Lindeeana Jones

It's rude. You're making someone take their time to read something you couldn't bother to write. You're telling them they were so unimportant you couldn't be bothered to actually take the time to say something yourself. And frankly, you're lying about it while you're at it.

i get so irritated with the nephites, and it disturbs my spirit to read what some of them have written about the lamanite people. and i don't believe their point of view sometimes.

i think the book of mormon ultimately condemns the nephites' sinful behavior, but that is a message i think many people miss.

i have a soft spot for zoram and the zoramites as well. zoram didn't ask to be involved in all that, and didn't have a real choice about going with nephi and his family (he was coerced on threatof death). the zoramites have a right to be upset about it. my people were brought to the americas against our will as well, and i just feel the zoramites justifiable anger deeply. and while their way of worship needs correction, it feels like a "White people stepping in to save Black folks from their ignorance" narrative (which is a racist white savior narrative). i'm not sure i believe how the nephites presented zoram's point of view and the zoramites either.

since the BoM is written from a nephite point of view, i think it contains the prejudices that the nephites have. i guess i'm "nephite critical," but i think that's okay.

They even had the audacity to screenshot their own email, so I've screenshot their most recent email in the same email thread that counters that other email, and now I'm trying to find a professional way to say, "this you?"

I just finished Second-Class Saints by Matthew L. Harris. It was an incredible read that should be required for every member of the Church.

I don't talk about this much, but I'm a mixed race person who would've been impacted by the racial priesthood ban. Like many who lived under that restriction in countries all over the world, I didn't find out until I was an adult and had been a member of the Church for almost a decade. And I had to contemplate for the first time in my life what it would've been like to live under the racist segregation of the Church. My patriarchal blessing would've contained racist, segregationist elements whose entire purpose was to facilitate my abuse in the Church. I never would've been allowed to serve my mission in Brazil. I never would've been allowed to enter the temple for my own endowments. I never would've been allowed to be sealed to my husband. Every good thing I have in my life that is so central to my happiness wouldn't BE there. It was a devastating reality to contemplate.

I knew that going into this book, but it goes so much deeper than even I knew.

I wouldn't have been allowed to enter BYU. I wouldn't have so many of the amazing friends I have from there. There are people reading this right now who never would've met me because the circumstances under which we met were not allowed to exist. Church leadership was so afraid of mixed race people like me, they never would've let me into BYU, for fear I would taint some white man's future children. They called me and people like me "mongrels." There are buildings on that campus named after the men who said that about us. And for so many white members of the Church, these realities are in the air they breathe without ever realizing it or having to think about at all.

Gullah & Early AAVE

Gumbo – From Bantu kingombo (okra), brought by enslaved Africans and became the name of the Creole stew thickened with okra.

Goober – From Kikongo nguba, the Bantu word for peanut that entered American English via enslaved Africans.

Yam – From West African languages (e.g., Wolof nyami, "to eat"), brought over during the slave trade and adopted into Southern cuisine.

Banjo – From a Bantu root (mbanza), the instrument was crafted by enslaved Africans based on West African string instruments.

Bogus – Likely from Hausa boko-boko (deceitful, fraudulent), entering American English through African American speech in the 19th century.

Juke (box/joint) – From Gullah juke (rowdy, disorderly), derived from Wolof dzug (to live wickedly), later attached to roadside bars.

Tote (to carry) – From West African languages (e.g., Kikongo tota, "to pick up"), recorded in Gullah before spreading to mainstream English.

Dig (to understand) – From Wolof degg (to understand), popularized by jazz musicians in the 1930s after entering English through AAVE.

Jazz – Possibly from West African or Creole slang for energy/sex, first documented in AAVE in Chicago around 1912.

Okay (OK) – Though its origin is debated, strong evidence traces it to West African languages (e.g., Wolof waw kay) via enslaved Gullah speakers.

Hip/Hep – From Wolof hipi (to open one's eyes, to be aware), entering jazz slang in the early 1900s before going mainstream.

Hepcat – A compound of "hep" + "cat" (jazz slang for a person), literally meaning "one who has his eyes open" in West African-influenced jazz culture.

Jazz, Blues & 1940s–60s Era

Cool (as in fashionable/calm) – Originated in jazz circles, likely from saxophonist Lester Young, and entered mainstream via West African aesthetic concepts of composure.

Cat – A jazz-era term for a skilled musician or cool person, derived from West African-influenced jive talk.

Crib – Jazz slang for a house or apartment, popularized in the 1940s before becoming mainstream in the 1990s.

Hokum – AAVE slang for nonsense or BS, used in blues and jazz before being adopted more widely.

Diss – Short for "disrespect," coined in AAVE and popularized through hip-hop in the 1980s and 1990s.

Bad (meaning good) – From AAVE, where inversion of meaning creates emphasis (something so "bad" it's actually good), used since early jazz era.

Jive – AAVE slang for deceptive talk or a style of jazz dancing, used by Cab Calloway in his 1930s Hepster Dictionary.

1970s–90s (Hip-Hop & Pre-Internet Era)

Homeboy/Homegirl – AAVE for a close friend from one's neighborhood, popularized in hip-hop and later shortened to "homes" in casual speech.

Dope (meaning great) – Shifted from "stupid" in standard English to "excellent" in AAVE during the 1980s hip-hop era.

Props – Short for "proper respects" in AAVE, used in hip-hop to acknowledge skill or achievement before entering mainstream slang.

Word (as in "I agree") – AAVE interjection ("Word!" or "Word is bond") meaning "I'm telling the truth," derived from Nation of Islam teachings.

Phat (meaning cool/great) – AAVE acronym believed to stand for "Pretty Hot And Tempting," though likely an invented backronym; popularized in 90s hip-hop.

The Bomb – AAVE phrase for something excellent or top-quality, widely used in hip-hop lyrics before mainstream adoption.

Def – AAVE slang for "excellent," popularized by Run-DMC's "King of Rock" and 80s hip-hop culture.

Fresh – AAVE for stylish or excellent, used in early hip-hop and 80s pop culture before spreading globally.

Wack – AAVE for "bad, inferior, uncool," popularized in hip-hop and later mainstream youth speech as the opposite of "cool."

Hella – AAVE intensifier meaning "very" or "a lot of," originating in Oakland/Bay Area AAVE in the 1970s-80s.

Cap / No Cap – AAVE meaning "lie" and "no lie," popularized by Bay Area rap in the 2010s, derived from "capping" (exaggerating).

1990s–2000s (Internet Adoption & Ballroom Culture)

Slay – From AAVE and Black ballroom culture (Paris is Burning, 1990), meaning to do something extremely well, now mainstream via social media.

Spill the Tea – From AAVE (originally "spill the T," with "T" meaning truth), popularized by drag culture and Black queer communities.

Shade (as in insult) – From Black ballroom culture (documented in Paris is Burning), meaning a subtle insult, now used broadly in pop culture.

Reading (as in insulting) – From ballroom culture ("reading" someone), meaning to publicly insult with wit, immortalized in Paris is Burning.

Kiki – AAVE from ballroom culture meaning a casual gathering for gossip or chatting, later mainstreamed through pop music (e.g., Kesha).

Fierce – AAVE and ballroom term meaning exceptionally good or intense, applied to fashion, performance, or attitude.

Woke – From AAVE meaning socially and politically aware, first used in 1940s Black activism before resurging with Black Lives Matter.

Shook – AAVE meaning startled or upset, used in 1990s New York hip-hop (e.g., Mobb Deep) before mainstream adoption in the 2010s.

On Fleek – AAVE phrase meaning perfectly executed, coined in a 2014 Vine by Peaches Monroee, one of the last pre-AI viral AAVE innovations.

Finna – From AAVE contraction of "fixing to" (preparing to), documented in Southern AAVE for decades before wider use and dictionary recognition.

Chile – A phonetic spelling of "child" in Southern AAVE, used as a term of endearment or exclamation since at least the 1970s (The Wiz, 1978).

2010s–Present (Social Media & Gen Z Slang Pipeline)

Lit – AAVE meaning exciting or excellent (originally "intoxicated" or "on fire"), popularized in hip-hop before becoming a Gen Z staple.

Bae – AAVE term of endearment meaning "before anyone else" or just a shortened form of "babe/baby," mainstreamed in the 2010s.

Ratchet – AAVE originally meaning a rowdy, aggressive woman (from "wretched"), later used to describe anything wild or out of control.

Turnt – AAVE meaning excited or intoxicated, from "turned up" in hip-hop lyrics, mainstreamed in early 2010s party slang.

Clap Back – AAVE for a sharp, witty comeback or retaliation, popularized in hip-hop (e.g., Ja Rule's 2003 song "Clap Back") before internet slang.

Bussin' – AAVE meaning delicious or excellent, applied to food or anything great, popularized on TikTok in the 2020s.

Sus – AAVE shortening of "suspicious" or "shady," used for decades before Among Us made it a global meme in 2020.

Snatched – AAVE originally describing flawless hair/makeup or a tight waist, now used to praise anything perfectly executed.

Periodt – AAVE emphatic form of "period" (meaning "end of discussion"), with a hard "t" for emphasis, popularized on Black Twitter before global use.

I will add my fave AAVE word, and sorry if I go hard into the history but I love love LOVE the word:

Viper - early Jazz era slang (1920s) from Harlem for what we'd call a stoner today. So called because of the hissing noise made by someone toking on a reefer (both words also AAVE!). I really want this one to come back, honestly. Immortalized by a song by Stuff Smith called If You're A Viper, which was also performed by Fats Waller--and, later, by the Broadway Legend André De Shields in the musical Ain't Misbehavin', including some of Waller's v-disc lines that puckishly dug at the first head of the narcs saying he was gonna go after "drug-smoking musicians": 'It's four o'clock in the morning out here in Harlem. Everyone's here except the police; and they'll be here any minute.'

There were other songs--Fats Waller's Viper's Drag, and Sidney Bechet's Viper Mad and Fletcher Allen's Viper's Dream to name a few. These "vipers" were the first targets of the War on Drugs, and I like to point that out. The War on Drugs has always, always been about racism--and in the US, antiblackness specifically.

Anyway.