text: if your family has been in america speaking english for 200 years, shouldn't you be able to pronounce "the"? some african slaves had trouble forming the english interdental fricative because their languages didn't have the "th" sound.  but after 200 years, isn't it time to learn?  or is it another example of "embracing your culture"?  it pains me to see all these kids on here writing "dis" and "dat" and "da".  i remember a time when black people objected to the novel "huckleberry finn" because of the dialect written exactly that way.  it was said to be racist. yes, and what about the word "ask"??