Posted on 09/25/2004 9:14:30 PM PDT by where's_the_Outrage?
Call it the Cosby Consensus.
Across the country, middle-class black Americans are applauding comedian Bill Cosby's insistent campaign to draw attention to the bad habits and poor choices that limit black achievement. There has been little disagreement about his main points — that drug use, poor classroom performance and the embrace of outlaw culture have done nothing but cement the black underclass at the bottom of American society. An ethic that dismisses serious scholarship as "a white thing" has handicapped middle-class black kids, too.
In early September, Cosby spoke at a Washington forum sponsored by the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, where he criticized parents who allow their children to be "managed with a cellphone" and who don't keep up with their children's school work. According to published reports, his remarks were warmly received. After the forum, Al Sharpton credited Cosby with creating a "sea change" by speaking out publicly on a previously taboo topic.
There is plenty of precedent for Cosby's plain-spokenness. Throughout the first half of the 20th century, accomplished blacks routinely policed the behavior of their less-polished brethren, urging thrift, moderation, tidiness. (Much of that conversation, however, went unnoticed by white America.)
It was only during the 1960s, when civil rights legislation was gaining traction, that the black intelligentsia clamped down on any public acknowledgement of black dysfunction. Civil rights leaders believed any admission of black failure would damage the movement. A later generation of "black power" activists denounced any black critic of black failure as a race traitor.
The shift back to an embrace of personal responsibility hasn't come a moment too soon. Because of global forces beyond the control of any politician, the jobs that created the nation's middle class are disappearing, leaving only a poorly paid service class and a highly paid professional class. Seeing the trends, many middle-class parents will be trying to ensure that their children end up among the well-paid professionals. The competition for slots in good schools and for high-paying jobs will only increase.
That portends a more fractious political and social climate. Black Americans will be less able to depend on liberal largess for a hand up. For that matter, so will less affluent whites.
(A word of caution: This column is intended only for those comfortable with nuance and complexity. This is no libertarian brief for the end of government assistance or affirmative action. Both personal responsibility and societal responsibility — a social safety net, in other words — are necessary to provide a stable and democratic civil society.)
Already, black immigrants are challenging native-born black students for prestigious slots in Ivy League schools. In June, according to The New York Times, several prominent black academics pointed out that about two-thirds of Harvard University's black undergraduates are black immigrants, children of immigrants or children of biracial marriages. Researchers studying black enrollment at several other exclusive schools, including Princeton and the University of Pennsylvania, report that about 41 percent of their black students fit the same demographic profile.
It's no great surprise that immigrants and their children do well. Regardless of national origin, immigrants tend to be resourceful strivers.
But black parents ought to note this, as well: The success of black immigrants strongly suggests that race is no great barrier to achievement. While many black activists contend that there is still a grave disadvantage in being the descendant of slaves, it is hard to see what that could be. (Note, too, that black West Indians are also the descendants of slaves.) Yes, our ancestors suffered. But the 21st century racist aims his hate at the color of our skin — not at where we came from or who our grandparents were.
Racism notwithstanding, if a black Antiguan can get high SAT scores, a black Atlantan should be able to earn them, too.
• Cynthia Tucker is the editorial page editor. Her column appears Sundays and Wednesdays.
I always liked the saying "God helps them that help themselves"
Welcome to the Democratic Party, the new Plantation owners.
I think this is a pretty good piece, I am not all that familiar with Ms. Tucker. But she does state parenthetically and correctly "...black West Indians are also the descendants of slaves." It is good to see these entirely sensible ideas, of personal responsibility, etc. getting support. Without them we in America are doomed, they are the bedrock of OUR society.
I think we could expect as much from her...LOL!
"black immigrants are challenging native-born black students..."
I wasn't aware there was a black animosity (Tucker standards) against black immigrants. Pushing the hyphen? I thought they enjoyed the African-American title?
Click on the keyword "Cynthia Tucker", you find some other articles.
Not bad for Cynthia.
I've detected some. Real Africans tend to resent black Americans (as a group), thinking them lazy whiners who blame everything on racism. Black Americans tend to resent Africans as being insufficiently aware of the racism around them. The Africans just put their heads down, work, and become successful, and don't hand out blame so readily. After all, where they come from everybody is the same color and probably the same tribe, so they can't blame failure on anyone else and have to take responsibility for their own lives. This perspective does not endear them to certain groups of black Americans.
Actually, where they come from tribalism is the cause of massive killing, dismemberment and rape, famine and disease.
I imagine that makes them pretty dismissive of native black Americans complaints about life in the USA.
What a minute!!!!!
Did this come from SeeBS?????
NO WAY Cynthia Tucker wrote this!
I could write a book about it, but you've summed it up quite nicely.
Cynthia Tucker took her meds PING
Ditto that. Blacks from the West Indies and from Africa are disproportionately represented among entrepreneurs and professionals in Atlanta and I am aware that they resent being lumped together with "African-Americans".
As far as the causality for the state of many blacks today - I do think we are at a stage in history where we are far enough removed from Jim Crow that there is not a great deal of active white suppression of blacks - rather the real crime is the insensitivity of black organization to efforts whites could make to help. Whites in Atlanta are given plenty of incentive to move to the suburbs and not get involved. The corrupt government in the city of Atlanta, and in certain aspects of Fulton County gives one pause and suggests that moving out to far flung counties might just be the best bet for avoiding taxes and maybe finding school systems that are tolerable.
The act that would acknowledge this would be the reformation of several counties into a metropolitan government covering metro Atlanta at present and where it will be in the next ten years. Having counties give up fiefdoms to create a super county is a tough thing to do - probably toughest is the dilution of the city of Atlanta. After blacks had gained that level of control I really don't think they would agree to share.
It's very clear from the ARC - Atlanta Regional Commission planning group that they plan to spend a lot of money in the next 30 years to maintain the status quo and not to reduce travel delays. I think that would be improved by making the counties into a super metropolitan government and skipping the inter-county inefficiencies.
On Cynthia's remarks about the percentage of foreign born blacks who are bending the high end of the SAT curve - well, although I have an opinion I'm not going there.
My two cousins got 1600 on the SATs.
BTW, with respect to Jim Crow, it doesn't need to have happened yesterday. It takes generations to change the menality of some who have always had a particular experience/belief. It's passed down from family member to family member, and they get more exacerbated if there are stressors like single parenthood and abandonment involved.
She's being cautious *lol* and a bit hypocritical since none of my black West Indian relatives and friends needed affirmative action to do anything in this country. Remember she can't sound too much like a conservative lest she lose her fan club status.
Ninety some percent of americans take this as an absolute. The big argument is the definition of 'safety net'.
I'll go there, then.
One of the points made in the book The Bell Curve by Charles Murray and aothers, was that low-intelligence blacks had high propagation rates in this country, due to welfare policies.
Murray has made it clear that the book was written as a policy adviory analysis.
The welfare reform of the 1990s was a result, in part, of this book, as policy makers saw where welfare was leading.
Read the book.
It points out that low intelligence groups were having more children than high intelligence groups ( of all races).
We were literally on the way to dumbing down our entire population because of welfare policies.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.