Language 4R: Discussing the Roots of Language Identity in the African American Community

This article presents language reparation/reappropriation/reclamation/restoration, or language 4R for brevity’s sake, as a proposed mode of discourse dedicated to the roles of language in healthy constructions of African American identity. In many ways, African Americans are forced to grow, as legendary rapper and poet Tupac Shakur says, like roses from concrete. The initial historical tragedies of the Atlantic slave trade, further compounded by present realities of gentrification, mass incarceration and police brutality, form the concrete that estranges the African American community from complete self-actualization. This concrete blocks the critical evaluation and revitalization of identity roots. Language 4R, with the analysis of four correlative frameworks, aims to foster productive considerations of how language can help fortify these roots to break the concrete apart. Language reparation seeks to reconcile the worlds of institutional access and cultural acceptance through incorporating African American English (AAE) in school curricula. Language reappropriation points to African American Language (AAL) as a paramount assertion of African Americans’ diasporic identity. Language reclamation, as exhibited by creole languages such as Gullah, demonstrates an explicit intentionality in the maintenance of African roots in American soils. And finally, language restoration poses how genetic connection can incentivize the growth, development and fortification of new trans-Atlantic relationships, united through shared languages, terms and resources.