Posted on 05/31/2004 11:54:28 PM PDT by mastercylinder
WASHINGTON - Comedian Bill Cosby has declined to retract remarks that were highly critical of "the lower economic" African-Americans that he claims are willing to pay $500 for sneakers but not half that amount for educational tools.
At ceremonies here last week commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision outlawing "separate but equal" schools, Cosby's remarks caught many in the audience by surprise.
With NAACP President Kwesi Mfume, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund President Ted Shaw and many other Black dignitaries looking on, Cosby complained that "the lower economic people are not holding up their end in this deal."
He said, "These people are not parenting. They are buying things for their kids - $500 sneakers for what? And won't spend $200 for 'Hooked on Phonics.'...They're standing on the corner and they can't speak English. 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. 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."
In Atlanta on Sunday, author and cultural critic Michael Eric Dyson called Cosby wrong for using the fund raiser to criticize poor people. While acknowledging Cosby's generous philanthropy to historically black institutions, Dyson said a better use of the platform would have been to criticize national public policy for failing to give poor people enough support.
Cosby cited a 50 percent dropout rate for Blacks. However, according to the National Center for Education Statistics, the dropout rate for African-Americans was 13.1 percent in 2000, the last year for which statistics are available.
Cosby's comments about education were made in the larger context of African-Americans having to struggle to desegregate schools 50 years ago and seeing many youth today who will not take advantage of those sacrifices. He pleaded with those present to take back the Black community.
The comedian declined to acknowledge the existence of political prisoners.
"These are not political criminals," he said. "These are people going around stealing Coca Cola. People getting shot in the back of the head over a piece of pound cake, and then we run out and we are outraged, saying 'The cops shouldn't have shot him.' What the hell was he doing with the pound cake in his hand?"
Cosby claims that some of his comments were taken out of context. Excerpts of the remarks can be heard on the Washington Post's Web site, www.washingtonpost.com, and it appears that Cosby was quoted accurately.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel columnist Eugene Kane wrote a column noting that like Cosby, he was born in North Philadelphia and attended Temple University.
"Given his record as a philanthropist who had donated millions to black colleges and black causes in general, Cosby has certainly earned the right to speak his mind." He continued, "Still, there's a sense of uneasiness whenever somebody like Cosby uses the same language some whites use to justify their racism....Particularly, the idea that poor blacks and their children weigh down the rest of society, or that every black person behind bars deserves to be incarcerated. Sure, some blacks may fit that description, not all. Some white people, too."
Kane wrote, "He's not a poor Black mother raising children in the inner city, so he has no idea how difficult that is in 2004 America. And if the TV star really wants to pass moral judgments on poor black women, ahem, Mr. Cosby, there is a little matter of you having an out-of-wedlock child yourself."
After reading the column, Cosby telephoned Kane. The columnist said that in an hour-long discussion, Cosby explained that he did not intend to smear all poor Blacks.
"I didn't say all black people from the lower classes were to blame," Kane said Cosby told him. "But I said that when you have a 50 percent graduation rate, and some people can't put two sentences together, and can't write or spell...you've got people who have put themselves on a track to failure."
As for Autumn Jackson, who claims to be Cosby's out-of-wedlock daughter, the comedian told Kane that she has repeatedly refused his offer to take a paternity test.
In the interview with Kane, Cosby deplored the glorification of a pimp mentality, placing more emphasis on athletics than academics and celebrating rap videos on BET.
"I am talking about parenting. It is time for us to turn the mirror around. We have to take back the neighborhood."
And he reiterated his comment about the misuse of the English language.
"We can't excuse these people," Cosby said. "There are generations who have been born here and their English is worse than Koreans who have just been here a few years."
The following are additional excerpts from Cosby's speech:
"I am talking about these people who cry when their son is standing there in an orange suit. Where were you when he was 2? Where were you when he was 12? Where were you when he was 18 and how come you didn't know that he had a pistol? And where is the father? . . .
"The church is only open on Sunday and you can't keep asking Jesus to do things for you. You can't keep saying that God will find a way. God is tired of you," Cosby declared to loud applause.
"I wasn't there when God was saying it, I am making this up, but it sounds like what God would say. In all of this work we can not blame white people. White people don't live over there; they close up the shop early. The Korean ones don't know us well enough, so they stay open 24 hours."
On fashion: "People putting their clothes on backwards: Isn't that a sign of something gone wrong? . . . People with their hats on backwards, pants down around the crack, isn't that a sign of something, or are you waiting for Jesus to pull his pants up? Isn't it a sign of something when she has her dress all the way up to the crack and got all type of needles [piercings] going through her body? What part of Africa did this come from? Those people are not Africans; they don't know a damn thing about Africa.
"With names like Shaniqua, Taliqua and Mohammed and all of that crap, and all of them are in jail. Brown versus the Board of Education is no longer the white person's problem. We have got to take the neighborhood back. We have to go in there -- forget about telling your child to go into the Peace Corps -- it is right around the corner. They are standing on the corner and they can't speak English."
On sports heroes: "Basketball players -- multimillionaires -- can't write a paragraph. Football players -- multimillionaires -- can't read. Yes, multimillionaires. Well, Brown versus Board of Education: Where are we today? They paved the way, but what did we do with it? That white man, he's laughing. He's got to be laughing: 50 percent drop out, the rest of them are in prison."
On teenage sex: "Five, six children -- same woman -- eight, 10 different husbands or whatever. Pretty soon you are going to have DNA cards to tell who you are making love to. You don't know who this is. It might be your grandmother. I am telling you, they're young enough! Hey, you have a baby when you are 12; your baby turns 13 and has a baby. How old are you? Huh? Grandmother! By the time you are 12 you can have sex with your grandmother, you keep those numbers coming. I'm just predicting. . . .
"What is it -- young girls getting after a girl who wants to remain a virgin? Who are these sick black people and where do they come from and why haven't they been parented to shut up? This is a sickness, ladies and gentlemen."
I've got to give Cosby a lot of credit here. In a couple of instances I think he uses some poor judgement, but overall the man is trying to address an issue that has been clear as a bell for everyone but blacks for nigh onto forty years. Perhaps the worst mistake this nation made in the last 40 years was not Vietnam. It was the War on Poverty and the decision to give away trillions of dollars to people who would still blame everyone but themselves for their problems, even after those trillions had been spent to give them a hand up.
Cosby, I may disagree with your on your political views overall, but on this topic you have done your own people a great service. I only hope they will listen. Actually I know they won't. People like Jackson, Sharpton, N'Fume et all would lose too much power if blacks had to start to take reponsibility for their own failures.
From the NYT
Worst Rates of Graduation Are in New York, Study Says By GREG WINTER
Published: February 26, 2004
Black and Latino students in New York State are less likely to finish high school on time than their counterparts anywhere else in the nation, according to a new analysis of graduation rates around the country.
Less than a third of Latino students in New York earned a high school diploma in four years, the worst showing of any state, compared with more than half of all Latino students in the nation as a whole.
Only 35 percent of black students in New York graduated on time, also the worst showing of any state, while slightly more than half of black students graduated on time nationally.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Looks like Cosby was right.
It's worth noting that the comments in response to this article on the Atlanta Daily World are wholly supportive of Cosby's comments.
The Civil Rights movement has gone to hell since Martin was killed...
>>> Hey, you have a baby when you are 12; your baby turns 13 and has a baby. How old are you? Huh? Grandmother! By the time you are 12 you can have sex with your grandmother, you keep those numbers coming. I'm just predicting. . . .
Sounds like the makings of a country song...
This is a first for any "Black Leader". I am amazed.
Of course he was right, which only goes to highlight what a complete fraud those who dissed him were trying to perpetrate. Honest to God, those people have done more to harm blacks and other minorities than 500 conservative administrations could ever hope to, as if they did.
The democrats have almost singlehandedly torn black communities from stem to stern, with their pandering ways.
What's truly sad, a real tragedy for the ages, is that some blacks truly think all whites want them to fail. It seems as if the vast majority of blacks do. I and the people I associate with, are happy when we see blacks become successful. And if they are decent middle-class family oriented folks who are doing their best to raise another generation of like minded kids, I am thrilled.
In actuality, color has nothing to do with it, because that's the way I feel about everyone. The more successful people our nation has, the less that will be feeding at the public trough, remaining a drain on society.
Why would I want anyone to fail? And for heaven's sake, how can a black leader foist off the opposite opinion on blacks, without them reasoning this out for themselves? Do they truly think I want them on welfare for another 100 years?
"That white man, he's laughing. He's got to be laughing: 50 percent drop out, the rest of them are in prison."
No.
Nothing to laugh about.
Very sad and very expensive for those who pay their way.
Culture.
Gee, I wonder how much of Jessie Jackson's personal fortune goes to educate black youth? Keep 'em Dumb, Dependent and Democrat! (sarcacism)
That comment in it's entirity, was one of the unfortunate comments I thought he made. Of the 50% that drop out, a good number wind up in prison. I thought it was a little over the top to say that 50% dropped out and the rest were in prison. I know what he meant and agree, but the wording of this said something I don't think he intended to say.
What continues to amaze me is that the most common response to his observations is to attack the messenger, and to discredit small details while ignoring the overall point.
He issued a wakeup call, the NAACP hit the snooze button. No wonder minorities are coming to the conservative cause in droves - there's no one left with any sense in their leadership.
If he becomes a battering ram for the purpose he might succeed in persuading some of his people to come out from under the pall placed on them by their popularized leaders who live by keeping them under.
God, help the man and let him be heard.
"Cosby cited a 50 percent dropout rate for Blacks. However, according to the National Center for Education Statistics, the dropout rate for African-Americans was 13.1 percent in 2000, the last year for which statistics are available."
This is no doubt another case of innumerate reporting - - - failing to note the distinction between annual and lifetime dropout rates: BOTH of these figures may well be correct, since it would be easy for an approximate 13 percent annual dropout rate in a certain range of grades to accumulate to a 50 percent (or larger) dropout rate by graduation year.
Shows how far a clueless reporter can go in dissing a subject they don't like by using fraudulent statistics.
Shows how far a clueless reporter can go in dissing a subject they don't like by using fraudulent statistics.
Thanks for taking the time to elucidate. I had a general sense that they were full of it.
Cosby, I may disagree with your on your political views overall, but on this topic you have done your own people a great service. I only hope they will listen. Actually I know they won't. People like Jackson, Sharpton, N'Fume et all would lose too much power if blacks had to start to take reponsibility for their own failures.
If the black community is smart, it will fire the current leadership and hire Bill Cosby. He had the courage to state the problems..Granted he might have used exaggeration in a statement or two but the principal was exactly correct. When people are still failing after receiving preferred treatment and help unheard of for other groups, something is wrong and in the case of the black community, it is the culture. Millions of kids have been lost because it was not "cool" to be devoted to education rather than to the "rap and drug" culture. Cosby loves his people enough to speak the truth. I suspect he knew he would be condemned for it..A prophet is nearly always hated for stating the truth. Bill Cosby is a prophet and his people need to listen.
BUMP
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