The Collective Irresponsibility of African Americans: Bill Cosby Raised the Issue, Joseph Jett Wrote the Book!
As America celebrates Independence Day, Black men are at last speaking out boldly against the culture of dependency that afflicts African Americans. Bill Cosby has faced sharp criticism and rebuke for airing the "dirty laundry" of African Americans. Author Joseph Jett's new book, Broken Bonds, is a repudiation of African Americanism. Jett, a Black man, calls for the return of Black Pride, as only through pride can the culture of dependency be broken and intellectual and economic freedom be won.
(PRWEB) July 6, 2004 -- No longer can it be denied that the battle has been
joined on the future of Black culture. As America celebrates its independence,
the Black man enters a new era of struggle to free himself from a culture of
dependency and self-hatred. Bill Cosby created a storm of controversy when he
openly criticized the madness that is universally accepted as African American
culture. Mr. Cosby drew criticism and rebuke from those the news media has
declared the influential leaders of the Black race.
Mr. Cosby charged
blacks with parental failures that have led to high drop out rates amongst black
students, crimes and other social ills in the black community.
"Ladies
and gentlemen," said Mr. Cosby at the Constitution Hall event, "the lower
economic people are not holding up their end in this deal. These people are not
parenting. They are buying things for kids $500 sneakers for what? And won't
spend $200 for 'Hooked on Phonics.'
He added: "They're standing on the
corner and they can't speak English. I can't even talk the way these people
talk: 'Why you ain't,' 'Where you is' ... And I blamed the kid until I heard the
mother talk. And then I heard the father talk... Everybody knows it's important
to speak English except these knuckleheads. ... You can't be a doctor with that
kind of crap coming out of your mouth!"
For a Black man to speak the
truth about the self-inflicted ills of the African American is to risk ostracism
and opprobrium from the community. Few have the courage to face these risks, but
a truth left silent becomes a poison. Mr. Cosby courageously raised these issues
before the national media. Author Joseph Jett, who successfully faced down a
multimedia character assassination by General Electric, not only raises the
issues but wrote the book. Nowhere is the coming conflict over Black culture
given life as in Jett’s controversial work, Broken Bonds.
At the Harlem
launch of Broken Bonds, an event sponsored by the Black Panther Party, Jett
declared to a cheering audience in the Oberia Dempsey Auditiorium, “I am a Black
man, not an African American. The African American represents nothing more than
the economic and intellectual re-enslavement of the Black man. The bonds of
slavery must be broken. I have come bearing strife. I have come to bring a
sword.”
In Broken Bonds, two-time MIT graduate and Harvard MBA Jett
contends, “We remain a dependent people because we have never come to grips with
the underlying culture of slavery that poisons so many aspects of African
American life. Our leadership, this hegemony of Negro priest-kings that the
media says speaks for all African Americans, has failed us. Their political and
economic strategy of corporate shakedowns, “white guilt” handouts and dependency
may have lined their pockets with gold, but it has come at a devastating cost to
Black people. The herd animal mentality has made the Negro priest-kings
unassailable in their power. The African American shouts down as racist any
approach of reason; and denounces as Uncle Toms any Black man who dares exercise
his intellect and question the legitimacy of the priest-kings
reign.”
Jett states, “Adolescent African American males make up 1.1% of
the population but commit 30% of all homicides. Meanwhile, our children grab
their crotches and frantically wave their arms in the air. Today, 84% of
heterosexual HIV/AIDS cases are African Americans although we make up only 11%
of the population. Meanwhile, our children plate their teeth with gold, adorn
themselves with Bling Bling, and sing of bitches and whores. Today, 55% of
African American males are in prison or on probation. Meanwhile, I am asked
almost daily to give money for yet another basketball court or “Mamma, I wanna
sing” studio. We have recreated in our children the minstrel of old. The
minstrelsy of our children is a dream come true for those racists who wish us
ill. The image of a race victimized by crime, devastated by AIDS, unwilling to
compete academically, and whose focus is on being entertainers hearkens morbidly
back to the white man’s most frequent justification for slavery: the happy
slave. Is this African American culture or the remnants of a slave culture that
deserves not preservation but a heel placed firmly upon its neck? My children,
what the hell do we have to sing about?”
Jett argues, “We are free men.
We must take on the responsibility and discipline of free men. To merely enter
our children into the fat chance lottery of being a hip-hop or basketball star
is an act of neither love nor responsibility. The equation that our children
face is simple: Every moment spent practicing rap lyrics or throwing a ball at a
hoop is a moment of dwindling academic achievement. We must summon the courage
to challenge the strategies of the priest-kings who have stood truth merrily on
its head. We must raise standards, not lower them. A muscle becomes stronger
only when challenged to do more. The Negro priest-kings must be told, “God doth
exact day labour, white denied.” In Broken Bonds, the lightning bolt of Black
intellectual freedom flashes. Listen to the thunder.
Broken Bonds can be
ordered online at www.brokenbonds.com. Or write to Cambridge Matrix
Publications, 61 Fourth Avenue, Suite 299, New York, NY 10003. The price is
$34.95 plus $3.85 shipping/handling. A nationwide author tour is scheduled to
begin in early June 2004. The title has been allocated a generous advertising
budget. Hollywood producing luminaries Wendy Finerman (Forrest Gump, Stepmom,
The Fan), Spike Lee (Malcolm X, Do the Right Thing, She's Gotta Have It), and
Patrick McCormick (Peter Pan, Boys on the Side, Donnie Brasco) have all
expressed interest in Jett's story.
About the Author: Joseph Jett is no
stranger to fame. He is named in over 667 books. His early career at General
Electric’s Kidder Peabody investment bank is taught across the globe in the
world’s top business schools. A hedge fund manager and speaker, Jett is a
frequent television commentator on the financial markets and issues of
African-American culture. He has appeared on Sixty Minutes, The Today Show, Good
Morning America, Your World w/ Neil Cavuto, MoneyLine w/ Lou Dobbs, A&E’s
Biography, and At Large w/Geraldo Rivera to mention just a few. Jett starred in
the BBC production, Blood on the Carpet, and was portrayed by actor Courtney
Vance in the Law and Order episode, “Rage”. The Financial Times said of him: But
above all he appears to have remarkable strength of will. It is not that a
lesser man would have been crushed by his experience; most normal people
probably would not have survived at all.
Book
Statistics
Title:
Broken Bonds
Subtitle: My Immoderate Life of Love,
Passion, War on Affirmative Action and Jack Welch’s
GE
Author: Joseph Jett
ISBN:
0-9708101-3-X
Category:
Business/African-American/Biography
Length:
336 pages
Retail
Price: $34.95
Trim Size: 6” x 9”
Binding: Hardcover
Backmatter:
Index
Distributed by: Baker & Taylor / Quality
Books
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Source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2004/7/prweb139151.htm