Posted on 11/13/2004 2:11:49 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
Bill Cosby has his own values crusade going, and it's catching on in much of black America. When Cosby endorses academic achievement, discipline and parental involvement, he's supporting the traditional values to which many black Americans in red states or blue can relate.
You might be surprised to hear this, but there is little controversy over Cosby's rhetoric. A few fringe academics and left-wing scribes have attacked him, but he has drawn broad support, including from such civil rights activists as NAACP President Kweisi Mfume. Perhaps that's because Cosby's wisdom is self-evident.
Like so many others, I support Cosby's crusade. Indeed, I'll be there when he brings his old-fashioned sermonizing to Atlanta on Nov. 18, in an appearance at Douglass High School. I'd just like to add one small item to his agenda: marriage. I'd like to hear him in the plain and unadorned language for which he has become known urging black men and women to get married.
Having weathered crises together, he and Camille have been married for 40 years. He obviously believes in the institution. (The Cosbys are the parents of four daughters; their son, Ennis, was murdered in an apparent carjacking in 1997.) And Cosby has implicitly supported it in talks around the country pointing out the detriment of teen pregnancy and urging fathers to get involved in their children's lives.
But I'm not sure that young black men and women are quite getting the message. Over the last few years, many unmarried young black fathers have begun attending parenting seminars to learn the basics of fatherhood. As a result, some are going to PTA meetings, monitoring their kids' report cards and even coaching their children's Little League teams. But too few are getting married to the mother of their children. What is better for kids than a law-abiding, hardworking dad who is present in the home?
The institution of marriage is in trouble throughout the Western world. High rates of divorce and pregnancy outside of marriage have destabilized traditional unions, not just here but in Western Europe, too. Even Japan, so long a traditional society, is experiencing divorce creep.
(Many critics of same-sex unions have promoted bans as a way to protect traditional marriage. I understand their worries over the state of heterosexual marriage, but its decline has nothing to do with gays and lesbians. The women's movement, Hollywood's idealized portrayals of marriage and old-fashioned adultery and betrayal have undermined heterosexual marriage, but gay couples have not.)
Among black Americans (whom some civil rights leaders have long described as "canaries in the coal mine" an early warning system of ills that will soon afflict everyone), the problem has assumed alarming proportions. Marriage is fast becoming all but obsolete. Using figures from the U.S. Census Bureau, this chart shows the percentage of men who are married, by age group:
25-29 30-34 35-39
White 41% 59% 66%
Hispanic 36% 53% 64%
Black 25% 41% 43%
The high rates of incarceration among black men are certainly a hindrance to marriage. Joblessness is also a factor. But there is something else going on a certain cultural shift that is harder to articulate: marriage has simply become devalued.
That's bad news. Marriage is not only a solid institution for rearing children. It also encourages responsible behavior and civic participation (good reasons for allowing gays and lesbians to marry, too). Furthermore, as the nation becomes increasingly mobile and young adults move away from their relatives, their spouses become their support system. That value increases as couples age.
The next time Cosby begins reminding black listeners about the need to return to self-respect and self-reliance, he ought to encourage marriage, too. It may be too late to save the institution from the relentless forces of modernism that threaten to crush it, but it's worth a try.
Cynthia Tucker is the editorial page editor. Her column appears Sundays and Wednesdays.
Old news...
November 13, 2003
Could he be the next Secretary of Education? I bet you the number of drop outs will be decreased tremendously.
Sounds like the liberals could be losing more of their 'captive audience.'
Now that is an interesting idea. He has a PhEd. What a great choice.
Oops.
November 13, 2004
The black community can't ignore Cosby.
He's doing a lot of good by speaking the truth bluntly.
It's tough love.
I'm sure those would be interesting numbers.
Minority votes are moving away from the Democratic Party lock.
Well, this is a Cynthia Tucker column and she is a Democrat.
Feminism and the rights of women over the rights of men may have something to do with this also...
imo
Well, I do like to pat people on the back when they see a problem and try to do something about it.
"Well, this is a Cynthia Tucker column and she is a Democrat."
Let me paraphrase Ed Koch and say she must be a democrat with sanity.
I wonder if she's correct, that Cosby is starting to get some traction with his valid criticisms. Maybe I'm just hearing liberal flack from the white mainstream media, but I thought he was still being looked at askance over this.
I sincerely hope Ms. Tucker is right and I am wrong. (And I don't expect to say THAT again for quite a while!) Nothing, no single thing, could do this country more good than for there to be a real conservative revival amoung Black people. There are so many prominent Black entertainers, etc. a real cultural revival in that community, well, if that came after the shock & awe of 11/2/04, well, I don't know how to even describe it, it would really turn this nation around.
I have been annoyed at times with Bill Cosby over the years, but I fully support him in this effort. And I will always love him for "The Chicken Heart that Ate New York". I can't even remember it, but I just remember laughing so hard I thought I was gonna pass out. That was when I was about 10 years old, you can really laugh your *ss off at that time of life, and I very nearly did.
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