It's become a cool language trend where everyone wants to drop savage or lit to sound hip.

While it may seem harmless on the surface, it actually perpetuates cultural appropriation

and erases the history behind African-American vernacular English.

This is Two Minute Black History, what you didn't learn in school.

We all know them by heart because we grew up hearing the same refrains repeatedly, i.J.T.I.F.H.

or I.K.Y.F.L. are prime examples of blackrenisms that we can recognize on a dime without effort.

These codes are part of a more extensive form of black communication.

What white people call slang ebonyx or belittle as ghetto unintelligent language was born from

learned dialects surrounding the enslaved.

It allowed our ancestors to communicate with each other without the prying ears of their

colonizing enslaver.

Today, sayings like stay woke are ways of keeping each other on alert and being vigilant against violence

from racist white supremacists.

Ridicule and persecution force us to assimilate the language of our oppressors at least for a time.

We flaunt our language with such charisma and finesse that the mainstream has co-opted our words.

Woke has become a dog whistle for the far right.

Words like finna and cap have been bastardized by popular culture.

It's cool for everyone else to try to sound black, but somehow we're still look down on for the language that we created.

Mainstream media has co-opted our unique way of speaking and communication without basis or understanding.

Still, we will continue to stand out and create new ways of communicating with each other

without conforming to other's standards.

In order to move towards the future, you've got to look to the past.

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