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2004-07-02 Home Front: Culture Wars

Bill Cosby has more harsh words for black community

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Posted by Zenster 2004-07-02 12:21:16 PM|| || Front Page|| [11128 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#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|| 2004-07-02 12:55:31 PM|| Front Page Top

#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|| 2004-07-02 1:11:04 PM|| Front Page Top

#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|| 2004-07-02 1:15:20 PM|| Front Page Top

#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|| 2004-07-02 2:06:35 PM|| Front Page Top

#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|| [www.mwgames.com] 2004-07-02 2:10:31 PM|| Front Page Top

#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|| 2004-07-02 2:36:04 PM|| Front Page Top

#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|| 2004-07-02 2:54:40 PM|| Front Page Top

#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|| [http://darkblogules.blogspot.com] 2004-07-02 3:17:38 PM|| Front Page Top

#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|| 2004-07-02 5:08:07 PM|| Front Page Top

#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|| 2004-07-02 5:14:06 PM|| Front Page Top

#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|| 2004-07-02 5:19:50 PM|| Front Page Top

#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|| 2004-07-02 5:44:19 PM|| Front Page Top

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