ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Jamila Lyiscott - Poet and educator
Jamila Lyiscott weaves words about language, education and the African Diaspora.

Why you should listen

Jamila Lyiscott is currently an advanced doctoral candidate and adjunct professor at Columbia University’s Teachers College where her work focuses on the education of the African Diaspora. She is also an adjunct professor at Long Island University where she teaches on adult and adolescent literacy within the Urban Education system. A spoken word artist since the age of fifteen, Jamila works with youth, educators, and activists throughout the city to create spaces that reflect and engage the cultures and values of black and brown youth inside and outside of the classroom.

A Zankel Fellow, Lyiscott is also working as a Graduate Research Fellow at the Institute for Urban and Minority Education where she leads the Cyphers For Justice youth, research, and advocacy program. Jamila’s poetry and scholarly work has been published in Teachers and Writers Collaborative Magazine and English Journal. She has directed several conferences and projects both locally and internationally and has presented both spoken word and academic papers at many seminars. Through her community, scholastic, and artistic efforts, Jamila hopes to play a key role in forging better connections between the world of academia and communities of color outside.

Watch Lyiscott's Prezi, "How Broken English Made Me Whole."

More profile about the speaker
Jamila Lyiscott | Speaker | TED.com
TEDSalon NY2014

Jamila Lyiscott: 3 ways to speak English

Filmed:
4,547,574 views

Jamila Lyiscott is a “tri-tongued orator;” in her powerful spoken-word essay “Broken English,” she celebrates — and challenges — the three distinct flavors of English she speaks with her friends, in the classroom and with her parents. As she explores the complicated history and present-day identity that each language represents, she unpacks what it means to be “articulate.”
- Poet and educator
Jamila Lyiscott weaves words about language, education and the African Diaspora. Full bio

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

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Today,
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a baffled lady observed
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the shell where my soul dwells
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And announced that I'm
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"articulate"
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Which means that when it comes
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to enunciation and diction
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I don't even think of it
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‘Cause I’m "articulate"
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So when my professor asks a question
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And my answer is tainted with a connotation
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of urbanized suggestion
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There’s no misdirected intention
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Pay attention
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‘Cause I’m “articulate”
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So when my father asks, “Wha’ kinda ting is dis?”
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My “articulate” answer never goes amiss
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I say “father, this is the impending problem at hand”
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And when I’m on the block
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I switch it up just because I can
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So when my boy says, “What’s good with you son?”
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I just say, “I jus’ fall out wit dem people but I done!”
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And sometimes in class
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I might pause the intellectual sounding flow to ask
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“Yo! Why dese books neva be about my peoples”
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Yes, I have decided to treat
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all three of my languages as equals
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Because I’m “articulate”
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But who controls articulation?
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Because the English language
is a multifaceted oration
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Subject to indefinite transformation
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Now you may think that it is
ignorant to speak broken English
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But I’m here to tell you that
even “articulate” Americans
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sound foolish to the British
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So when my Professor comes on
the block and says, “Hello”
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I stop him and say “Noooo …
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You’re being inarticulate …
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the proper way is to say ‘what’s good’”
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Now you may think that’s too hood, that’s not cool
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But I’m here to tell you that
even our language has rules
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So when Mommy mocks me and says
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“ya’ll-be-madd-going-to-the-store”
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I say “Mommy, no, that sentence is not following the law
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Never does the word "madd" go
before a present participle
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That’s simply the principle of this English”
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If I had the vocal capacity I would
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sing this from every mountaintop,
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From every suburbia, and every hood
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‘Cause the only God of language is
the one recorded in the Genesis
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Of this world saying “it is good"
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So I may not always come before you
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with excellency of speech
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But do not judge me by my language and assume
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That I’m too ignorant to teach
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‘Cause I speak three tongues
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One for each:
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Home, school and friends
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I’m a tri-lingual orator
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Sometimes I’m consistent with my language now
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Then switch it up so I don’t bore later
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Sometimes I fight back two tongues
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While I use the other one in the classroom
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And when I mistakenly mix them up
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I feel crazy like … I’m cooking in the bathroom
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I know that I had to borrow your language
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because mines was stolen
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But you can’t expect me to speak your history wholly
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while mines is broken
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These words are spoken
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By someone who is simply fed up with
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the Eurocentric ideals of this season
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And the reason I speak a composite
version of your language
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Is because mines was raped
away along with my history
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I speak broken English so the
profusing gashes can remind us
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That our current state is not a mystery
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I’m so tired of the negative images
that are driving my people mad
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So unless you’ve seen it rob
a bank stop calling my hair bad
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I’m so sick of this nonsensical racial disparity
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So don’t call it good unless your hair is known
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for donating to charity
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As much as has been raped away from our people
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How can you expect me to treat
their imprint on your language
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As anything less than equal
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Let there be no confusion
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Let there be no hesitation
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This is not a promotion of ignorance
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This is a linguistic celebration
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That’s why I put "tri-lingual" on my last job application
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I can help to diversify your consumer market
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is all I wanted them to know
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And when they call me for the interview
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I’ll be more than happy to show that
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I can say:
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“What’s good”
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“Whatagwan”
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And of course …“Hello”
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Because I’m “articulate”
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Thank you.
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(Applause)
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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Jamila Lyiscott - Poet and educator
Jamila Lyiscott weaves words about language, education and the African Diaspora.

Why you should listen

Jamila Lyiscott is currently an advanced doctoral candidate and adjunct professor at Columbia University’s Teachers College where her work focuses on the education of the African Diaspora. She is also an adjunct professor at Long Island University where she teaches on adult and adolescent literacy within the Urban Education system. A spoken word artist since the age of fifteen, Jamila works with youth, educators, and activists throughout the city to create spaces that reflect and engage the cultures and values of black and brown youth inside and outside of the classroom.

A Zankel Fellow, Lyiscott is also working as a Graduate Research Fellow at the Institute for Urban and Minority Education where she leads the Cyphers For Justice youth, research, and advocacy program. Jamila’s poetry and scholarly work has been published in Teachers and Writers Collaborative Magazine and English Journal. She has directed several conferences and projects both locally and internationally and has presented both spoken word and academic papers at many seminars. Through her community, scholastic, and artistic efforts, Jamila hopes to play a key role in forging better connections between the world of academia and communities of color outside.

Watch Lyiscott's Prezi, "How Broken English Made Me Whole."

More profile about the speaker
Jamila Lyiscott | Speaker | TED.com