Messin' wif Language

schoolyard of a public school in New York City. (When the curtain rises, the third-grade teacher walks toward her class line. As the teacher nears her class, John, one of two Black children in a class of twenty-seven white children, steps out of line to speak to the teacher.) JOHN (angrily pointing to another child in the line): Teacher, he messin' wif me. Ms. SHAFER: Messin'? What are you talking about? Get back in line.