Posted on 05/01/2008 12:11:45 PM PDT by Puppage
NEWARK, N.J. -- Comedian Bill Cosby told several hundred people at a conference of community associations Thursday to stand up and confront the ills facing black Americans and ignore those he called "intellectual panhandlers."
Characterizing his own words as "blunt, but not harsh," Cosby criticized a culture in which "babies are wearing $40 sneakers while their mothers are feeding them Oodles of Noodles" and in which pimps and murderers are seen as heroes.
During a speech that lasted nearly an hour, he began by comparing current attitudes to a patient who ignores a toothache until it requires major surgery.
Several times he exhorted the audience to "stand up and stop looking for somebody to blame," a mantra that has angered some black leaders who have accused him of downplaying the effects of long-term discrimination.
Cosby termed some of those critics "intellectual panhandlers" who enable destructive behaviors by staying silent or blaming them on racism.
"You've got these idiots who've got these degrees and some of them are ordained ministers and they say, 'Bill, you're picking on the poor,"' he said. He then drew laughs by adding, "Well, so did Jesus then. Jesus was always telling someone, 'Go ye.' Jesus was always telling people to go somewhere. And 'don't do this again or don't do that again."'
Wearing a sweater with a Yale University logo in honor of Newark Mayor Cory A. Booker, a Yale Law School graduate, Cosby saved some of most pointed words for radio stations that play music that he called "pro-murder and anti-women" and said adults are equally complicit if they fail to speak up.
"I haven't seen the demonstrations saying, 'I'm not allowing my children to listen to this," he said. "It's killing us. We're not talking about it, and we're not beating it down."
Thursday's conference was hosted by South Orange-based Family Intervention Services and Newark Now, an organization formed by Booker.
Cosby was introduced by Booker, who touted the Family Success program he developed that has expanded to 11 support facilities in Newark, as well as his efforts to develop a re-entry program for ex-convicts once they are released from prison.
Booker called Cosby "a critical voice right now in the American context" and praised his willingness to speak out on issues without bowing to political correctness.
"This is a time for candor -- we can't beat around the bush," Booker said. "We've got large percentages of our population that are underachieving. He's speaking to the heart of the matter, and he speaks to the realities of what a lot of folks are experiencing."
Tru dat
Bill Cosby is awesome!
“You’ve got these idiots who’ve got these degrees and some of them are ordained ministers and they say, ‘Bill, you’re picking on the poor,”’ he said. He then drew laughs by adding, “Well, so did Jesus then. Jesus was always telling someone, ‘Go ye.’ Jesus was always telling people to go somewhere. And ‘don’t do this again or don’t do that again.”’
I NOMINATE BILL COSBY FOR NEW SPIRITUAL ADVISOR/MENTOR TO BARACK OBAMA!
I am very certain the ‘Race Pimps’ like Sharpton, Jackson and others who have made it an industry of keeping Blacks down and in the ‘Victim’ mode, do not want to hear what Cosby has to say. They’ve been pretty successful in keeping him out of the mainstream and keeping their ‘Flocks’ on the Plantation.
I couldn't agree more.
Anyone who really cares about helping black folks should line up behind Cosby. I don’t expect to see Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, Jeremiah Wright or Alicia Keyes in that crowd, which says a lot about them.
The Fox “Talk Show” faux-comedy show that is midnight on Saturdays had a guy stand up in the audience last week, pretending to be Cosby. Sweater, cigar, and taking about “the hip-hopping munsic with the pants hanging down”, trying to make this deadly serious moment of clarity something silly, and ridicule Cosby. Isn’t it sad that this personal attack, trying to make him look like “the grumpy old guy on the front porch yelling at the kids” is used to try and avoid media’s responsibility for making money off of filth?
“Dad is great, he gives us chocolate cake” bump
This isn’t the same Bill Cosby who was accused by 10 young
women of drugging them and sexually molesting them?
Bill Cosby is a hero of mine!
God Bless him!
I never heard that story, was any of it ever proven? If not, there is a good likelihood that Bill could be the victim of would-be gold diggers.
Cosby tells it like it is, but sadly, the people who should be paying attention are not listening.
Even if true, does it make the things he’s saying any less valid?
Paul Crouch and Mike Murdock made a fortune telling people what they wanted to hear. They don’t like it either when someone calls them out for it.
Only one ever pursued charges and it never went to court. Just because you are accused doesn’t mean you did it.
God bless Bill Cosby!
Cosby threatens the lucrative racist hate-mongering industry led by Wright et al. Their whole schtick is based on the lie that whitey is keeping the black man down.
As you can see from this article, any suggestion that blacks can better their situation the way everyone else can better their situation, and that blacks no longer can pin their status on long-ago discrimination is met with howls from the racist hate-pimps.
With my "not so happy" feelings about McCain, if Obama took Bill Cosby as a spiritual adviser, I'd vote for him.
Is it too late to write his name in?
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