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Posted on 05/22/2004 8:12:27 AM PDT by mhking
When avuncular comedian Bill Cosby took aim at African-American parents this week, he ruffled some feathers.
Friday he remained unapologetic.
"I can understand the sting. I feel I have to say it," Cosby said in a telephone interview.
Cosby said he was chagrined that conservative radio talk shows seized on his comments and recirculated them. Yet he said he was more concerned about protecting children in unsafe neighborhoods.
"If I weigh a loudmouthed conservative racist announcer's thoughts and opinions against a 12-year-old child being shot," concern for the child wins, he said.
During a speech Monday in Washington at a ceremony commemorating the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision, Cosby criticized black Americans who squandered the access to education won by those who risked life and limb to desegregate schools.
He also took aim at parents who spend $500 on sneakers for their children but won't spring for a Hooked on Phonics cassette to teach them to speak correctly.
"Everybody knows it's important to speak English except these knuckleheads," he said during the speech.
Cosby's comments were discussed on talk radio in Atlanta and nationally, with listeners lining up on both sides of the debate.
Atlanta host Frank Ski of V-103 said Cosby may have been "untactful," but he added "it was a conversation that needed to be brought up."
Lines from the Cosby speech were also repeated on Neal Boortz's morning talk show at WSB-AM, where a caller lambasted African-Americans who don't take education seriously.
"These people act like they don't even want to go to school, and that's what [ticks] me off," said the caller.
The Washington Post reported that Cosby earned a "stonefaced" reception from his hosts, including Theodore Shaw, the NAACP legal defense fund director, and Kweisi Mfume, the NAACP president.
Mfume, however, said he was far from "stonefaced" at the event, and he supports most of Cosby's comments.
"He said at some point in time you can't continue to blame white people for every problem that black people may have, and I agree with that."
Mfume said he disagreed only with Cosby's emphasis on "lower economic people," saying there are blacks who are "not doing enough" in every economic class.
A spokesperson for Shaw said he would not be available for comment Friday.
"I didn't want to throw cold water on the celebrating," said Cosby, but he stressed that many African-American neighborhoods were in crisis. "We've got to help these people," he said. "We've got to get the neighborhood back."
Cosby blamed lack of education on many ills that he sees in black communities.
"We should look and see how many males are incarcerated and look and see how many of them are illiterate," he said.
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Mfume then stressed that point in time is far, far in the future, and a galaxy far, far away.
Parents in general don't discipline their kids, expect them to study etc. That's what's really wrong with schools - that and that they are run by professional educators.
What's a cubit?
The distance from your elbow to the tip of your middle finger. It is an old testament unit of measurement.
Why is there air? ;^)
LOL.
At risk of hijacking this thread, here is a link to the text of that skit. I in no way mean to make light of the subject, but it (the skit) is very funny.
bump for monda AM edition
You don't even want to hear about the lawyers who owe thousands and laugh and hang up if I do manage to get them on the phone. A legal system run by lawyer politicans makes it nearly impossible to suspend the licenses of lawyers who flatly refuse to pay.
Deadbeat lawyers are as big a problem as dead beat dads, except the lawyers have the means to pay. Shakespear had it right.
bump
"If I weigh a loudmouthed conservative racist announcer's thoughts and opinions against a 12-year-old child being shot," concern for the child wins, he said."
Sigh. This is what we are fighting against. If Bill Cosby says it, he understands it. But if a conservative says it, he is a loudmouth racist.
I wish he would understand - we are not the enemy. We are the solution.
Well I guess one truthful statement by Cosby does not stop him from playing the race card. Jerk. And his shows suck too.
Sad isn’t it? We still have a lot of work to do.
This is the attitude which got us into trouble in the first place. As good as Bill Cosby is, he has to learn a new way of thinking which goes like this:
"These people have to start helping themselves. They have to take responsibility for their lives and then take their neighborhoods back."
We have been shoveling "help" from the outside in for 50 years and there has been no success.
Mr. Cosby, if you'd put aside the hateful rhetoric for a moment and listen with an open mind, you'll find that a lot of 'loudmouth conservative racist announcers' quite agree with the essence of the comments that you've made, as they are represented in this article.
To be fair, I haven't heard the whole of the original comments, or how (Limbaugh?) played them. All I have to work with what I see here.
Cos is a jackass, all the more so because he should know better. That makes him worse than stupid to make comments like this about conservatives.
"If I weigh a loudmouthed conservative racist announcer's thoughts and opinions against a 12-year-old child being shot," concern for the child wins, he said.
My Reply to Bill Cosby:
Well Bill, if you ever listened to some of these loudmouthed conservatives, you'd find they aren't racist at all. They want exactly what you want for the black youth of America. They want them to do what every American can, and should do. They want them to go to school and apply themselves, you know, learn a useful skill? (by the way, to any libs reading this, there is plenty of job training provided by the govenment for underpriveledged persons- It's called Public School- I'm not a big fan of the Public School system, but it is free, and if you apply yourself there, you can get your college paid for! Wow! what a country!) Once you have a skill, you can make money and be a productive member of society.
But Bill, this is where you go wrong in aligning yourself with the Liberal (read, Socialist) politicians in America. Liberals don't want you to have to provide for yourself at all. They want for you to be able to pick up your government supplied paycheck for producing nothing, so that you can continue doing nothing for the rest of your life. Unfortuanately, socialism has a tendency to devour itself over a certain period of time as the ratio of producers to leeches tilts more and more to the leeches.
This is what the black youth of America is learning from their parents. Either you become a Basketball star, or an entertainer (no offense to you Mr. Cosby, I know how hard you have worked to get where you are), or you collect welfare. That is the extent of many young black's ambition. And do you know what? It makes me sad.
I live on a street where there are many black families on welfare. I talk to their kids all the time. These kids are smart! They have so much potential! Unfortunately, you are right about how they speak. So, as a WASP American Conservative male I do what I believe to be my duty. I encourage them. I encourage them to work hard. I encourage them to learn to speak properly. I encourage them to read. I encourage them to ask questions. I encourage them to learn everything they can about anything at all. I encourage them to grow up to be whatever they want. Yes, many of them want to be football, or basketball players, or rappers- but many of them want to be doctors, or electricians, or military officers, and other professions as well. Regardless of what they want to do, I encourage them to work as hard as they can at what they do- and do it because they love to do it, not because of money.
Sadly, this is not what they get at home. I think you know what they get at home. So, I do what I can to help.
By the way Bill, I am a loudmouthed conservative and proud of it. Am I a racist? No.
Perhaps it's time you re-think just who your friends are, and who you align yourself with politically.
You may be more conservative than you realize.
Very Respectfully,
The Musical_Airman
And Bill, I forgot to mention- The Chicken Heart bit still Cracks me up!
Here's the WND article.
In the presence of NAACP President Kweisi Mfume and other African-American leaders, comedian Bill Cosby took aim at blacks who don't take responsibility for their economic status, blame police for incarcerations and teach their kids poor speaking habits.
Bill Cosby
Cosby made his remarks at a Constitution Hall event in Washington Monday night commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Brown vs. Board of Education decision that paved the way for integrated schools, reported Richard Leiby in his Reliable Source column for the Washington Post.
Leiby said Cosby's remarks were met with "astonishment, laughter and applause."
When Cosby finally concluded, Leiby said, Mfume, Howard University President H. Patrick Swygert and NAACP legal defense fund head Theodore Shaw came to the podium looking "stone-faced."
Shaw told the crowd most people on welfare are not African American. He insisted many of the problems his organization addresses among blacks are not self-inflicted.
Cosby said, according to Leiby: "Ladies and gentlemen, the lower economic people are not holding up their end in this deal. These people are not parenting. They are buying things for kids – $500 sneakers for what? And won't spend $200 for 'Hooked on Phonics.'
He added: "They're standing on the corner and they can't speak English. I can't even talk the way these people talk: 'Why you ain't,' 'Where you is' ... And I blamed the kid until I heard the mother talk. And then I heard the father talk. ... Everybody knows it's important to speak English except these knuckleheads. ... You can't be a doctor with that kind of crap coming out of your mouth!"
The Post said Cosby also targeted imprisoned blacks.
"These are not political criminals," he said. "These are people going around stealing Coca-Cola. People getting shot in the back of the head over a piece of pound cake and then we run out and we are outraged, [saying] 'The cops shouldn't have shot him.' What the hell was he doing with the pound cake in his hand?"
I'll bet he didn't hear anything anyone said. Which conservative personality? Not Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity I can tell you, not Mark Levine or anyone else I listen to.
Well, you know, a lot of people criticize conservatives without ever having listened to what they say.....
So Cosby is covering his backside now, eh?
Cosby was flashing sufficient PC bona fides not to be thrown out of the room. It's another manifestation of peer pressure, to which he's less subject than his audience, but subject, nonetheless.
Dr. Bill has true compassion for kids, which is one of the finest ingredients around for making a conservative. At the same time, reflexive name-calling is indicative of the muck to which he's still beholden.
HF
I suspected as much.
The skit is off of Cosby's "Right" album. It's one of his earier works and hilarious
Funny that only loud mouth conservitives that have been saying the exact thing as Cosby for YEARS are racist. Wonder what that makes Bill? Proof that too much Jello can be toxic to the brain!
"If I weigh a loudmouthed conservative racist announcer's thoughts and opinions against a 12-year-old child being shot," concern for the child wins, he said."
Even better, if Cosby said something that a racist agrees with, does that make Cosby a racist?
Uh, Bill, not nice. Or is Cosby saying his own views are those of racists?
Possibly blacks can reasonably blame white people for a large share of their troubles. First the slavers, then the whites who kept them under Jim Crow laws, then the Democrat politicians who bought and corrupted them with handouts and lies. All those whites share some of the guilt.
BUT, so what? The only people who can fix the problems of blacks are blacks. Everyone has to take hold of his life and teach his children to take hold of their lives. With the help of God's grace, each of us has to learn how to make the right choices, do the right thing, and live what the ancient philosophers called the good life.
I think his "loudmouthed conservative racist announcer" comment was an attempt to regain some street credibility with the people he offended. unfortanately that kind of talk will get him even more marginalized.
There are actually a lot of blacks who would fit in better with Conservatives because they have Conservative values. Somehow liberals convinced too many that they're helping blacks more with all the welfare and freebies --- but deep down they know better --- they just havent' seen the connection yet.
Public schools are far from free. They are paid for with taxpayer dollars, and in the case of Indiana, property owners. Don't forget $100 to $200 for books, and other materials.
Granted it is cheeper that private schools. My children attended parochial schools for several years and we paid nearly $600 per child, plus the same $100 to $200 per child for books. This was only because we were members of the church.
Cosby was right, but his comments extend to Whites, hispanics and nearly every other ethnic and racial group. Many parents I have seen at my children's schools simply let the children run wild. Unfortunately, this same group accounts for the largest number of reports for domestic violence and child neglect. The system seems to feed on itself. but it's not just black families; poor white families fall into this same mix, often with the same results.
As an example, I was working as a substitute teacher at a small-town middle school. One student took the stapler off the desk behind my back, and was trying to drive staples into his arms, on a dare from another student. When I took the student to the office, I was fired for "bothering the administration with meaningless reports."
It would be untactful for anyone here to raise the issue of all Qweesie's illegitimate children. I believe that he will admit to having five or six kids with four or five women, none of whom he ever married. But, so long as he talks the talk, it doesn't matter if he doesn't walk the walk because, well, he is a leader of the black community and sets an example by the power of his speech, certainly, on matters of education.
I'll accept that as true; however, "compassion" without sense and courage doesn't help anyone. His remarks at this event are certainly realistic, but why can't he use his immense wealth and influence to promote educational choice, which is favored by the majority of black parents?
I don't see how it's possible for him to be "beholden" to anyone, in the sense that some outside force, using the threat of harm, should dictate his opinions. How much courage does it take to be honest, when you're richer than 99.99999% of the world, and all your "enemies" could do to you is say some rude things?
"If I weigh a loudmouthed conservative racist announcer's thoughts and opinions against a 12-year-old child being shot," concern for the child wins, he said.
How about a loudmouthed, radical, racist, black, race baiter such as J.J. Jessie Jackson, or Al Sharpton. Do their thoughts stand above the welfare of a child? I think your unstinting support of them shows where you stand.
"Hey Coz..who da f**k axed you?"
"when I asked her where the government would get the funds, she said they could "print more money"."
Dear God. Someone obviously spent their student load money on dank.
I think we'll be seeing more of this kind of thing from certain black leaders --- they're realizing they've been replaced by an even better victim class --- the politicians are now pandering in every way to a foreign victim class because there are far better numbers --- it is growing exponentially with no limits to how many can come in and claim victim status and the politicians are losing interest in blacks as victim for that reason.
A broken clock is correct twice a day.. If a democrat had any sense they would'nt even be a democrat.. They'd be a neocon screwing up the best agenda for this country by real conservatives. And many of the less dumb ones are.
First of all, it is "Shakespeare" not "Shakespear".
Second, you are taking Shakespeare's commentary out of context.
Third, I am paying back my student loans just fine, thank you.
What do you call a law school flunky? A bill collector.
i agree with cosby's remarks, obviously. having lived in los angeles and having been threatened with guns by blacks, the problem of the inner city black male begins with his parents or parent. like cosby, i remember riding a bus and sitting behind a black kid who was wearing $500.00 of jewelry; he was telling an older woman that he was "disadvantaged".
cosby ought to curb mrs. cosby. she got tammy bruce of kfi fired several years ago.
tammy bruce was an late evening radio host on kfi 640 am los angeles. she's a lesbian, but i found her honest. growing up poor, she rose to head n.o.w. of los angeles.
later she flipped from democrat to republican. she's now best buds with david horowitz.
the issue was the murder of cosby's son. he was driving a luxury car and had a flat on the 405 between west l.a. and the valley at night. he got out to change it and was murdered by a russian immigrant. the cops found him, and brought him to justice.
mrs. cosby went ballastic on national media, saying something to the effect that the united states is a racist country and this was to blame for her son's death.
tammy took the opposite, and common sense view imo, she said what happened was regretable, but could happen to any american. any american that stopped that night in the santa monica mountains to change a tire would have been robbed and murdered by that crazy russian immigrant.
so much for free speech. mrs. cosby used her husband's billion dollar empire to complain to the owners of kfi. tammy was removed from her long-standing kfi radio show. money has its privileges, even if the opinion of mrs. cosby is reverse-racism and commonsensical not.
tammy is now a "right-wing" lesbian! she had a book out a couple years ago. the los angeles times mag did a piece on her when she got her bachelors degree from usc at middle age, starting with her dinner invite to horowitz's right wing mansion in malibu, and ending with a media observation that a phd in politics might be in her future because she's very bright. obviously the radical left and feminists of los angeles hate her guts.
There is no way Cosby is a real liberal at heart---- or he could not have produced such a good wholesome family show. When Theo asked him for more allowance --- did he tell Theo he was a victim of the whites, tell him to work for reparations? No --- he acted like a Conservative even back then and told Theo to get a job. Did his show have the daughters having to get an abortion? Or gays and lesbians, some of the kids coming out of the closet and the parents taking it in good stride? It was a Conservative show.
Sorry Mr.Cosby the racist were IN FACT in your audience. Thats a fact!
Sigh. You have to remember what he is, where he comes from, his background, and what else he will always be, to understand that he'll always be prejudiced beyond whatever it takes to get people to purchase his products and contribute to his lifestyle. IMO, he couldn't care any more about a 12-year old kid than how talking about the kid can make him look good.
(translation: "I give the appearance of liking (_____-)people as long as I can make money off of them.")
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