Let’s start with this idea: linguists do not designate any language as being superior. And yet, when I teach my students to write academic essays in “standard” English, I am in fact telling them what language I believe is superior. Baker-Bell argues that “standard” English is a construct created by people who decided that the way they spoke should be the standard. She says it is more accurate to use the terms “White Mainstream English” and “Black Language.” It’s easy to see how students can “absorb anti-Black messages that imply that their language is deficient, wrong, or unintelligent” (27).
Baker-Bell, April. Linguistic Justice: Black Language, Literacy, Identity, and Pedagogy. Routledge, 2020, p. xii.