Posted on 05/20/2004 12:26:34 AM PDT by NewLand
NAACP leaders stunned by remarks of prominent comedian
Posted: May 20, 2004
1:00 a.m. Eastern
© 2004 WorldNetDaily.com
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.
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?"
Would these same remarks, if made by a Conservative-White-Republican, be given 'a pass' by the liberal media?
Does this pass the "if Newt Gingrich said the same thing" test?
strange? has this guy gone off the deep end?
That will be the last time Bill Cosby is ever invited to an NAACP event. Astounding !
WHOA.
Don't let Danny Glover or Harry Belafonte hear about this.
There was a thread about this yesterday. The freeper day shift responded positively to his comments.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1138606/posts?page=1,50
I'd have to hear how he said this but . . . I'm a law-and-order conservative, but I have a problem with shooting people over Coke and pound cake. I'm sure that was a joke. I can't imagine that statement being anything other than mocking those of us who do believe in being tough on crime. Then again, I don't have a son who was murdered.
he's a full-bloodied leftist and demonrat, and I am sure you will see him cozying up to Kerry, but even leftist have to spit the truth out once in a while....( it causes gas build-up if you don't)
It's the parents fault in all areas of education, not just these minorities.
The teacher's union also knows it, but monopolize on the parental responsibility gap to fill the union coffers.
Want to increase education, get the unions out of teaching along with their lawyers.
I think Cosby had gonads to give this speech to that particular crowd. Good for him.
I often wonder what Martin Luther King would think of the current free-for-all idiocy that his supposed surrogate Jackson is promoting. The mighty man is spinning in his grave with shallow freaks like Jackson/Sharpton destroying the word.
Well, you know the answer -- of course not.
But we all have to get over the idea of answering them with the fairness issue. The left has changed its philosophy from the one we believe in -- western rational thinking -- to another model that claims that the majority in power are there only because of privilege.
In their eyes privilege is power and anything can be excused by those not in power. It's patent nonsense of course but our arguments for justice (as we understand it) just fall on purposely deaf ears.
That said, I'm really pleased to read that Cosby spoke some truth. He is an unabashed leftist, but it appears his ol' brain still works from time to time.
No it doesn't pass if Newt says the same thing, but it does not matter. I am proud of Cosby for saying this and we should all be rejoicing that Black Americans have a few leaders that are willing to speak the truth to them on occassion.
His point that blacks can't speak English, is important to understand though.
Most blacks brought to the US as slaves never learned to speak English properly. Segregated schools did not teach it to them and so parents passed on the black dialect of English - some call it Ebonics - to their children generation after generation. It is not as if blacks one day decided to speak differently. They never spoke "High English"
Dialects in Europe are so much more common and recognized that they are now seen as something valuable and worth preserving. But that does not mean that every student is not (in for instance Germany) taught how to speak High German.
There was a big outrage several years ago about "Ebonics". This was perhaps a ploy to get English as a Second Language money from the state.
But, ladies and gentlemen, perhaps this is exactly the type of investment black children need. Not welfare, not prisons, but English. Just like Europe they should be able to preserve their dialect and culture at home. But in the marketplace they need to speak High English.
Every other immigrant group has managed this after the 3rd generation. I am not sure why blacks have not. But, I would be willing to make the case that the reparations we owe blacks for slavery should be made by teaching their children how to speak proper English.
Lastly, if you have never learned to speak a foreign language, don't even bother to comment on how easy or hard it is.
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."
Wouldn't that have been worth the price of admission? Cosby was messing with Mfume's meal tickets!
I can't believe Cosby said that. Maybe he's changing his political POV?
well said...agreed!
Heck yes on all counts! Well stated!
Wasn't there an expression that went something like...'a liberal is someone who hasn't experienced a crime yet'...
Cosby's son was murdered by thugs, if you recall.
Well in this instance Cosby should be given a lot of credit for saying exactly what any concerned citizen should say to any group of people who have not taken responsibility for their own actions.
If you don't speek english, don't expect a fortune 500 company to hire you. If you don't get up in the morning, shower, shave and get your house in order, don't expect to be successful.
In some respect Shaw was right by mentioning that not all problem people are black. In every other respect he was a chump for saying what he did. Blacks make up roughly 11% of the U.S. population, whites aroung 65-70%. Of course there are going to be more whites on welfare. Proportionately, there are far more blacks on welfare than whites.
Blacks, hispanics, whites... you name it, people who wish to be successful and work for it, generally do become successful in this nation.
Blacks have been failed by two entities in this nation, their leadership, and themselves.
If I remember correctly Cosby’s son was killed by a Russian (East European anyway) immigrant.
You may not remember but Jesse Jackson of all people broke in preaching self reliance and education. He was good with a quick quote and so he was QUICKLY BROUGHT ONTO THE PLANTATION. I bet that Cosby is reined in too unless he really is firm in his convictions ala Justice Thomas or Amb. Keyes.
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