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.
I understand your point but a discussion is better than a dismissal.
Oh I know Cynthia Tucker well enough. But she has seemed persuadable in the past. And she makes very excellent points re: marriage. I, myself, have seen a lot of drama, trauma, and misery caused by divorce and the "free love" mentality.
Too bad it's not free at all, and the children pay the price. It's nice to see someone advocate for it, and never mind her stated support for gay "marriage" she is a good enough writer, in this piece at least, to keep her comments parenthetical.
This is actually a very good column.
Make excellence a 'black thing'
Maybe she is waking up to the reality that her Democrat Party vermin have kept American Blacks in economic slavery for the last fifty years. Good news is every day more good Black folk see the light. Bye, bye Dems!!! Black Congressional Caucus, what's that?
I still think that well connected conservatives could turn him into a flaming conservative.
I hope people are working on it.
Prayers for the cause!
Like so many others, I support Cosby's crusade... 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.
Problem is, Tucker and the rest of the Left only support these values when stated by a liberal. When stated by a conservative, they're racist, bigotted, homophobic, etc.
I think Ms. Tucker sees the light when it affects blacks but she needs to work on extending that vision when looking at the big picture.
I believe she does see it but those Democrat roots are hard to pull up.
Politics aside, by raising the issue of family and education he'll have done a good measure, nature will do the rest and they'll naturally leave the Democratic Party.
I think the article is right.
Coz would make a great Sec of Ed.
Cosby has the support of Kweisi Mfume of the NAACP on marriage? Is that the same Kweisi Mfume that has 7 illigitimate kids? Bwahahahahahaahha.
Couldn't help but notice that irony either.....
Great article, and I'm really surprised to see it out of Cynthia Tucker's pen!
Check post #25.
Either Kwesi is showboating, or he is realizing that having children out of wedlock puts them at a grave disadvantage to children who are married (if they aren't taken care of).
Maybe.
It would be nice to see prominent blacks (including the Congressional Black Caucus) think of others beside themselves.
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