Too often, as a society, we insult our young people, labeling them as a lost generation. Well here's a young man who has taken leadership in to his 11-year-old hands. Jonathan E. McCoy gave a rousing speech earlier this year to his church in Baltimore about why our community needs to drop the 'N' word. His speech, "A New Petition," called for the discontinuation of that six-letter word, and the slang usage of the word.
"I'm sending a message to everyone who knowingly or ignorantly uses this word to describe our people, whether you're a gangster rapper who uses it to communicate with your boys, or someone who looks down on us who haven't got a college education," said the pint-sized orator. "Whatever the case, it's time to discontinue the use of this word. It is implausible that 40 years after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., we still use this word that holds no worth in our lives nor our future."
According to his Facebook fan page, Jonathan has always been a gifted child. At an early age, he learned about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and was immediately drawn to Dr. King's commitment to justice for all. Jonathan's early desire to effect change, inspired him to use petitioning as a way to call out injustice. His first act of petitioning apparently involved hand washing. While in the second grade, says his Facebook profile, Jonathan asked his fellow classmates to sign a petition that would allow students the choice to opt out of the school's enforced hand sanitizer policy and instead wash their hands with soap and water. When his teacher found out about the petition, she settled the request in the children's favor.
Since presenting a "New Petition" to the 1,500 plus congregants at Empowerment Temple in Baltimore, Jonathan has appeared on Black America Web with Tom Joyner, and spoken at numerous events around the country. Through his relationship with Morehouse College, Jonathan has promoted what is called a "Free Zone" initiative which discourages sagging, cursing, and use of the "N" word.
According to his fan page, Jonathan maintains a high GPA and has been the recipient of a plethora of awards, citations, and acknowledgments for his academic achievements. All of this comes at the encouragement of his parents, who support his talents. However not everyone believes that Jonathan’s efforts are valid especially someone on ‘Youtube who put up a video of Jonathan after one of his recent interviews on CNN that is entitled “A Dumb 11 Year Old.” Thus, it just goes to show even when are youth are making an effort to do something some people still try to tear them down.
In fact, I don’t agree with Jonathan’s efforts completely just like I didn’t agree with the NAACP’s efforts a couple of years ago where they held a funeral and buried the “N”-word right here in my hometown of Detroit, Michigan. Nonetheless, I do believe that Jonathan can perhaps reach a group of young people who don’t think using the n-word is wrong and perhaps show a few of them the error of their ways. Jonathan’s petition drive should be a signal to everyone just how badly that the word really is and how our youth need to be the ones who lead the fight to end its usage completely. So I do encourage all of us but most importantly our youth like Jonathan McCoy to speak to each other about ending the usage of the n-word in all its forms.
I’m not going to tear down Jonathan’s efforts but I do wish that he would work with other youth his age to teach other youth and even some adults just how bad the n-word is because it is clear all other efforts such as having funerals for the word have failed. Now is the time to really discuss the n-word and why it is so bad to use just like we as a nation need to be have real national dialogue about race in general. That is why Jonathan McCoy’s efforts are a step in the right direction because it is time for our youth to lead the way on issues that previous generations have failed to address properly.
Therefore I commend Jonathan’s for his efforts and I wish him. I can tell his parents have raised him well and he will go on to do many good things. I just hope that he doesn’t get discouraged when he finds out many people won’t embrace his efforts with welcome arms which can be seen by the fact they had to disallow the comment page on his Youtube video entitled “A New Petition” where a message describing the video says, “Because of the disrepect of some, (mostly teens and persons under 21) who have used the site for foolishness all post have been disallowed. Thanks to everyone who supports this petition.”
So Jonathan McCoy is yet another youth who is doing something positive with his life and I hope that other youth can become encouraged by this efforts. So to remind everyone, Jonathan first presented his speech before over 1,500 congregants at Empowerment Temple (Dr. Jamal-Harrison Bryant, pastor) in Baltimore, including Maryland Governor, Martin O’Malley. Since then he gave an exclusive rendition for Black America Web (Tom Joyner), presented it before a live radio audience on The Jeffrey Henderson Show, (Los Angeles, CA) and also spoke before conference attendees at both the AME Christian Education Congress (Bishop John R. Bryant, Cecelia H. Bryant-Chicago, IL) and the B.I.G. (Blacks In Government) Conference, (held in Baltimore, MD). He has formed a relationship with faculty, staff and students alike at distinguished Morehouse College and has partnered with student housing personnel to promote relinquishing saggin’, refraining from cursing and pledging discontinued use of the “n” word in what is referred to as the “Free Zone”. Over 800 incoming freshmen gave Jonathan respect and ovation for his appeal to them to embrace the Morehouse College “Free Zone” initiative.
Jonathan Emile McCoy loves to spend time working on songs he and his band Positiv (without an “e”) have written and are soon to produce. He loves swimming, writing and visiting historical places. Jonathan formed a petition to delete the ‘n’ word, (February 2009). Y ou may pledge your support by visiting: www.petitionspot.com/petitions/endthenwordnow/. You may also view Jonathan’s speech at numerous sites including: http://www.empowermenttemple.org follow the link and click on the YouTube icon or at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMyp8y8SkUM. Jonathan has also appeared on CNN LIVE! twice! To view his interviews go to CNN.com/Don Lemons or you may go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WC1-9N4bKck.
From CNN: 11-Year Old Jonathan McCoy Speaks Out Against The "N" Word - 10/03/09
Check out this amazing young man on his thoughts on urging us to stop using the N-word. Let's all join Johnathan McCoy and make a pact to wipe this self-deprecating word out of our vocabularies. Please forward this to your friends!
Source:
11-Year Old Tries To Eliminate The N-word
http://hiphopwired.com/11273/11-year-old-tries-to-eliminate-the-n-word/
Sign the Petition
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMyp8y8SkUM
Very DUMB 11-Year Old Boy Speaks Out Against The "N" Word
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQiBNRGkQ-U
JONATHAN'S PETITION IS SUPPORTED BY www.NationalChildrensDay.us
JONATHAN FEATURED ON Encyclopedia.com Dictionary definition of N-word www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O999-nword.html
J.E.M. SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS & INTERVIEWS.... CONTACT: 770.859.0808
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