The Manifesto of Ascendancy for the Modern American [N-word]

Esquire, Volume 146, Issue 6 ^ | December 2006 | John Ridley

[the_devils_advocate_666]

For eleven days in 2001, two blacks ran our country. It's their example and their achievement—and not the culture of failure fomented by the leftovers of the Movement—that must set a new agenda for black Americans.

Let me tell you something about [n-word]s, the oppressed minority within our minority. Always down. Always out. Always complaining that they can't catch a break. Notoriously poor about doing for themselves. Constantly in need of a leader but unable to follow in any direction that's navigated by hard work, self-reliance. And though they spliff and drink and procreate their way onto welfare doles and WIC lines, [n-word]s will tell you their state of being is no fault of their own. They are not responsible for their nearly 5 percent incarceration rate and their 9.2 percent unemployment rate. Not responsible for the 11.8 percent rate at which they drop out of high school. For the 69.3 percent of births they create out of wedlock.

Now, let me tell you something about my generation of black Americans. We are the inheritors of "the Deal" forced upon the entrenched white social, political, and legal establishment when my parents' generation won the struggle for civil rights. The Deal: We (blacks) take what is rightfully ours and you (the afore-described establishment) get citizens who will invest the same energy and dedication into raising families and working hard and being all around good people as was invested in snapping the neck of Jim Crow.

In the forty years since the Deal was brokered, since the Voting Rights Act was signed, there have been successes for blacks. But there are still too many blacks in prison, too many kids aggrandizing the thug life, and way too many African-Americans doing far too little with the opportunities others earned

[the_devils_advocate_666]

John Ridley is a prominent African-American director, actor and writer. This was a featured piece he did for the December issue of Esquire magazine. And you think Bill Cosby got some flack for the things he said...

[YoungSoutherner]

I was just reading a blackenterprise.com article in which they asked can marriage stem African American poverty and should the government fund programs that promote marriage in the black community. But I was reading the comments after casting my vote. The following is a comment that someone posted that I agreed with completely:

No!
Why should the government provide funding to promote marriage for us or anybody else? Marriage is a forever will be a moral obligation between a man and woman to build generational legacies of wealth, moral responsibility, educational, and community development. We have for too long depended on the government to save our communities and their methods does not work. Program after program, incentive after incentive and what have we created? A society of systematic JUNKIES. FENNIN for the next BIG governmental high. And for what? More poverty? More disease? Things that we as people at one time fought so hard to get through.


Also here is the link to the original article from blackenterprise.com
http://www.blackenterprise.com/exclusivesekopen.asp?id=2148

[Hawthorn]

A good essay, in substance.

But it's been poorly proofread (if at all!):

For example, what's with the "Hanna" reference? Guess the author means "Hainan," which is the Chinese island/province where the U.S. air crew were held hostage.

And there are other annoying typos or mispellings in the article. How does such a sloppily edited piece get published?

[the_devils_advocate_666]

It is Esquire magazine, not the National Review

[TheKidster]

I absolutely love this article. I wish I could make my dad see what the author is showing us. The treatment Condi and Powell got from the community was atrocious and self destructive, and I'll never understand why some of us heap such scorn on black folks who succeed just because they aren't socialists.
Thanks for posting this, best Freep I've seen in the few months I've been here.

[Rameumptom]

[n-word]s ??? The word formerly known as N.

[the_devils_advocate_666]

I tried posting the article without replacing the offensive word, but the mods pulled it for, well, offensive language.

[Rameumptom]

I grew up in a large city and went to a public school with 95% African Americans. I was one of the few whites at school. In my entire life I have rarely heard the N-word used by Whites it's mostly African Americans. I don't advocate use of the word "formerly known as N" but if we are going to start censoring speech why not censor Peckerwood and Honkey as well.

From Wiki: Peckerwood (or simply Wood) is a pejorative slang term coined in the 19th century by southern blacks to describe poor whites.

Honky: Black workers in Chicago meat-packing plants picked up the term from white workers and began applying it indiscriminately to all Caucasians. Honky, was later adopted as a pejorative meaning white, in 1967 by black militants

I think I'll sue Jesse Jackson. Of course, I could be bought off with reperations for the discrimination I experienced and my feelings being hurt when people called me names. /sarc

[satan]

Great screen name!