already being done, boondocks has pilloried him since he broke form the fold
Posted on 11/20/2004 4:18:43 PM PST by wagglebee
ATLANTA (AP) -- Bill Cosby said Thursday that there is an undercurrent of anger behind the problems facing black youth in America today, and that it is up the older generation to help turn things around.
"Our children are angry. The profanity is out in the street. It's on the buses and in the subway. Our children are trying to tell us something, and we are not listening," Cosby said in a speech at Frederick Douglass High School, named for the 19th-century black man who became an abolitionist leader and an adviser to President Abraham Lincoln.
The Atlanta visit was part of Cosby's tour of the country speaking to young black men and women about morals and responsibility.
During previous speeches, the 67-year-old comedian has criticized some black children for not knowing how to read or write, said some had squandered opportunities the civil rights movement gave them and unfairly blame whites for problems such as teen pregnancy and high dropout rates.
About 3,000 overflowed the high school gymnasium to hear his remarks, which largely were addressed to parents.
"We're loaded with wisdom. We've got to open our mouths. We've got to stop this thing," Cosby said.
"Our children want to cry. Our children want to be hugged, and we're not giving it to them," he said.
"You have to know your power. You can see it in your history. Just go to an old person and say `How did you do it?"' he said. Cosby said one of the most pressing problems is young men fathering children and taking no responsibility.
"I'm saying to you men, please, for goodness sake, if you got children, even if you don't have a job, go visit them and explain how sorry you are," he said. "There are teachers in the United States who cry in the daytime because they see a child or children who haven't eaten properly, children who haven't used soap in so long.
"You can't tell me that this is all the white man's fault," he said.
"Everybody is not a victim," Cosby said as he began to tell the story abour Brown vs. Board of Education, and the legal team that overturned school desegregation.
"They beat back the white bigots with their brains," Cosby said. "When I look at 55 percent of our black men dropping out of school, how bad off are we going to be when we need some lawyers?"
Most of the audience members seemed supportive of Cosby's comments. Claire Walker, who works at IBM and lives in Decatur, said she got off early to hear him speak.
"It's something that should have been said a long time ago," Walker said. "Our leaders aren't taking responsibility for the youth of black America."
Walker said she is from the Caribbean, where people don't understand the attitudes and actions of many black youths in the United States.
"I just don't understand parents accepting mediocrity," she said. Henry Joyner III, who graduated from Douglass High in 1982 and is now a middle school teacher, said the turnout was good.
"This is the central issue in black America -- the education of our youth," Joyner said.
Douglass ninth grader Orientrius Cook said Cosby "is very powerful, and he spread his wisdom."
Cosby hit home when he talked about unwed parents, he said.
"I see a lot of girls who are pregnant. If they had a father figure, some of this wouldn't be," he said.
Black Conservative metaping
Get them while they're young. Otherwise, they grow up to be folks like Biggie Smalls and Old Dirty Bastard. By the time they're sixteen and seventeen, you have to toss them in a bootcamp as opposed to simple classroom teaching. This is according to my sister substitute teaching in a school that was taken over by the state. Boy did she get a rude awakening, and it didn't take her long to get jaded and cold either.
I still can't figure out the meaning of that statement *lol*
Screw Cosby! He's been in the tank and supportive of the Democrap party that caused the cultural meltdown of the black family. Hypocrite!
Just saw "Tell My Friends on the Shore" a '72 Cosby movie and his movies have been very consistent about preaching morals and values. Heck, Cosby's main character is even forced out of work by a union strike.
Your opinion, Sir?
Pretty soon we're going to start to see anti-Cosby political cartoons.
Cosby tells it like it is here--and this also applies to today's white community.
Well at least he's trying to change things.
Here, here. By backing Jesse Jackson and others at a political level, he's been part of the problem. By awakening moral conscience, he can be part of the solution.
Yep. "Somethings wrong with our children...they are angry"...Yeah, they`re being raised by dim-o-rats. I`d be angry too. "Oh Eddie, Bush is evil and we must listen to what Mr. Kerry says" "Waaah no Mom!!!"
I just hope he is not preaching to the choir.
already being done, boondocks has pilloried him since he broke form the fold
Well duh Bill... It's the Jesse Jacksons (your dear, friend) of America that has kept this anger alive for OVER 20 YEARS!
At least he's saying it. Some people need to be driven to absolute jealousy to do something. Blaming people and circumstances will only get you so far especially when other people in the same circumstances are achieving.
Bill Cosby needs to get on the voucher bandwagon.
Cosby tells it like it is here--and this also applies to today's white community.
Unless it's in NYC, where they've suspended 'no child left behind' because of overwhelming requests to move students.
Because I worked for civil rights improvements in the south in the late 60's and felt that our country was so close to accepting 'Dr. Kings Dream', I am ashamed, I am disappointed at what we all have allowed to happen to promote the new liberal version of racism in America.
The soft bigotry of low expectations fostered by political correctness and the evil crusade of reverse racism led by Jesse Jackson, Maxine Waters, Qwiese Mfume and so many more has done such a disservice to generations of black Americans. It is a national disgrace.
When we have come to a point where Kobe Bryant and OJ Simpson get standing ovations and Condi Rice is slandered and ridiculed in America's media, these social wounds will not heal any time soon.
"Oh Eddie, Bush is evil and we must listen to what Mr. Kerry says" "Waaah no Mom!!!"
ROFLMAO!!!!!!!!!!
Too funny!
I think Cosby's statements apply to all people, not just blacks.
When I was growing up (when we had to walk through the snow to school), I could not watch TV on school nights, I had to have an after-school activity etc...
I swear, I have never seen so many fat kids as I do today. I think they just play video games.
"Our children are angry. The profanity is out in the street. It's on the buses and in the subway. Our children are trying to tell us something, and we are not listening,"
I dont think they are angry; I think that they are poorly raised.
Ill give anyone another chance if they are sincere. He's way out on a limb here and deserves praise.
""Everybody is not a victim," Cosby said"
Hey Bill, at 67 years of age it is pretty nice that you are doing this. It's nice that you are pointing these things out.
But, when you were young, making your riches on the TV, just how often did you stand and speak this boldly? As I recall, not often at all. Perhaps you were storing your wealth and keeping quiet b/c you planned to take this offensive this late in life. But, I doubt it. You played a nice family doctor with a 'normal' family. Riggghhhht. And you raked in the dough, bit time.
How many young black men, who are on TV today making millions in sports, are you encouraging to talk NOW about this topic? How many rap stars are you barging in on during their recording sessions, and slamming them for the utter darkness of spirit coming from that filth? And, oh yes, how often do you say out loud that churches and faith can play a huge role in fixing this mess?
But we don't hear of these kinds of creative tactics on your part. Now, you are just pointing your finger, and pointing out that its a mess and saying people should 'grow up'. I offer you this suggestion: get a HECK OF A LOT MORE RADICAL THAN THIS. After all, you are not getting any younger.
You see my point Bill: TV, being sold out to TV is the key. You have little to lose, now, by leveraging that point.
I know that Bill Cosby has supported Jackson and some other leftist politicians in the past. I'm not sure about donations to any truly radical groups. IIRC most of his money has gone to scholarship programs and I commend him for that.
http://newsmeat.com/fec/bystate_detail.php?st=CA&last=Cosby&first=William
This is so very true. I listened to it myself during my many years of teaching at a black college just a short distance from the high school where Cosby spoke. The young men were particularly angry at having grown up without fathers in their lives. The young women generally expressed their feelings in more subtle ways, but when they reached young adulthood, almost all of them had nothing but hatred for black men, including the young men who had fathered their own children (or soon would). I am so very, very glad Cosby is bringing it out into the open.
*sigh*
I guess she's not hearing what Cosby is saying. It is NOT the responsibility of black leaders to fix what's wrong with the black community. The abandonment of children by black fathers has been most of the problem.
Your sister teaches at Roosevelt?
My opinion of Mr. Cosby's addressing of this issue is as it always has been: He's right.
He is focussing on what needs to be done rather than political connotations. That's why I give him a pass when he chafes at those of us on the Right who point to what he is saying. Truth be told, his message trumps everything else.
Well over $25 million in donations to Black Colleges...now he's putting his mouth where his money is.
Oooh! Could you imagine the nuclear fallout if he said that he is onboard with vouchers?
From your keyboard to God's CRT, j.
true, but there are plenty of republicans who neglect their children, take for example my parents, I never had a father figure because he was always at work, trust me this is not just a dim-o-rat problem its a white/black/asian/mexican/democrat/republican/ etc.. party, although the numbers may be higher for certain groups there is still a major problem with familys of every type all across this country
I disagree with your generalization and morally relative equated positioning -your definition of neglect may be slightly different than that of a which the article refers... -lets say your definition is a more 'liberal' definition
The morally corrupt village concept is at the root of the democrats 'agenda' -a selfish agenda that sacrifices morality and innocence by rationally denying moral truths... -this elitist social engineering permeates societal strata regardless of parental status --neglect would encompass NOT protecting children from the morally liberal...
Neglect takes many forms.
A father who works all the time and does not make nay effort to emotionally connect with his children is just as abusive as a father who physically assaults his children.
He's finally saying what I've been wanting to say. Problem is, I'm just a middle class white boy.
"Cosby said one of the most pressing problems is young men fathering children and taking no responsibility."
- He should know. He knocked up a woman when he was a young married comedian and never saw the baby girl. Apparently, she tried to squeeze some support money out of him several years ago by threatening to reveal that Cosby was her father. Being black and a loyal Democratic Party plantation worker, the press made no fuss and the daughter got the Paula Jones trailer trash treatment. I don't remember reading if they sent her to jail or not.
Compare that to the dirt dumped on old Henry Hyde for his youthful affair from half a century ago. They crucified him.
He kinda was. His work (The Cosby Show, Ghost Dad) portrayed blacks as successful people.
It takes a doctorate, in "education" of all things, to be allowed to state the obvious nowadays. Sigh!
Moral Absolutes Ping - Just a gentle reminder from Mr. Cosby that when 75% of babies are born illegimate, chaos and social destruction ensue. Millions of lives are destroyed. Families are destroyed. Men wind up in prison. Women wind up with numerous children fathered by numerous men, none of whom act as fathers.
Basically, children need (1) father, who is married to (1) mother. And when nuclear mass of illegimatacy is reached, as in the black community and among a lot of white people as well, then - the results is subhuman barbarians who ruin their own lives and lives of those around them.
And we want "gay" marriage now?
Let me know if anyone wants on/off this pinglist.
hmmm... citing this as abusive is taking quite a 'liberal' position -your implied yet unproven intent and victimhood are only morally relative argumentive points that attempt two equate two entirely differing actions...
She is missing the point. Don't count on leaders, rely on yourself. No "leader" can do it for you.
That's like saying President Bush can never talk about the evils of drinking because he had a problem in his youth.
Substitute teacher... she said she can't imagine teaching there regularly.
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