Bill Cosby has more harsh words for black community

CNN ^ | July1st, 2004

[missyme]

CHICAGO, Illinois (AP) -- Bill Cosby went off on another tirade against the black community Thursday, telling a room full of activists that black children are running around not knowing how to read or write and "going nowhere."

He also had harsh words for struggling black men, telling them: "Stop beating up your women because you can't find a job."

Cosby made headlines in May when he upbraided some poor blacks for their grammar and accused them of squandering opportunities the civil rights movement gave them.

He shot back Thursday, saying his detractors were trying in vain to hide the black community's "dirty laundry."

"Let me tell you something, your dirty laundry gets out of school at 2:30 every day, it's cursing and calling each other n------ as they're walking up and down the street," Cosby said during an appearance at the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition & Citizenship Education Fund's annual conference.

"They think they're hip," the entertainer said. "They can't read; they can't write. They're laughing and giggling, and they're going nowhere."

In his remarks in May at a commemoration of the anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education desegregation decision, Cosby denounced some blacks' grammar and said those who commit crimes and wind up behind bars "are not political prisoners."

"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," Cosby said then. "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."

Cosby elaborated Thursday on his previous comments in a talk interrupted several times by applause. He castigated some blacks, saying that they cannot simply blame whites for problems such as teen pregnancy and high school dropout rates.

"For me there is a time ... when we have to turn the mirror around," he said. "Because for me it is almost analgesic to talk about what the white man is doing against us. And it keeps a person frozen in their seat, it keeps you frozen in your hole you're sitting in."

Cosby lamented that the racial slurs once used by those who lynched blacks are now a favorite expression of black children. And he blamed parents.

"When you put on a record and that record is yelling 'n----- this and n----- that' and you've got your little 6-year-old, 7-year-old sitting in the back seat of the car, those children hear that," he said.

He also condemned black men who missed out on opportunities and are now angry about their lives.

"You've got to stop beating up your women because you can't find a job, because you didn't want to get an education and now you're (earning) minimum wage," Cosby said. "You should have thought more of yourself when you were in high school, when you had an opportunity."

Cosby appeared Thursday with the Rev. Jesse Jackson, founder and president of the education fund, who defended the entertainer's statements.

"Bill is saying let's fight the right fight, let's level the playing field," Jackson said. "Drunk people can't do that. Illiterate people can't do that."

Cosby also said many young people are failing to honor the sacrifices made by those who struggled and died during the civil rights movement.

"Dogs, water hoses that tear the bark off trees, Emmett Till," he said, naming the black youth who was tortured and murdered in Mississippi in 1955, allegedly for whistling at a white woman. "And you're going to tell me you're going to drop out of school? You're going to tell me you're going to steal from a store?"

Cosby also said he wasn't concerned that some whites took his comments and turned them "against our people."

"Let them talk," he said.

[Warrior Nurse]

I am speaking as a black American that has lived in black neighborhood and is a graduate of Howard University which is located in the 'hood of DC. Because of my conservative views I have been called sell out, wanna be white, Uncle Tom, Handkerchief head n---er, Bourgeois. Even while attending Howard there is an anti intellectual element that permeates the student body. Not to mention the overt liberalism and blame whitey for all that ails the black community. Well let me tell you this, I don't blame the white man for over 1400 abortions a day, black on black crime, 70% of children are bastards, out of control illiteracy rate. These wounds are self inflicted and not the result of institutional racism which many of the so called black leaders are railing against.

I remember watching Oprah and her lamenting the time she was discriminated against while shopping. I wanted to bust the TV because the richest black woman on the planet is screaming racism b/c she was followed in the store. You know she could buy that store and fire every employee in the organization. Racism is bad economic policy especially in today lawsuit crazy society.

[Trust but Verify]

You are a fine example of what blacks can achieve if they put the onus on themselves. It is long past time for black leaders to stand up and speak these truths. I only hope people will listen. African Americans have been told for so long by power-hungry leaders and politicians that they can't do any better and that none of their problems are self-inflicted.

Perhaps Bill Cosby's courage in pulling the curtain back will encourage others to do the same.

It is sorely needed and woefully late in coming.

[ladyrustic]

Bill Cosby is a philanthropist, too. My little corner of Massachusetts tends toward rural poverty, and he has visited some of our poorest schools to encourage the kids to work hard in school to build a good life for themselves, and he has given money to help these schools. And our poorest schools are almost all white. He does it just to help our community, not because he wants publicity, as some philanthropists do...

Thank you, Bill Cosby!

[Mr. Jazzy]

Don't' forget that Mr. Cosby is speaking from a wounded heart. He lost his son to a piece of filth, disguised as a human being. He has a justified and righteous anger against the destruction of children that a large number of so-called "Black Leaders" have either ignored or manipulated to gain their own power and prominence. He is raging against the entire "do whatever you want, you are ENTITLED to it" group think that is rampant in society.

[foreshadowed at waco]

He shot back Thursday, saying his detractors were trying in vain to hide the black community's "dirty laundry."

"Let me tell you something, your dirty laundry gets out of school at 2:30 every day, it's cursing and calling each other n------ as they're walking up and down the street,"

I think that this portion of his speech is the most crucial...the black community has been fearful of going public with the problems within their community for fear of feeding the stereotype...unfortunately 10 to 20 years of neglect has ravaged a couple of generations of poor urban children...I teach in an inner city school in Brooklyn...it is positively daunting trying to undo some of the damage of parental neglect.

[Hilltop]

Bwaahaaaaaaa....too funny..

[quark]

Hey, hey, hey...!

[capocchio]

black children are running around not knowing how to read or write and "going nowhere."

Here's my take on why Blacks are going nowhere (posted earlier on another thread).

While the White community, in my opinion, has been more than "giving" in providing programs and financial support to bring Blacks out of poverty and ignorance, unfortunately many Black leaders (and those who seek their political support) have not been willing to expect much of their constituency. Thus Black on Black crime abounds, as does Black racism (against non-Blacks) single parent households, out of wedlock children, low levels of learning, inability to work in the real world, and rampant drug abuse.

Immigration has built our country. And while we have Irish Americans, Italian Americans, Polish Americans, Native Americans, and now, the new "majority minority", Mexican Americans, they have all adapted (mostly) to the real world. They hold jobs, they earn a living, they build families, they obey the law.

But not so with Blacks. Even for those who have "risen out of the ghetto", it is OK for those who have not to make demands on the community as a whole. Thus crime rates rise, drug use abounds, contempt for the law is acceptable, "ghetto-speak" is permissible. The rest of the "minorities" see American freedom and opportunigy as more than this, but Blacks don't.

It’s almost as though while they have been freed, all they want to be is slaves. The Black who has left the ghetto accepts society’s rules, and lives by them (for they must after all earn a living, do something useful, come to work on time, not break the law, pay taxes and using "ghetto speak" at work won’t take them anywhere). But still they think it’s OK for other Blacks to not follow those rules, to remain slave-like in their approach to life. Cosby's is a lone voice.

My question is why must Mexican Americans obey the law, why must the Asian American, why the Irish American, but not the African American? Should we ignore this dichotomy and advocate such irresponsibility? Can society function with those discrepancies and inequalities? Is nothing more expected of the "freed slave" than to merely exist and take handouts? On the plantation, the master provided all the essentials of life. But even there work was required, and laws had to be obeyed (except in the "quarters" where more laxity was allowed). The "freed slave" wants the laxity of the "quarters" but none of the restraints of "life off the plantation".

Should this "freed slave" be allowed to prey on those trying to climb out of "ghetto-think"? Does compassion require us to accept, even to advocate such inequalities? Just what is "social justice" – is it no law and order for the Blacks, but law and order for the rest of us?

Until the "freed slave" is willing to accept the responsibilities of citizenship, he will remain as useless as Cosby says they are, and a drag on society. No wonder they use the "N" word to describe themselves, for that is what they have remained.

[Rate_Determining_Step]

> You just know Je$$e is wondering what's in it for him.

Correct assessment. Jessee knows more about shaking down trembling CEOs than telling it like it is. He's out of his element will Mr. Cosby.

[JohnD9207]

First you have to understand that the message went so far over Jessie's head that in his shock over Mr. Cosby's statements, that he had to get his 2 cents in, while missing the point of Mr. Cosby's remarks. "Bill is saying let's fight the right fight, let's level the playing field," Jackson said. We have to learn to fight the right fight...AND LEVEL THE PLAYING FIELD. Mr. Cosby was saying that regardless of the conditions of the playing field, if African Americans show up to the game, uneducated, foul mouthed, angry because they have been taught to look back rather than focusing on the future, they won't get on the playing field. I have young members of my family who chose to quit school, use drugs, disrespect women as well as anyone else that they disagree with, and believe me they aren't on the playing field.

[dfwgator]

About damn time somebody said it.

[185JHP]

This is a great thing for Bill to do. He's telling truths to/about scoundrels that the race hustler/race problem solvers are threatened by. And he's got enough gravitas that it works.

[PallMal]

I remember watching Oprah and her lamenting the time she was discriminated against while shopping.

I've heard this, but sorry, I don't believe her. If it were true, why has she never mentioned the store by name or location, either on her show or in print? Doesn't she owe other blacks a favor by letting them know where this "store" is, so as to let them know not to shop there?

[Fedora]

Cosby appeared Thursday with the Rev. Jesse Jackson, founder and president of the education fund, who defended the entertainer's statements.

So Jesse Jackson is trying to ride Bill's jock now?--ROFLMBO!--now I've seen everything. . .

[tob2]

There would be no outcry if Bill Cosby were white and said those things! It's all about personal responsibility.

[Spook86]

IMO, there were a couple of highlights from Dr. Cosby's speech at the Rainbow/PUSH meeting. First, of course, you had Cosby speaking the truth--saying things that too many Americans (black and white) are too afraid to mention. And, BTW, Cosby's comments cut across racial barriers; there are a lot of white and hispanic kids that are illiterate, lack effective communication skills and acquiring their world view from the lyrics of gangsta rap. Factor in parents that often don't give a damn, and you've got a generation that is unequipped for life in the 21st century.

But the real highlight was the look on Jesse Jackson's face while Cosby delivered his sermon. Jackson was fuming; not surprising, because, point-by-point, Cosby destroyed Jackson and his long-standing "blame it on whitey/we need more federal programs" platform. If you watch thet tape, you'll note that Cosby was interrupted several times by cheering and applause--Jackson never clapped once during Cosby's speech.

BTW, I don't agree with everything Cosby said. If you read between the lines of his remarks, Cosby seems to imply that America is as racist today as it was 40 years ago--a point that can be easily refuted by facts. But Cosby's basic message is on target, and I applaud his courage and honesty.

One more thing: isn't it funny how few black leaders have come forward in support of Bill Cosby? Sadly, the lack of support for Cosby is hardly surprising; with the Democratic National Convention is just a few weeks off, it's not hardly an opportune time to wander off the party plantation, and say things that may jeopardize your political future....

[cyborg]

My sister's friend just dropped out of their medical school because of the students being jealous and discriminating.

[cyborg]

A picture is worth a thousand words in this case *LOL*

[RGSpincich]

This is not just a "black" problem. Kids of all races try to take the easy way out by slipping into street behavior.

[Young Werther]

I was surfin' the cable channels and ran across "The Flip Wilson Show". He and Bill Cosby were successful black entertainers who "broke the color line" and moved our society to a more homogenious culture. Now they've been superceded by the black angst of the ghetto where their example is ignored. Dr. Cosby has a right to question the ludicrous lamentors!