The Black Commentator - The “New Black American” On The Prosperity Train

Great news! Systemic and institutional racism is dead! And given it is the end of Black History month, this revelation is right on time. At least that’s what I gleaned from John Ridley’s recent article; The Manifesto of Ascendancy for the Modern American "N’"in Esquire Magazine. Apparently, it’s been over for a while but as I am a bit behind in my reading, I just learned of it while reading the December issue.

Lots of folks (especially whites) will be quite relieved to know the pressure is off. All that guilt and discomfort tends to weigh heavily on innocent shoulders. I mean, haven’t we white people endured enough? It’s been tough on us and as African American Ridley points out, with black folks not taking responsibility for their 9.2 percent unemployment rate and the 11.8 percent High School drop out rate, not to mention the 69.3 percent of births created out of wedlock, well, it’s hard not to feel resentful.

After counting the “N” word seven times in the first page of Ridley’s article, I gave up keeping track of the invective. Interestingly enough, the article could have been written by any number of folks - especially those with talk shows on Clear Channel or perhaps Fox television, who readily agree with Mr. Ridley’s assertions that America’s "black underclass" has squandered equal opportunities afforded them and has instead "chosen" welfare, prison, out of wedlock births and outright decrepitude.

Yes, those notoriously poor, “oppressed minority within our minority” are merely complainers who whine that they “can’t catch a break” and are constantly in need of a leader, but then refuse to follow any direction that’s navigated by hard work and self-reliance. And “these ‘n’s will tell you their state of being is no fault of their own”. Yes, that’s what he said.

What’s most interesting about Mr. Ridley’s manifesto is that he has adopted and embraced a position and tone that will surely win favor on the airwaves and further his already burgeoning career as someone who is ‘clear headed’ because of his willingness to declare the truth about his people. In other words, he will be richly rewarded for outing his brothers and sisters who have failed miserably to elevate themselves simply because they are lazy, pathetic and in search of a hand out. Admittedly, that might just be the kind of clear-headed analysis being sought-after these days by those holding the executive washroom keys at Clear Channel, hoping to capitalize on Black-on-Black criticism.

Equally interesting is that much of Mr. Ridley’s proof positive cites Condoleezza Rice - and yes, you guessed it, Colin Powell - as evidence that the “new Black American” has arrived and to those who don’t get on the prosperity train, Mr. Ridley claims it’s time for ascended blacks to "wish 'n's good luck".

After spending several paragraphs waxing eloquent about Condoleezza Rice’s intelligence and qualifications, he then brings it home, by offering her praises for being a “Russia expert” and berates Black America for not singing hosannas of appreciation for her accomplishments. Sound familiar? I believe it was less than a month ago, Joseph Biden held up Barack Obama to the light, commending him for being "articulate" and "clean".

He then chastises the predictable "n"s, who immediately abandoned “Colin” when he chose to join the republican right, belittling their confusion over how a “self-respecting black man (would) want to run from the Liberal Plantation?” Offering proof they are mistaken, he clarifies that Powell is a “self-made modern American hero who openly espoused the value of affirmative action" and instead extolling his virtues, the “Old-schoolers tagged Powell with the usual left-wing racist jabber and called him a ‘sell-out’".

Perhaps Mr. Ridley was attending a republican fundraiser during the World Conference Against Racism in Summer 2001, when Colin Powell and other members of the Bush Administration refused to participate in the conference. (Just for clarification, that was the “World” conference against racism, not the “Topeka” conference or the “Bejing” conference.) Perhaps those confused and ungrateful “blacktivists”, who were unwilling to scrape and bow to Mr. Powell for openly espousing the values of affirmative action, found his capitulation unforgivable. After all, the United State’s silence and refusal to participate in a global dialog about systemic oppression screamed volumes. Oh those left-wing racist jabberers!

Throughout much of the piece, Mr. Ridley refers to Rice as either “Condi”or “Dr. Condi” and Mr. Powell as “Colin” and yet, when he refers to Dick Chaney and Donald Rumsfeld, he identifies them not as “Donnie and Dick” but as "Chaney and Rumsfeld". Perhaps a hangover from slavery? Who knows?

Ridley goes on to say, “How ironic that while the Left attempted to subjugate Powell with the bull whip of liberal racism, Bush, who later would be accused by Kanye West of hating blacks, somehow managed to see in Powell a sovereign black man".

Correct me if I’m wrong, but what Kanye West or (‘Kani’ if you prefer) said was that George Bush doesn’t care about Black people. This was not an accusation as much as an observation of Bush Administration policies and/or programs that have been slashed over the last several years - programs which significantly affect people of color.

As to the laundry list Ridley proffers of unspeakable crimes committed by blacks - which is supposedly meant to demonstrate irresponsibility, criminality and just plain "bad choices" - we are left shaking our heads in bewilderment as to how it is these people just can’t get it together.

Again, his proof of "black ascendancy" is the accomplishments of ‘Colin’, ‘Condi’, although he neglects to mention (by first name) the accomplishments of ‘Oprah’, ‘Denzel’, ‘Whoopie’, ‘Jamie’, ‘Morgan’ and ‘Hallie’ as examples that prove once and for all that those poor black people, who don’t excel and succeed, can’t be bothered to hoist themselves up with the those bootstraps well within their reach.

Well done, Mr. Ridley, for shining a well aimed spotlight on the"‘real" problem—the lazy and the shiftless. Many in Washington will be inspired by your words and perhaps even feel further empowered to eradicate even more programs geared towards enabling the "n"s, and “send them on their way” - once and for all.

Happy Black History month!

BC Columnist Molly Secours is a Nashville writer/filmmaker/speaker host of her Beneath The Spinon radio program at 88.1 WFSK at Fisk. Her websites are mollysecours.com and myspace.com/mollysecours. Click here to contact Ms. Secours.