Bill Cosby
Posted on 05/20/2004 11:20:43 PM PDT by JohnHuang2
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?"
Privately: "Hey, Bill stole my lines!!"
I will give up my pound cake when they pry it from my cold, dead hands...
wow!!
Guess he will be called an uncle tom now for telling it like it is, you are so right Mr.Cosby.
Bank on it -- the Left won't tolerate criticism.
"Noah!"
225 posts too slow:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1138989/posts
I'm pretty sure he won't be asked to speak there again.
Seriosly, it's important that the message of personal responsibility be coveyed by someone of Bill Cosby's social stature. This man is more than your typical actor or entertainer, and he probably has more popular clout than more conservative blacks like Alan Keyes or Starr Parker.
I remember part of one of his many stand-up routines, in which he mimicked a little kid: "You told me for to not for to drink your Coke!" He knows the problem and understands people.
Well said.
'Why you ain't,' 'Where you is'
I believe that they go out of their way to talk like this, it sets them apart from whites, and it is cool to them. They are always coming up with gimmicks to be separate, like wearing their hats crooked, (which to me looks stupid) rap, and so on. It's not really hard to speak English correct, they just don't want to.
Mfume’s job - and income - are dependant on maintaining the victim status of poor black Americans. He had to object.
Young blacks aren’t being hired into high paying status job - because they can’t communicate - and it’s all the fault of the evil white folks holding them down by forcing them to speak Ebonics.
Young blacks are imprisoned at a much higher rate than young whites - and it’s the evil white folk’s fault because this segment of the black community consider prison time a rite of passage.
I wonder if C-SPAN was there to record this?
They sure were for last weekend's Tavis Smiley's "blame-everyone-but-me" hate fest. Hours and hours of it.
Cosby is not an "authentic" black. He be unaware of Ebonics and that black scholars have determined that Ebonics is genetic.
The truth hurts so good.
Or correctly, for that matter. 8^)
Yes indeed, truth hurts. I applaud Cosby for his courage.
The self-flattering nonsense of NAACP needed to be balanced
by an honest self-critique.
Whether Cosby is liberal or conservative is immaterial.
As he said once: "I don't know the key to success, but
the key to failure is to try to please everyone." His
message deserves more than the reported "stone-faced"
look of Mfume, Swygert and Shaw.
Cosby didn't offend just a few blacks but also La Raza, Lulac, Mecha, and a whole lot of others.
I put 110% of the blame on the National Education Assodciation which has no interest in teaching children how to read, write, speak or compute. They dominate the programs that ultimately wind up in the classromm -- and focus on diversity, gay-is-OK, anti-America, pro-socialisim, wacky-environmentalism, etc. Poor, minority children are most crippled by this system.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.