Posted on 05/25/2004 1:38:14 AM PDT by The Raven
Bill Cosby has provided a lot of laughs for millions of Americans over the years but black "leaders" were not laughing after he lashed out at those black parents who buy their children expensive sneakers instead of something educational. He also denounced both those children and those adults in the black community who refuse to speak the king's English.
"Everybody knows it's important to speak English except these knuckleheads," Cosby said. "You can't be a doctor with that kind of crap coming out of your mouth." He also mocked those who referred to "the incarcerated" as "political prisoners."
At this gathering on the 50th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education, some in the audience laughed and applauded but the pillars of the black "leadership" establishment -- the head of the NAACP, the head of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and the president of Howard University -- were "stone-faced," according to the Washington Post.
Theodore Shaw of the Legal Defense Fund then "told the crowd that most people on welfare are not African Americans, and many of the problems his organizations has addressed in the black community were not self-inflicted."
Other groups are not perfect -- but is that an excuse for doing self-destructive things?
Bill Cosby and the black "leadership" represent two long-standing differences about how to deal with the problems of the black community. The "leaders" are concerned with protecting the image of blacks, while Cosby is trying to protect the future of blacks, especially those of the younger generation.
Far from just bashing blacks, Cosby has given generously to promote black education. But he is still old-fashioned enough to think that others need to take some responsibility for using the opportunities that were gained for them by "people who marched and were hit in the face with rocks to get an education."
Now, in too many black communities, dedicating yourself to getting an education is called "acting white."
These are painful realities and they do not become any less real or any less painful by hushing them up. Nobody enjoys being made to look bad in public. But too many in the black community are preoccupied with how things will look to white people, with what in private life would be concern about "what will the neighbors think?"
When your children are dying, you don't worry about what the neighbors think. When the whole future of a race is jeopardized by self-destructive fads, you put public relations on the back burner.
There are still whites out there who think that blacks are innately incapable of achievement -- and some of them support affirmative action for that reason. But there is plenty of evidence that innate ability, or even developed mental skills, are not the big problem.
Not only blacks with low test scores, but even blacks with high test scores, do not do as well academically as whites with the same test scores. Among Asian Americans, it is just the opposite. They do better than whites with the same test scores, whether in educational institutions or in economic activities.
Years ago, Cosby urged a group of young blacks to put more effort into their studies, the way Asian students do. "Do you know why they are called Asians?" he asked. "Because they always get A's."
The differences among all these groups are in one four-letter word that you are still not supposed to say: work.
Anyone who has taught black, white, and Asian students will know that they do not work equally. Studies show it but you don't need studies. Just go into a university library on a Saturday night and see who is there and who is not there.
In some places, you might think it was an all-Asian university, judging by the students in the library on Saturday night.
How surprised should you be when you go into a classroom on Monday morning and find out who is on top of the work and who is struggling to keep up?
What Bill Cosby said was no laughing matter. It is closer to being something to cry about.
Forget to take your pills? This thread is about Bill Cosby and his statements, not Southern accents. Go fly a kite.
Yes, agreed, "progressive" was adopted as a euphemism for communist or socialist, so Leftists could hide from American voters what they really were.
Just as they hijacked the word "liberal" (which had previously referred to those who believed in limited government and individual freedom) for the same purpose.
Because they grew up hearing others speak this way, perhaps? It sounds like sweet music compared to a Kennedy or Jersey accent.
You're spot on, and the knee jerk responses to Master's (read the DNC's) bidding will be there as well. You and Mh hit the lotto here. How sad that some members seem to find the suffering and ,frankly, destruction of those they purport to champion are considered the correct thinkers. How utterly bigoted and Orwellian.
Look at this illustrious group of "lawmakers" and consider this list whenver we hear any of them make comments on TV shows.
Congressional Progressive Caucus
officers
Member/Position/District Address Phone
Dennis Kucinich
(CO-CHAIR, OHIO-10) 1730 LHOB 225-5871
Barbara Lee
(CO-CHAIR, CALIFORNIA-09) 426 CHOB 225-2661
Lynn Woolsey
(VICE-CHAIR, CALIFORNIA-06) 2263 RHOB 225-5161
Peter DeFazio
(OFFICER, OREGON-04) 2134 RHOB 225-6416
Jesse Jackson, Jr
(OFFICER, ILLINOIS-02) 313 CHOB 225-0773
Major Owens
(OFFICER, NEW YORK-11) 2309 RHOB 225-6231
Bernie Sanders
(OFFICER, VERMONT) 2233 RHOB 225-4115
Hilda Solis
(OFFICER, CALIFORNIA-31) 1641 LHOB 225-5464
members
Member/Position/District Address Phone
Neil Abercrombie
(MEMBER, HAWAII-01) 1502 LHOB 225-2726
Tammy Baldwin
(MEMBER, WISCONSIN-02) 1022 LHOB 225-2906
Xavier Becerra
(MEMBER, CALIFORNIA-30) 1119 LHOB 225-6235
Corrine Brown
(MEMBER, FLORIDA-03) 2444 RHOB 225-0123 WEBSITE
Sherrod Brown
(MEMBER, OHIO-13) 2438 RHOB 225-3401
Michael Capuano
(MEMBER, MASSACHUSETTS-08) 1232 LHOB 225-5111
Julia Carson
(MEMBER, INDIANA-10) 1339 LHOB 225-4011
William "Lacy" Clay
(MEMBER, MISSOURI-01) 415 CHOB 225-2406
John Conyers
(MEMBER, MICHIGAN-14) 2426 RHOB 225-5126
Danny Davis
(MEMBER, ILLINOIS-07) 1222 LHOB 225-5006
Rosa DeLauro
(MEMBER, CONNECTICUT-03) 2262 RHOB 225-3661
Lane Evans
(MEMBER, ILLINOIS-17) 2211 RHOB 225-5905
Eni Faleomavaega
(MEMBER, AMERICAN SAMOA) 2422 RHOB 225-8577
Sam Farr
(MEMBER, CALIFORNIA-17) 1221 LHOB 225-2861
Chaka Fattah
(MEMBER, PENNSYLVANIA-02) 1205 LHOB 225-4001
Bob Filner
(MEMBER, CALIFORNIA-50) 2463 RHOB 225-8045
Barney Frank
(MEMBER, MASSACHUSETTS-04) 2252 RHOB 225-5931
Raul Grijalva
(MEMBER, ARIZONA-07) 1440 RHOB 225-2435
Luis Gutierrez
(MEMBER, ILLINOIS-04) 2452 RHOB 225-8203
Maurice Hinchey
(MEMBER, NEW YORK-26) 2431 RHOB 225-6335
Sheila Jackson-Lee
(MEMBER, TEXAS-18) 403 CHOB 225-3816
Stephanie Tubbs Jones
(MEMBER, OHIO-11) 1516 LHOB 225-7032
Marcy Kaptur
(MEMBER, OHIO-09) 2366 RHOB 225-4146
Tom Lantos
(MEMBER, CALIFORNIA-12) 2217 RHOB 225-3531
John Lewis
(MEMBER, GEORGIA-05) 343 CHOB 225-3801
Jim McDermott
(MEMBER, WASHINGTON-07) 1035 LHOB 225-3106
James P. McGovern
(MEMBER, MASSACHUSETTS-03) 430 CHOB 225-6101
George Miller
(MEMBER, CALIFORNIA-07) 2205 RHOB 225-2095
Jerry Nadler
(MEMBER, NEW YORK-08) 2334 RHOB 225-5635
Eleanor Holmes Norton
(MEMBER, D.C.) 2136 RHOB 225-8050
John Olver
(MEMBER, MASSACHUSETTS-01) 1027 LHOB 225-5335
Ed Pastor
(MEMBER, ARIZONA-02) 2465 RHOB 225-4065
Donald Payne
(MEMBER, NEW JERSEY-10) 2209 RHOB 225-3436
Nancy Pelosi
(MEMBER, CALIFORNIA-08) 2457 RHOB 225-4965
Bobby Rush
(MEMBER, ILLINOIS-01) 2416 RHOB 225-4372
Jan Schakowsky
(MEMBER, ILLINOIS-09) 515 CHOB 225-2111
Jose Serrano
(MEMBER, NEW YORK-16) 2342 RHOB 225-4361
Pete Stark
(MEMBER, CALIFORNIA-13) 239 CHOB 225-5065
Bennie Thompson
(MEMBER, MISSISSIPPI-02) 2432 RHOB 225-5876
John Tierney
(MEMBER, MASSACHUSETTS-06) 120 CHOB 225-8020
Tom Udall
(MEMBER, NEW MEXICO-03) 502 CHOB 225-6190
Nydia Velazquez
(MEMBER, NEW YORK-12) 2241 RHOB 225-2361
Maxine Waters
(MEMBER, CALIFORNIA-35) 2344 RHOB 225-2201
Diane Watson
(MEMBER, CALIFORNIA-32) 2413 RHOB 225-7084
Mel Watt
(MEMBER, NORTH CAROLINA-12) 2236 RHOB 225-1510
Henry Waxman
(MEMBER, CALIFORNIA-29) 2204 RHOB 225-3976
The link is here with links to individual congresscritter websites, should anyone care:
http://bernie.house.gov/pc/members.asp
Interesting. Thanks for the list.
It also seems kind of like the owners of Progressive Insurance had that meaning of the word under consideration, judging by what I've read about them posted on FR.
Cosby very likely offended the La Raza groups with this one. How much money is being wasted on bilingual programs which have the goal of keeping kids from speaking the language of this country, keep them from communicating with other Americans.
Why should they give a rat's @$$ about your over-sensitive northern ears?
I'm from the Midwest originally, and have always thought that the Northeastern habit of adding consonants where they don't belong is much more irritating and affected than the Southern habit of dropping them.
It's not "soder", it's SODA. So there.
I don't know --- but you do find them in the military. Sometimes I think we focus too much on the lower 25% but forget to look at how many black youths are getting themselves ahead and offering up their lives. I guess because the military base is here, we don't see the problems in some places with the inner cities --- in the west it's different.
No it's not. It's pop!
Kids who can visualize a future for themselves move away from their inner city roots as soon as possible, whether through higher ed or joining the military. There is a constant sedimentation to the bottom, of the most helpless and unable to succeed kids, who remain in the most terrible neighborhoods of our cities.
There is a large black middle class in suburban neighborhoods where they are just plain mainstream Americans.
I happen to like the southern accent.Beats the h*ll out of the North East accent that effeat elitists use as they look down on us rabble from the midwest and south!
Black children are the chattel of the NEA
It's sad but some of those who choose drugs and welfare and crime just aren't going to make it. I hope Cosby and others can salvage what they can from that group.
Great graphic. Wish they added how the abortion/birth control groups were founded by racists to keep the black population down.
Good for Bill Cosby. I'd like to see him become more active in pushing the thoughts and ideas he has articulated in this piece. Perhaps he can go a few steps futher and blast Liberals who oppose school vouchers for inner city Blacks.
Ditto. Not to mention that gun control is targetted at keeping guns out of black hands.
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