Appropriation of AA Slang by Asian American Youth
Utilization of slang among the youth is nothing new and for many of us, it has become and natural and common part of our daily vocabulary. However, as we continue to educate ourselves and reexamine what we have grown up to accept to as “normal”, language is a topic that definitely should not be overlooked, as many Asian American youth utilize popular slang words in their daily vocabulary without knowing or understanding the deep historical context that surrounds many of these words.
The following article written by Angela Reyes examines the use of African American Vernacular English by Asian American youth in particular, given our unique standing as a community that technically shares racial minority status yet often does not experience discrimination to the same degree. It is our hope that through this article we can all become more conscious about the words that we choose in our daily conversations and appreciate this component of pop culture by better understanding the history of where it came from.