African American Vernacular English (AAVE) is a dialect of English spoken by black people in the US that has its own complex syntax, grammar structure, and words specific to the dialect. AAVE speakers are often marginalized on account of racist ideology which places AAVE as an ungrammatical, incorrect, and uneducated way to speak, rather than a distinct dialect with its own grammar and vocabulary.
Despite the repercussions black Americans face for using AAVE, aspects of AAVE are frequently appropriated by non-black people and make their way into popular culture, where it is further appropriated from its source community. In particular, slang words from AAVE, which can often be sourced back to the queer, black ballroom scene, are appropriated into mainstream culture, and non-black people then use AAVE without experiencing the same kind of marginalization that black Americans face when they use their own dialect.