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.
Why should they be any different than white politicians or anyone else? Politicians in general are selfish and care only about themselves, or their wallets rather. I'm not surprised at their behvavior at all.
ROFL! Actually, I had to re-read the author's name 3 times, and I'm still not sure I believe it. If she did actually pen this, then good on her... there's hope for everybody... but her usual stuff is typically over-the-top rantings with blatantly racist overtones.
I salute Tucker for pushing marriage and fatherhood, but not her die-hard support for gay marriage. The gay marriage movement in northern Europe, and in parts of this country has been used an excuse to justify what many adolescents (of any age) really want to do: shack up and bear children out of wedlock. If the gays can do it, the argument goes, why can't we?
The Democrats will never get the "moral vote" they claim to want because they so dearly love gays.
Depends.
For many, hopefully, yes.
But people are amazing creatures of habit unless and until a persuasive or huge, hard, sharp jolt
KNOCKS them out of their ruts.
— a certain cultural shift that is harder to articulate: marriage has simply become devalued.
Just watch any Oprah show and you will see this
Yeah, and Oprah won't marry her longtime live-in boy friend. Some critics (and persons who know or have worked with her) claim that Oprah is afraid that her boyfriend will take half of her money. I guess money may be more important to Oprah than marriage.
Oprah is a lousey role model in this respect.
how about just
Oprah is lousy?
Agreed.
I was never a big fan of her "victimology" shows and her admiration of that phoney Dr. Phil.
dr pill sucks, have a geat day
"Like so many others, I support Cosby's crusade."
And like lots of other liberals who 'espouse' conservative talk, I don't do anything other than support it. I wouldn't vote for it. I don't speak about it other than in general terms. I couldn't begin to imagine what it would be like to encourage personal responsibility in any other way.
Cynthia Tucker is a communist bitch. Anything she says now about supporting Cosby is really about CYA, not about backing him up.
Why marry if the sistas are giving it up for free?
hey, what happened? when did they say it was OK to use the word "black" again?
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