There he goes again. In a recent appearance at the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition's annual conference, Bill Cosby told black Americans what many of us don't want to hear: Posted on 07/09/2004 3:29:24 PM PDT by South40
There he goes again. In a recent appearance at the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition's annual conference, Bill Cosby told black Americans what many of us don't want to hear:
That we bear much of the blame ourselves for the socio-economic problems that continue to beset far too many members of our population.
It echoed sentiments the former sitcom star expressed six weeks ago at an event in the nation's capital marking the 50th anniversary of the Supreme Court's historic decision in Brown v. Board of Education.
In his latest remarks, Cosby dismissed the remonstrations of critics who dare to disparage him for airing the black community's "dirty laundry" for all to see.
"Let me tell you something," he said. "Your dirty linen gets out of school at 2:30 every day. It's cursing and calling each other n----r as they're walking up and down the street.
"They think they're hip," the Cos continued. But "they can't read. They can't write. They're laughing and giggling, and they're going nowhere."
The "they" to whom Cosby was referring are young black Americans who count themselves members of the so-called "hip-hop generation."
He believes that all too many have squandered the opportunities that were hard won by black America's "Greatest Generation," the heroic men and women who boycotted buses, who sat in at lunch counters, who marched for racial justice during the 1950s and 1960s.
All too many have proven themselves unworthy of the supreme sacrifices of Emmett Till and Medgar Evers and Martin Luther King Jr. and others martyred in the struggle for the civil rights that young black Americans take for granted today.
"I travel the country," said Cosby, "and see these patterns in every community. Stories of 12-year-old children killed in the crossfire between knuckleheads selling drugs. The 14-year-olds with a sealed envelope as their first step into the criminal justice system.
"The young males who become fathers and are not held responsible. The young women having children and moving back in with their mothers and grandmothers. And the young people who choose not to learn standard English."
Of course, not all young blacks are dysfunctional. Not all are buying and selling drugs. Not all young black men are irresponsibly fathering children. Not all young black women are irresponsibly bringing children into the world. And not all young blacks speak bastardized English.
But the hard truth, as Cosby suggested, is that a disproportionate number of young black men and women bend toward pathology; far too many engage in behavior that prevents them from fully taking advantage of the opportunities available to them.
Indeed, one of nine blacks aged 16 to 19 is a high school dropout, according to the Census Bureau. Nearly one in three black males aged 20 to 29 is under criminal justice supervision on any given day, in prison or jail, on probation or parole, according to The Sentencing Project.
One of every nine black females, grades 9 to 12, reports that she has been pregnant, according to the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies. And at least one in six blacks, grades 10 to 12, uses illicit drugs, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
Some members of the black community would prefer that these statistics go unmentioned, except behind closed doors and among members of the black community. They worry that public mention of black pathology will only validate the perceptions of racial bigots.
But the only way to ameliorate the problems afflicting so many young black Americans is to get them out in the open – the bigots be damned. That's what black conservatives such as Clarence Thomas and Walter Williams and Thomas Sowell have been doing for years. That's what Cosby is doing now.
And he asked his critics, those who suggest that he is "blaming the victim": "Is Bill Cosby hoping that the dropout rate will reach 70 percent soon and teenage single parenthood will grow to 80 percent in the lower economic neighborhoods?
Or is he clanging a bell and warning that this is an epidemic that has to be stopped? Are we so worried about what others think about us that we are unwilling to address this disease that is infecting our people more and more every day?
Cosby has delivered a loud, clear wake-up call to black America. And I, for one, say clang on Bill.
Accountability ping!
I'm off to Brazil. See ya!
$710.96... The price of freedom.
I'm pleased to read that JP agrees with Cos. How long has he been with the Trib?
I blame the Democrat politicians and black preachers for the mess the blacks are in today.
Anti-"victicrat" PING!!!
Speaking of which, Larry Elder will be back on Monday 7-12 from vacation. It will be good to get that liberal fill-in for him off of the mike.
It is so sad what the dims have done to the blacks, and look at their devotion to that party.
I am reading the bio of Condi Rice- AWESOME BOOK.
Her father changed from Democratic to Republican (and others in their families) and never looked back when the Democratic party wouldn't let him vote and the Pubbies would, I forgot what year.
Wish and pray more blacks knew the facts about what each party has-havn't done for them, and thankful for those few who get the message out!!!
Work or pleasure...ya lucky dawg.
Brazilian women are...er....something else.
I've been reading JP for years, but I don't know how long he's been with the UT.
The guy is great though, no?
bump for later
Firstly, there is no Democratic Party anymore; just a bunch of snot-nosed incompetents Hell-bent on exploiting the poverty they create.
And there is at least one Black Preasher who is fighting the good fight for all of Black America.
Now the problem with black Americans is the fault of immigrants? Please, I'll remind you and the like, that these problems are the fault of a bunch of liberal self-serving white guys and their cohorts, who call themselves black leaders, who created this as well as many other socio-economic problems.
You hit the nail on the head!
Problem is, as long as the black community reveres the modern day "civil rights activist", things may never change.
Any African-American who votes for a Republican is a TURNCOAT.
-Je$$e Jack$on
Have fun, remember to make us proud and represent your country well. I got the pleasure of explaining our love of President Bush to a few brainwashed citizens in Ecuador last weekend. It was wonderfull.
Support life, black women abort their babies at rates 5 times higher than white liberals. Support choice, school choice. Support parenting, not by the state but by the men who father the children. And get the hell out of a party that is against those three.
And your comment that there is no Democrat Party anymore is right on. Unfortunately, half the country is every bit as morally unfit as the Democrat Party they keep in office.
That filth with Whoopie Goldburg last night should send every Christian, black and white, running to the polls to vote for Bush. Because one thing Christians of color are not being told in their pulpits (some pulpits) is that you pretty much are the party you are keeping in power with your money and support. In other words, do you or I as Christians want the murder of innocents on our souls? I don't think so.
The Democrats are the abortion party, the party for gay life styles, and every other evil known to man. Just what is it going to take to get Christians to realize when they vote for filth, the stink is going to come back and smack them in the face someday?
Now I will exit my soapbox.
This seems too much like blaming "white Repubs." Opportunistic pols have always been there. They don't survive without a willing constituency. I blame the voters -- black or otherwise -- who refuse to reason, analyze, and inform themselves on the issues.
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