Bill Cosby to Blacks: Stop Blaming 'The White Man'

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July 2nd, 2004, 09:17 AM
travelinman

Bill Cosby to Blacks: Stop Blaming 'The White Man'
By Marc Morano
CNSNews.com Senior Staff Writer
July 02, 2004

Chicago (CNSNews.com) - Bill Cosby pleaded with blacks to stop blaming the "white man" for their problems on Thursday, and he reiterated his harsh critique of the current state of African-American culture.

"It is almost analgesic to talk about what the white man is doing against us, and it keeps a person frozen in their seat. It keeps you frozen in your hole that you are sitting in to point up and say, 'That's the reason why I am here.' We need to stop this," Cosby said in an address before Jesse Jackson's 33rd Annual Rainbow/PUSH Coalition conference in Chicago.

The 66-year-old Cosby struck an introspective tone. "There is a time, ladies and gentlemen, when we have to turn the mirror around," he told the crowd of 500 people at the Sheraton hotel.

Cosby bristled at any notion that he should tone down his views so they will not be taken out of context and exploited.

"I couldn't care less about what white people think about me at this time," he said to loud applause.

"Let them talk! What are they saying that is different from what their grandfather said? What are they doing or trying to do us that their grandfathers didn't try to do to us? But what is different is what we are doing to ourselves," Cosby said.

The entertainer has been at the center of a racially charged controversy since May when he ridiculed the poor grammar of some blacks. "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," Cosby said in Washington, D.C. on May 17, at an event marking the anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education desegregation ruling.

On Thursday, Cosby urged blacks to take personal responsibility for their lives, and he hinted that social welfare programs may be having unintended consequences for African-Americans.

"The housing project was set up for you to move in, move up, and move out," he said.

Being poor had a different meaning to older generations, according to Cosby.

"If you go up to people -- when you ask them and you say, 'Were you poor?' they would say, 'No, no, our parents were broke, but we were not poor.' There was a spirit in that house," he explained.

His message to black people who say he's exposing the "dirty laundry" of the black community was blunt.

"Let me tell you something, your dirty laundry gets out of school at 2:30 every day. It's cursing and calling each other 'nigger' as they're walk up and down the street. They think they hip -- can't read, can't write-50 percent of them," he said.

http://www.cnsnews.com//ViewSpecialR...20040702a.html
July 2nd, 2004, 11:10 AM
reason

I didn't particularly care about the part where he asked what are white people doing any differently than what their grandparents did.

This is a different world today. Not a fair comparison between now at 50 years ago.
July 2nd, 2004, 11:46 AM
LanDroid

Yep, good advice.
July 2nd, 2004, 12:10 PM
travelinman

Quote:

Originally posted by LanDroid:
Yep, good advice.

Well smack me silly... we agree.
July 2nd, 2004, 12:22 PM
jumper69

It's about time someone called it like it really is. [img]graemlins/whatever.gif[/img]

Props to Cosby!
July 2nd, 2004, 12:28 PM
reason

The question is, who is listening?

Certainly not the gang hanging out at Chase and Kirby!
July 2nd, 2004, 07:29 PM
gae

Quote:

Originally posted by reason:
The question is, who is listening?

Certainly not the gang hanging out at Chase and Kirby!

They can't listen, reason. They're POOR!! They don't have TV or radio or internet! And they certainly don't have the $0.35 to buy a newspaper.

If you cared at all, you'd help those disadvantaged youths.
July 2nd, 2004, 08:03 PM
reason

Quote:

Originally posted by gae:
<blockquote>quote:<hr />Originally posted by reason:
The question is, who is listening?

Certainly not the gang hanging out at Chase and Kirby!

... $0.35 to buy a newspaper.

If you cared at all, you'd help those disadvantaged youths.<hr /></blockquote>Ummm...apparently you haven't purchase a newspaper yourself for some time...have you!
July 2nd, 2004, 08:08 PM
gae

Nope. We don't have a bird, or cage. No reason to buy a paper, unless of course you'd like to give us access to your organic fish pond. THEN, I could use newspaper to wrap the fish.
July 2nd, 2004, 08:26 PM
reason

Quote:

Originally posted by gae:
Nope. We don't have a bird, or cage. No reason to buy a paper, unless of course you'd like to give us access to your organic fish pond. THEN, I could use newspaper to wrap the fish.

My organic fish are for viewing purposes only.

After spending a lot of money on pee pads for my dogs, I inadvertantly found that problem dog much prefers the daily Enquirer. The Enquirer is much better for dog pissing that the expensive pads.

While not as absorbent, Cougar (my dog) is less likely to bunch the newspaper into a ball and kick it across the floor. With the Enquirer, he just squats and leaves.

Thank you Enquirer! You're a life saver!
July 2nd, 2004, 08:31 PM
gae

I'm glad the local rag is good for something. [img]smile.gif[/img]
July 3rd, 2004, 11:49 AM
cincygreg

Wasnt Cosby one of the performers who participated in the boycott of Cincinnati?

Too bad, it sounds as if a speech like that might have gone over well here and done some good.
July 3rd, 2004, 05:10 PM
Piña

Debate Continues as Cosby Again Criticizes Black Youths

By Hamil R. Harris and Paul Farhi
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, July 3, 2004; Page A01

As Dr. Cliff Huxtable, TV's quintessential sitcom dad, Bill Cosby offered gentle, homespun advice to his young family each week. But in real life, Cosby lately has been delivering a much harsher message: African Americans, particularly the young, have only themselves to blame for a variety of social ills.

For the second time in six weeks, Cosby attracted wide media attention with public criticism of black youngsters. Cosby was cheered on Thursday when he told a group of black activists in Chicago that young African Americans are the "dirty laundry" that many would prefer he not criticize despite their poor grammar, foul language and rude manners.

"Let me tell you something," Cosby, one of America's most admired men, told the group. "Your dirty laundry gets out of school at 2:30 every day, it's cursing and calling each other [the N-word] as they're walking up and down the street. They think they're hip. They can't read. They can't write. They're laughing and giggling, and they're going nowhere."

Cosby's comments, made during an appearance at the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition's annual conference, ratcheted up a soul-searching debate among African Americans that began in mid-May when Cosby leveled similar criticism at blacks during an appearance in Washington. Those comments -- criticizing "the lower economic people" -- gained attention because it is rare for a celebrity of Cosby's stature to level such unblinking criticism of class and race. The discussion has been ricocheting around black radio talk shows and in newspaper and online columns since.

Several African American leaders said yesterday they mostly agreed with Cosby's message of personal responsibility, but opinion was more volatile among the young people at whom Cosby leveled his comments.

"It's the same thing I've been saying since 1976," said Jesse L. Jackson, the president of the Rainbow/PUSH group, who was at Cosby's side on Thursday. He criticized rap-music artists who liberally use derogatory terms for blacks and women, as well as black and white listeners who blithely repeat the words. "It's unacceptable," Jackson said.

Al Sharpton, who met with Cosby two weeks ago, said he had a "mixed reaction" to the actor-comedian's comments. "I agree that we have to do something about the internal contradiction of our community," said Sharpton, who ran against Sen. John F. Kerry (Mass.), the presumptive Democratic nominee, in the presidential primaries. "But we also must be careful not to relieve the general community of what they've done to our community."

Cosby, 66, seemed to disagree in his remarks on Thursday, saying that blacks cannot simply blame whites for problems such as high rates of teen pregnancy and school dropout. "For me there is a time . . . when we have to turn the mirror around," he said. "Because for me it's almost analgesic to talk about what the white man is doing against us. And it keeps a person frozen in their seat. It keeps you frozen in your hole you're sitting in."

In an interview yesterday, Cosby said he is speaking out because dropout, illiteracy and teen pregnancy rates are at "epidemic" levels among less-affluent African Americans. "You can't get me to soften my message," he said. "If I had said [it] nicely, then people wouldn't have listened."

His remarks at DAR Constitution Hall in May, Cosby said in another interview recently, came after riding in a cab in the District and hearing Police Chief Charles H. Ramsey speaking on the radio about the need for parents to take responsibility for their children.

Lisa Locke, 21, a 2003 graduate of Drexel University who was raised by a single mother in Southeast Washington, reflected some of the uneasiness that has characterized the reaction to Cosby since he made his original comments. "The conditions that Bill Cosby speaks about are brutal, and the solution has to be forceful," Locke said, "but the issue I have with Cosby is with him generalizing."

Working out at midmorning at a club in Greenbelt yesterday, Kevin Hankton, a 39-year-old federal worker from Upper Marlboro, said he thought Cosby was well intentioned but would do more harm than good. "I worked hard to pull myself up by the bootstraps . . . but a lot of our people are still in the trenches trying to make it," he said. Cosby "needs to get off his soapbox and get back to his TV shows. When he was Dr. Huxtable on 'The Cosby Show,' he was the role model that motivated me. He needs to get back to those positive messages."

Hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons praised Cosby as "a great American" but said that "pointing the finger may not be helpful -- we still have more struggle as a society and more work to do" to reform it. He rejected the notion that hip-hop music has had a coarsening effect, saying it "is the soundtrack that reflects the struggle" of young people today.

Cosby may be oversimplifying a problem that defies easy solution, said Mario Beatty, a history professor at Bowie State University. "We have to confront these social problems, but the solution is not as simple as having someone change their behavior," he said. ". . . One has to clearly understand the causes of the problem."

Yet the Rev. James E. Sturdivant, pastor of Faith United Ministry on Capitol Hill, noted with satisfaction that Cosby and Jackson are speaking out about family and personal responsibility after both men faced personal scandals, admitting in recent years that they fathered children outside of their marriages. Sturdivant said, "The book of Ezekiel talks about a man not understanding what another is going through until they have experienced that same trial."

Staff writer Darryl Fears contributed to this report.

Source: Washington Post
July 6th, 2004, 02:31 AM
Lew

I'm afraid Cosby is right, and I understand that many in the "black community" (whatever that is, speaking of generalizations) don't like it, but too bad.

Some time back, A friend of mine married a Cambodian woman who had children from a previous husband who was also Cambodian. I'd ask him if the white kids in school gave them a hard time, since they were small, dark-skinned, spoke ok English, etc. and I was surprised to learn that it was the black kids who gave them the hard time.

In time, it all kind of made sense. There are some in the "black community" who basically believe that, but for evil whitey, black kids would all have 4.0 averages. Therefore, it's acceptable for black kids to fail in school at the rate they do, because the Man is keepin' 'em down.

Problem is, if that were true, then it would be true for all minorities, not just blacks. Why would whitey let other minorites grab a piece of the pie?

My friend's kids did outstanding in school. And they, being Cambodian, were much more the "minority" than the black kids. Whitey should have pushed them into the ground like a tent stake.

So, from certain perspectives, it doesn't look good for a Cambodian (or any minority, for that matter) to do good in school, not get in trouble, be involved, etc. Because the more that happens, the more that old excuse about the man keepin' us down seems to not hold up.

Cosby realizes this (as does Chris Rock, it's very evident in his material) and others. THe only thing I'd say is, I don't seem to recall the Rev. Jackson saying the same thing since 1976. Maybe he did, just no one heard it.
July 6th, 2004, 11:59 AM
reason

By preaching a persistent message of hopelessness and powerlessness, black leaders have sealed the fate of several generations of blacks.

The message is, "whites have the power, so why try?"

So we have a huge black community that feels unempowered. Worse yet, this sense of detachment makes them feel they have the right to anti social behavior. Afterall, none of this is their fault.