and Black Language as inferior, lesser, and secondary. Instead, we encourage, utilise, and elevate the beauty and brilliance in Blackness and Black Language. The American academic April Baker-Bell explains that Black students 

” – – are being asked to switch their language, their cultural way of being and knowing, their community, their blackness in favour of a white middle-class identity.”  

It encourages Black students to arrive in educational, and personal, spaces as half of themselves, internalising their policing. We reject the guise of professionalism and preparation for the future as explanations for the policing. The BBE words identified on the list allow for expression, personality, celebration and creativity. Subsequently, enabling Black students to enjoy their own culture. 

UN Convention on the Rights of the Child

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, emphasises the importance of minority children being able to enjoy their own culture or use their own language (Article 30). The Convention highlights minority groups as including linguistic minorities.

As a respected journalistic organisation, tes should be promoting the enjoyment of international children’s rights within learning environments, and advocating for the unlearning of anti-Black linguistic racism. tes should instead be using its article as an opportunity to celebrate the ways in which BBE is a rich and diverse landscape of the language within the Black British community and the creative role students are taking in preserving it. tes should also be seeking out experts within the community ( for example – BLAM) to ensure that their articles are legally and historically accurate.

Radical Safeguarding

Radical Safeguarding is ‘a radical approach to child safety…that traces the root cause of harms to children’. It is the understanding that current safeguarding measures do not do the work of creating safety for all children, particularly young people and children of colour. It is a commitment to reduce harm by taking an informed and diverse look at safeguarding issues. 

Resources such as Radical Safeguarding – A Social Justice Workbook for Safeguarding Practitioners can be used to further build conviction on linguistic discrimination, and how it is harmful to the children policed by it. It can be used to educate readers on what inclusive safeguarding really is, how it is not a one-size fits all approach or how different uses of language isn’t a case of right or wrong.

Conclusion 

We invite tes magazine to use the current experience as a chance to promote the understanding of the culture and history of Black people. Our organisation BLAM UK would be happy to assist in a collaboration to educate as to Black British English and heritage and find ways your organisation can promote linguistic justice.

BBE is a rich language and a form of expression amongst Black children in particular. The association of this language with ‘slang’ and noting the use of words from BBE such as ‘plug’ and ‘nyash’ found in songs, spoken by our parents and form part of our day-to-day speak as ‘safegaurding concerns’ reinforces white linguistic supremacy. The policing and demonisation of a language used primarily amongst Black students is disproportionate and is incompatible with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Further, the conflation of ‘safeguarding concerns’ for children’s day-to-day speak ignores that some safeguarding measures, when inflexible to conditions such as race, end up doing more hard than good. 

Please, therefore:

1. Remove the article with immediate effect;
2. Ensure your team attend professional training on language discrimination;
3. Adjust your articles to honour and educate on BBE and other languages used by students from Black backgrounds.

We are open to collaborating with your organisation and provide appropriate training and education on Black British English and heritage and find ways your organisation can promote linguistic justice.

In the event that this letter is ignored, we will have no option but to take further action in regard to this matter.

Yours faithfully,

Black Learning Achievement and Mental Health (BLAM UK)