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| Bill Cosby has more harsh words for black community |
| 2004-07-02 |
Friday, July 2, 2004 Posted: 10:12 AM EDT (1412 GMT) CHICAGO, Illinois (AP) -- Bill Cosby went off on another tirade against the black community Thursday, telling a room full of activists that black children are running around not knowing how to read or write and "going nowhere." He also had harsh words for struggling black men, telling them: "Stop beating up your women because you can’t find a job." Cosby made headlines in May when he upbraided some poor blacks for their grammar and accused them of squandering opportunities the civil rights movement gave them. He shot back Thursday, saying his detractors were trying in vain to hide the black community’s "dirty laundry." "Let me tell you something, your dirty laundry gets out of school at 2:30 every day, it’s cursing and calling each other n------ as they’re walking up and down the street," Cosby said during an appearance at the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition & Citizenship Education Fund’s annual conference. "They think they’re hip," the entertainer said. "They can’t read; they can’t write. They’re laughing and giggling, and they’re going nowhere." In his remarks in May at a commemoration of the anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education desegregation decision, Cosby denounced some blacks’ grammar and said those who commit crimes and wind up behind bars "are not political prisoners." "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 then. "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." Cosby elaborated Thursday on his previous comments in a talk interrupted several times by applause. He castigated some blacks, saying that they cannot simply blame whites for problems such as teen pregnancy and high school dropout rates. "For me there is a time ... when we have to turn the mirror around," he said. "Because for me 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 you’re sitting in." Cosby lamented that the racial slurs once used by those who lynched blacks are now a favorite expression of black children. And he blamed parents. "When you put on a record and that record is yelling ’n----- this and n----- that’ and you’ve got your little 6-year-old, 7-year-old sitting in the back seat of the car, those children hear that," he said. He also condemned black men who missed out on opportunities and are now angry about their lives. "You’ve got to stop beating up your women because you can’t find a job, because you didn’t want to get an education and now you’re (earning) minimum wage," Cosby said. "You should have thought more of yourself when you were in high school, when you had an opportunity." Cosby appeared Thursday with the Rev. Jesse Jackson, founder and president of the education fund, who defended the entertainer’s statements. "Bill is saying let’s fight the right fight, let’s level the playing field," Jackson said. "Drunk people can’t do that. Illiterate people can’t do that." Cosby also said many young people are failing to honor the sacrifices made by those who struggled and died during the civil rights movement. "Dogs, water hoses that tear the bark off trees, Emmett Till," he said, naming the black youth who was tortured and murdered in Mississippi in 1955, allegedly for whistling at a white woman. "And you’re going to tell me you’re going to drop out of school? You’re going to tell me you’re going to steal from a store?" Cosby also said he wasn’t concerned that some whites took his comments and turned them "against our people." "Let them talk," he said. Good stuff Bill. Twenty years too late, but still important. Now what about Sudan? |
| Posted by:Zenster |
| #12 I heard soundbites from Cosby's speech in May on the Laura Ingraham show. They were so great and to hear Bill Cosby use his biting humor to try to motivate fellow blacks and get them out of their victim role, a role that guys like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton promote, was great! This article quotes some of the points he made in May: In his remarks in May at a commemoration of the anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education desegregation decision, Cosby denounced some blacks' grammar and said those who commit crimes and wind up behind bars "are not political prisoners." "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 then. "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." As some other posters have said, Cosby's advice about the importance of an intact Mommy and Daddy nuclear family to a child's future success cuts across racial lines and cannot be over stated. It's never too late for a community leader to speak the truth, and Cosby, a bit too mild mannered for many years perhaps makes up for his previous circumspect approach with powerful wake up call speeches 2 months in a row. I saw a video clip of Cosby making this speech with Jesse Jackson in the background, looking like he was in a state of apoplexy. Very funny. |
| Posted by: rex 2004-07-02 5:44:19 PM |
| #11 Bill Cosby has it right - and it cuts across race lines too: what he says equally goes for the "Klan" types who blame everything bad on people of color, Jews, and Catholics, all while they dropped out of school or made other bad choices. I fear that his audience will listen about as well as did the KKK and other "Supremacist" groups (or the "white" whack jobs on the far right and left). |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2004-07-02 5:19:50 PM |
| #10 He should have been more vocal during that show's run, if he didn't think it appropriate to do it on stage, then he could have used his IMMENSE power at the time to spread his beliefs. He OWNED NBC for quite a while; no mean feat for an "oppressed" black during the Evil 80s. Thank you, ChrisW. That was my point as well. Cosby had one helluva bully pulpit for quite a while there. How sad that his current message couldn't have gotten out back then when it was most needed. You've got to wonder what Jesse Jackson makes of such novel ideas as accepting blame for one's own shortcomings, not relying upon race issues to carry your cause and other such extremely radical notions. I can only hope that monumental jerk is mulling over how to obtain similar impact from his own stale outworn platform. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2004-07-02 5:14:06 PM |
| #9 Good for Bill. Reality is setting in elsewhere. If you have spent time on the south side of Chicago in the last year, you have noticed most of the high-rise projects disappearing to the wrecking ball one by one. 18,000 "units" are scheduled for destruction. Hooray and good riddance. They were horrific eyesores and a slow motion public disaster. |
| Posted by: Zpaz 2004-07-02 5:08:07 PM |
| #8 And he blamed parents. "When you put on a record... Oh, Bill! You blew it! Half the people who need to hear this are saying, "What the hell's a record?", and the other half are saying, "What a fossil." |
| Posted by: Angie Schultz 2004-07-02 3:17:38 PM |
| #7 ..but since the 60s movements started bearing fruit over the past handful of decades, it seems that race is steadily becoming less of a factor, as compared to things like economic level and local community make-up. If Jesse Jackson and his fellow bloodsuckers had their way, race would be the factor, and would stay that way as long as the government and private corporations remain willing hosts. |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2004-07-02 2:54:40 PM |
| #6 Good point, EM. It's like I tell my wife: every group has their hicks. Thing is, you can't treat them like they're part of the family, or they drag you down. |
| Posted by: BH 2004-07-02 2:36:04 PM |
| #5 IMO, one of the most beautiful things about Mr. Cosby's comments is that while he was addressing Rainbow/PUSH, and specifically blacks, his comments are truthful across a wide segment of Americans, no matter their ethnic heritage. It's probably not the "melting pot" that was envisioned, but since the 60s movements started bearing fruit over the past handful of decades, it seems that race is steadily becoming less of a factor, as compared to things like economic level and local community make-up. |
| Posted by: ExtremeModerate 2004-07-02 2:10:31 PM |
| #4 Cosby did a series of civil rights educational films in the 70s. I remember watching them back in grade school. True, he's been very low key on the issues for a long time; I'm not sure why, but I suspect that he HAS been active but ignored by the press for his unpopular beliefs. He did try in a miniscule way to showcase black entertainers and things like that during The Cosby Show's run, but you're right in that the basic premise WAS awfully whitebread. In my opinion, however, he was showing a black family living in a responsible way while ignoring the "hood" mentality. Maybe he thought the "hood" mentality was just a trend and was due to die out, but the 90s saw it come back in full force. He should have been more vocal during that show's run, if he didn't think it appropriate to do it on stage, then he could have used his IMMENSE power at the time to spread his beliefs. He OWNED NBC for quite a while; no mean feat for an "oppressed" black during the Evil 80s. |
| Posted by: Chris W. 2004-07-02 2:06:35 PM |
| #3 I don't recall him being quite this "up front" on race issues until recently. I'll admit it's refreshing to see a black celebrity of some stature finally give "ebonics" a twist of the blade. This exact message was glaringly absent during the 1980s when black communities were imploding with crack and gang warfare. The rise of "thug life" glorification has nearly drowned out voices of reason like Cosby's. It's sad that Cosby wasn't able to do more with his prime time television work other than show a "Wonder Bread" sort of black family. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2004-07-02 1:15:20 PM |
| #2 Good for Bill. He has always been able to tap into truth, in comedy and life in general. Holding up a mirror to the community and identifying dependency and blame for what they are will end up empowering more people than excuse making ever will. |
| Posted by: jules 187 2004-07-02 1:11:04 PM |
| #1 Bill's not twenty years too late. He's been a rational spokesman for "black issues" for 30+ years. I've been meaning to send him an email of support, but I can't find an email addy for him. |
| Posted by: Chris W. 2004-07-02 12:55:31 PM |