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The Associated Press is reporting that the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) is considering hiring translators to help agents understand the language of drug dealers. Apparently, the agents are having trouble interpreting the words and sentences being used by suspects during wiretaps. The agency reached out to some translation companies to find someone to help them with the problem. And, no, this is not a joke.
"They saw a need for this in a couple of their investigations," special agent Michael Sanders said. "And when you see a need -- it may not be needed now -- but we want the contractors to provide us with nine people just in case."
Yes, this story is making me laugh as much as you are. When I heard that the DEA was considering such a move, I could almost appreciate the intent, but I think it may be a bit misguided. The first thought that came to mind was whether the agency is presuming that drug dealers speak a dialect of English that matches that of the rest of urban black America?
Sure, there are going to be similarities, but most of my urban friends don't understand drug dealers either.
Dealers don't just sound like rappers, but actually structure a variation of language and sophisticated codes that nearly anyone would have trouble translating. Rather than hiring an Ebonics expert to understand the lingo of drug dealers, the DEA would be better off hiring a former drug dealer.
Urban language, in general, has a very dynamic dimension to it that changes with the release of every new album, the start of every new school year and with each new season on BET.
I think that the idea of grabbing some Harvard linguistics professor to translate wiretaps might be an expensive and counterproductive way to reach the DEA's objectives. Instead, they would likely need someone with their finger on the pulse of the streets (someone who lives where the dealers live and work) to understand how things change as time goes by.
Personally, in my old man quest to keep up with black teenager Ebonics, I rely a great deal on my daughters. I literally ask them to define terms for me, or I'll confirm my understanding of a word by using the context:
So, "getting murked" means getting killed, right?
I also find that my collection of T.I., Lil Wayne and Nicki Minaj songs helps me to stay in rhythm with the changing nature of communication, but while I feel comfortable listening in on black teenagers talking about almost any topic, I would probably be confused by a good drug dealer.
I can close out by making reference to a scene in one of my favorite films, 'ATL.'
In the scene, a young drug dealer is in the car with one of his potential clients. The client is going on and on about why he needs some "good weed," using so many slang terms that the film actually translates the words beneath him like a foreign film. Then, the dealer stops the man in mid-sentence and says:
"I don't understand a DAMN thing you just said! Do you wanna buy some weed or not?"
My point in bringing up this example (other than finding an excuse to discuss one of my favorite films) is to make it clear that while many of the inner-city drug dealers are black, most black people are not drug dealers.
Also, urban black America is different from non-urban black America. So, lumping drug dealer lingo in with Ebonics may be the pot calling all the kettles black. In other words, what the DEA's doing really don't be makin' no damn sense!
Dr. Boyce Watkins is the founder of the Your Black World Coalition and a Scholarship in Action resident of the Institute for Black Public Policy. To have Dr. Boyce's commentary delivered to your e-mail, please click here. 
Comments: (39)
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By: PeteRocks on 8/25/2010 3:11AM
DEA IS ALEADY USING DRUG DEALERS TO HELP THEM WITH WIRE TAPS? BEEN DOING IT FOREVER. THIS STORY IS A WASTE OF TIME.
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By: SOUTHLAW on 8/25/2010 5:55AM
on da cool,doe, shyts not gon fly. the lingo can be changed or created at the drop of a dime by any so-called drug dealer or any body for that matter. I could tell you right now I got ya girl fa da low, git at me, but only if you got 50 cent or better. ya heard. D.E.A=DeMean Elite Association,lol.....jus joking.....I's only kiddin'
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By: ahotmess on 8/25/2010 11:02AM
a mess.. how bout these ppl just go back 2 school, get real jobs and stop causing chaos and destroying their communities..
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By: teddy knight on 8/25/2010 5:23PM
Prison (or gang, or medical, or legal) language is not slang, it is jargon. Sometimes the jargon is for ease of communication, a single word or phrase for a complicated idea, sometimes it is to keep discussions secret from eavesdroppers. Jargon stays consistent over many generations, unlike slang. If it is a jargon used to keep secrets, it will change as terms become known. Thus prisoner jargon becomes gang-banger slang, becomes teenybopper slang, and then the prisoners use new terms and the slang eventually goes out of fashion, after the pundits have commented on it. Even the best translation will be an interpretation, what the translator thinks is being communicated, not necessarily what the speakers are trying to say. What ever happened to sensitivity training, or learning to know your opponent?
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By: Sara on 8/25/2010 8:43PM
If you're going to get an Ebonics translator, why not get one for the school system because the state of our school system is a MAJOR national issue.
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By: Divine on 8/26/2010 1:30AM
Wow! Having been born in America many years ago, I have just learned that ebonics is supposed to be my language. What have I been speaking? I have a good command of the American English language as do all of my friends. I am now retired and have always spoke the language of the majority. So how can my language, according to definition, "vernacular n. The standard native language of a country or locality. The everyday language spoken by a people as distinguished from the literary" be Ebonics? Would Ebonics not be the language of all Americans? With small differences in inflection and tonal quality, I understand and am understood by everyone with whom I come in contact.
Really, now is Ebonics just more of America the Stupid's silly nonsense? I have children and grandchildren and I have never heard any of them speak this language.
I can only assume that this is more racism with the express purpose of insuring that Americans with black skin are never thought of as mainstream.
By the way, why is it I never hear the phrases English American, French American, Norwegian American, German American, Swiss American, Russian American, or any such terms when applied to Americans with pale skin tones? Usually I just hear the word "white" or "caucasian" although most are not of the Caucasus region.
Unfortunately, the use of the term African American is used for racist reasons. Also unfortunate is the fact that most of the people called African American have just as many "caucasians" in their geneology as Africans.
And now I have to address the fact that I have been given a new language. Where can I study the etymology of this new language? When I attended the University of California at Berkeley, Ebonics wasn't being offered. Oh! Etymology is of Greek origin. Does anyone know the ebonic equivalent?
Yes, I am being facetious, but aren't you?
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By: Bitu on 8/26/2010 2:14PM
Ebonics/ slang are interesting ways some people communicate. Today I learnd another meaning of the word slab slab means a car , a vehicle. Webster would argue or roll his eyes if he heard that:)
I find slang entertaining. I would not use slang words if I want to be taken seriously.
Webster= webster dictionary
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By: Divine on 8/26/2010 2:01AM
Correction. Dropped letter.
"am now retired and have always SPOKEN the language of the majority"
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By: Ayashe on 8/26/2010 2:40PM
The prisons are full of people that understand and speak this street language. Ebonics is what my grandmother spoke.
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