Posted on 12/10/2004 11:18:18 AM PST by Tumbleweed_Connection
Pulling no punches, famed comedian Bill Cosby continued his one-man crusade to improve the futures of young African-Americans, telling parents at a San Francisco school that they have to work to educate their children before they wind up teenage moms, jail inmates, drug dealers – or dead.
Pointing to what the San Francisco Chronicle called "hundreds of giggling students in a schoolyard, most of them black, Cosby asked: "Do you see in that yard any drug dealers? Do you see any teenage pregnant girls? Take a look at them, and put the future on them. Without love, education and care, they begin to look like the statistics. ... You cannot tell me it's impossible to put your children in first place and raise your child strong."
His fiery comments were a continuation of his drive to reform the way black youths are being raised. He launched his battle last May when he spoke in DAR Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C., on the 50th anniversary of Brown vs. Board of Education, the U.S. Supreme Court decision outlawing "separate but equal" education.
At the time, the Chronicle recalled, Cosby fired away at low-income blacks for spending $500 on their children's shoes but not spending $250 on educational tools such as "Hooked on Phonics."
Criticizing African-Americans for wearing saggy pants, speaking improper English and giving children names like "Shaniqua, Shaligua, Mohammed and all that crap," he said, "I am talking about these people who cry when their son is standing there in an orange [prison] suit," he said in May. "Where were you when he was 2? Where were you when he was 12? Where were you when he was 18, and how come you didn't know that he had a pistol? And where is the father? ... You can't keep saying that God will find a way. God is tired of you."
As a result of that speech, the Chronicle wrote, San Francisco school superintendent Arlene Ackerman wrote a letter to Cosby inviting him to visit one of her three new "Dream Schools," low-performing public schools that have been overhauled to include long school days, Saturday school, mandatory student uniforms, a more rigorous curriculum and required contracts signed by parents pledging to be involved in their children's education.
Ackerman, the San Francisco's first black superintendent of schools, told the Chronicle she was glad Cosby had aired his frustrations, even if they were not politically correct.
"We haven't figured out a way to talk about it as African-Americans. ... At least now we're talking about it," she said. "The truth is, many of the things he said are reality for those of us who work in urban public schools."
While praising the school, Cosby stressed that it was parents – not just the schools themselves – who needed to step up to ensure that their children beat the statistics. "Parents are 99 percent," he told the Chronicle. "School districts don't parent. They teach."
Crystal White, 35, a day care provider in the Bayview district who has three kids in local schools, told the Chronicle about the favorable reaction Cosby had evoked by his earlier comments.
"I totally agree – it starts at home," she said. "You're your children's first teacher. Just because you live in the ghetto, you don't have to be a part of it. Just because you see other young men hanging out, you don't have to hang out. Just because you see people in saggy pants doesn't mean you have to. It's up to the parent to let your child know you expect better."
Cosby concluded: "It's a movement now that needs to happen. ... It's time for people to just stop seeing themselves so much as victims, so much in poverty, and realize what education does and fight for it like you're fighting for your life – and you are because that's what our children are."
Why isn't this man a Republican?!?!?!?
Bill, you need to take the final step and tell them to stop hitching their stars to the likes of Jesse Jackasson and Al Sharptongue. Leaving the DNC plantation wouldn't be a bad move, either.
Cosby will not die a left wing liberal, or so it seems.
Powerful words indeed!
Maybe he'll come around in the next four years...
They're going to pillory him just as they did Clarence Thomas.
For one thing, the DNC and Commiewood are telling them that they cannot be anything but a victim, a gangsta rapper, or a sports figure. Where are the people telling them that they can be more than that? In the Republican party.
Good job, Cosby...maybe they'll listen to you.
I wonder if he told his "Driving in San Francisco" routine while he was there?
This applies to every parent of every race. No one is immune.
While I admire what Mr. Cosby is doing, I do disagree with the last part of that statement. Schools don't teach, they indoctrinate. They should be teaching.
Only if parents let them get away with it.
The Cos will definately be hated and attacked by the lobby that profits from peoples misery. There are many in govt. and in the Jesse Jackson/Al Sharpton world who do not want the problems fixed. There is a good living to be made by giving hateful speeches and running for office.
Cosby is telling of the true solution for people of every color and race who live in and around misery.
I lived in SF for awile. Its a great city, just too many kooks and liberals.
The Coz is just on a rampage of late.
Yeah Coz, Tell them the truth! Whats up with those made up names anyhow? Sure can't help some of these kids by tieing some of those fancy sounding handles on them. What a way to start out your life trying to explain how Mom's came up with a Dr. Suess sounding moniker!
Bingo.
What? It doesn't take a village?
Personally I would LOVE to see Cosby replace Mcfume at the NAACP. It could be the BEST thing to happen to black people in a hundred years.
They need someone with a positive agenda instead of a chip on his shoulder -- like Sharpton, Jackson, Sheila Jackson Lee, etc... there is no reason for them to continue to blame the white man for their problems. Too many successful blacks out there today and too many educational opportunities for that excuse to continue (IMO).
You should hear some of the names among some of the old-timer white people!
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