I think that he said what he felt, and that everyone should do that every once in a while. If I'm not mistaken, didn't he say the "N" word too, now that was a little too much. I'm white,but still, I don't like that word.
Cosby stunned me... can you be racist aginst your own ethnicity? Everything he said sounded so spiteful, I think my white ass has as good of an understanding of African American culture as Bill Cosby...
I have to agree with majority. People need to be accountable/responsible for their actions. I work in the inner city and can not even begin to tell you the things I see every day.
I read several articles on what Bill Cosby said, and based on that, the main point that I got was for african americans to take responsibility for their actions/lives and stop blaming their shortcomings on whites and events that took places many many years ago. No other group does that. You don't see the Jews blaming the Germans, do you ? (just an example). Respect is earned.
there does come a certani point in time where you have to realize that you can't change another's groups behavior and have to change your own instead. be the change, i suppose. i can't change what someone else does, but i can change what i do. otherwise you just end up in a locked room of frustration and rage.
http://www.alternet.org/columnists/story/19216/ Here is a piece I read by African-American columnist Earl Ofari Hutchinson. Tell me what you think: More Cosby Myths By Earl Ofari Hutchinson, AlterNet. Posted July 13, 2004. Cosby is entitled to publicly air black America's alleged dirty laundry, but when there's more myth than fact in his words, he must be called out on it. Also by Earl Ofari Hutchinson Earl Ofari Hutchinson Comedian Bill Cosby can't help himself. In his latest shoot from the lip outburst against blacks, he still claims they can't read, write or speak coherent English, and that they beat their wives. Cosby didn't cite one fact, statistic, survey or study to back up his repeat of the same silly and wrong-headed outburst he let loose in May. It was a near textbook example of not letting facts get in the way of a good, headline-grabbing yarn. That hasn't stopped the legion of black leaders that have weighed in on Cosby's remarks, and that includes Jesse Jackson, NAACP President Kweisi Mfume, some members of the Congressional Black Caucus, and a horde of black commentators, from stumbling over themselves to hail Cosby as the ultimate truth-giver. Cosby is entitled to publicly air black America's alleged dirty laundry but when there's more myth than dirt in that laundry, then he must be called out on it. Cosby myth: "You've got to stop beating up your women because you can't find a job, and you want to get an education and now you're minimum wage." Truth: It's not clear what bed and living rooms in poor black households Cosby peeped in to make that charge, but a Justice Department study in 2000 found that since 1993, domestic violence plunged among all groups. It further found that the murder rate of black females killed by their partners sharply dropped, while the murder rate jumped among white females killed by their partners. The Justice Department study and a UCLA School of Public Health study in 1996, however, found that blacks are more likely to report domestic violence than whites, Hispanics and Native Americans. In the UCLA study, the blacks who physically abused their partners were young (under 30), lived in urban areas, had lower income and were less educated. The study noted that only about five percent of the men resorted to physical violence during their marital arguments and that the "vast majority" reported discussing their disagreements with their partners calmly and without resort to physical violence. Cosby Myth: "They think they're hip, they can't read; they can't write, they're laughing and giggling, and they're going nowhere." Truth: But many do think it is hip to read and write. The U.S. Dept. of Education found that in the decades since 1975, more blacks had enrolled in school, had improved their SAT scores by nearly 200 points and had lowered their dropout rate significantly. It also found that one in three was in college, and that the number of blacks receiving bachelors and masters degrees had nearly doubled. A survey of student attitudes by the Minority Student Achievement Network, an Illinois-based educational advocacy group in 2002, found that black students were as motivated, studied as hard, and were as serious about graduating as whites. Many of the blacks that now attend historically black colleges – and probably other colleges – are from lower income, disadvantaged homes. In a majority of cases, they are the first members of their family to attend college. Cosby Myth: "Well, Brown versus Board of Education: Where are we today. They paved the way, but what did we do with it." They ...don't hold up their part of the deal." Truth: The ones who aren't holding up their part of the deal are Cosby's lower income whites and middle-income blacks, not the black poor. According to the latest census figures, a higher percentage of lower income blacks were registered to vote, and actually voted, than lower income whites. The same can't be said for their more well to do black brethren. The census found that a lower percentage of higher income blacks were registered, and voted, than their higher income white counterparts. The quantum leap in the number of black elected officials in the past two decades could not have happened without the votes of thousands of poor blacks. Some poor young blacks can't read or write, join gangs, deal drugs, terrorize their communities and beat up their wives or partners. Many whites, Hispanics and Asians also engage in the same type of dysfunctional and destructive behavior. Cosby did not qualify or provide any factual context for his blanket indictment of poor blacks. He made the negative behavior of some blacks a racial rather than endemic social problem. In doing so, he did more than break the alleged taboo against publicly airing racial dirty laundry; he fanned dangerous and destructive stereotypes. That's hardly the call to action that will inspire and motivate underachieving blacks to improve their lives. Quite the contrary, it will further demoralize those poor blacks who are doing the best they can to better their lives. It will do nothing to encourage government officials and business leaders to provide greater resources and opportunities to aid those blacks that need help. In doing that, Cosby, not poor blacks, failed miserably to hold up his part of the deal. Earl Ofari Hutchinson is an author and political analyst. He is the author of 'The Crisis in Black and Black' (Middle Passage Press).
In short, Bill Cosby is not God. I think because he is highly respected by many, some folks blindly believe what he says. I agree there are blacks who haven't done things to help themselves, but then are people of all ethnic groups who aren't doing things to help themselves. And then there's a lot more to Black America than those people who do not represent the best of it.
Am i the only one who see's the Futility of The Whole System ,Black America..White America ..America..Money..Wealth..Class..we have all of these notion's of Seperation ,how does Being seperate from one another help?..There is alway's going to be the poor,downtrodden and uneducated in the current capitalist system ,and no Mergara i am not a communist..where you got this notion from i dont know but the way capitalism is structured there has to be a Lower uneducated class to support the Wealthy educated ,that's just the way it is ,Saying they need to better themselves is lunacy ,how can they if the very system they work in is aimed against people who do try and "better themselves",there is no be all you can be..it's the worlds biggest fucking joke so let's all have a big laugh at our expense..Har..fucking har.
I dont' get it. Why would anyone not like Bill's speech? How can anyone not value communication? I'm English, and I sometimes I can't understand half the things Americans say. It's hard to believe you're using the same language as us. If people use the language correctly then we can all communicate better. What's wrong with that? And why has this turned into a thread about race? Bill didn't mention any particular races, he was talking about young Americans in general.
No dizzy man, Cosby did mention a certain race... his. The speech was about black america as he was addressing the NAACP, nobody turned this tread into a matter of race, thats what cosbys speech pertained to. Theres nothing wrong with addressing race, but the way cosby spoke seemed out of spite, I think hes been in his mansions to long to have perspective on the struggles facing the African American community.
I can see why people would disagree. But I agree completely. It's something I've been saying for quite some time, actually. The majority of African-Americans are degrading themselves. Hell, calling each other bitches, hoes, dogs, even calling each other niggers (And no, there is not a difference between ****** and nigga). It's depressing. And I know Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Martin Luther King, and many others did not fight for that. But then again, maybe they did. After all, freedom movements are about choice. And if you choose to live this way, that's fine. But be prepared for many people to find it horribly pathetic.
I think this article would be a good addition to this thread. "CLOSING THE GAP: Blacks and whites still show unequal academic achievement Fifty years after the Brown v. Board of Education decision, black students’ performance continues to lag behind whites’. Educators say engaging parents will help level the playing field." http://www.dailypress.com/news/dp-brown16,0,2855398.story I advise reading the entire article. There was also a large news report/investigation on the subject at a school only 45 minutes away from my home, which I found to be very interesting.
its sad how big a gap there is between blacks/latinos and whites/asians...i think a lot of it has to do with the pressure the parents put on the kid at home to do well..... i do think its time for a lot of minorities to stop blaming the system andstart taking more responsibility for their own actions.... many american families faced similar or worse conditions than minorities are currently facing in america and were able to thrive, and there is no reason that tmany black and latino families cant do that now...
Wow... this thead sure became a hot topic! And I surely do not intend to step in the middle of it. However I am kinda bothered by the fact that only some 200 words of his speech have been repeatedly quoted by the press and others. So only in the best interest of fairness and completeness to (any side of) this discussion... will post the entire speech Cosby made. It's a little hard to find on the net although very many people have requested it. Sorry, it's long and requires 2 posts. Bill Cosby: "Ladies and gentlemen, I really have to ask you to seriously consider what you’ve heard, and now this is the end of the evening so to speak. I heard a prize fight manager say to his fellow who was losing badly, “David, listen to me. It’s not what’s he’s doing to you. It’s what you’re not doing. (laughter). Ladies and gentlemen, these people set, they opened the doors, they gave us the right, and today, ladies and gentlemen, in our cities and public schools we have fifty percent drop out. In our own neighborhood, we have men in prison. No longer is a person embarrassed because they’re pregnant without a husband. (clapping) No longer is a boy considered an embarrassment if he tries to run away from being the father of the unmarried child (clapping). Ladies and gentlemen, the lower economic and lower middle economic people are holding their end in this deal. In the neighborhood that most of us grew up in, parenting is not going on. (clapping) In the old days, you couldn’t hooky school because every drawn shade was an eye (laughing). And before your mother got off the bus and to the house, she knew exactly where you had gone, who had gone into the house, and where you got on whatever you had one and where you got it from. Parents don’t know that today. I’m talking about these people who cry when their son is standing there in an orange suit. Where were you when he was two? (clapping) Where were you when he was twelve? (clapping) Where were you when he was eighteen, and how come you don’t know he had a pistol? (clapping) And where is his father, and why don’t you know where he is? And why doesn’t the father show up to talk to this boy? The church is only open on Sunday. And you can’t keep asking Jesus to ask doing things for you (clapping). You can’t keep asking that God will find a way. God is tired of you (clapping and laughing). God was there when they won all those cases. 50 in a row. That’s where God was because these people were doing something. And God said, “I’m going to find a way.” I wasn’t there when God said it… I’m making this up (laughter). But it sounds like what God would do (laughter). We cannot blame white people. White people (clapping) .. white people don’t live over there. They close up the shop early. The Korean ones still don’t know us as well…they stay open 24 hours (laughter). I’m looking and I see a man named Kenneth Clark. He and his wife Mamie…Kenneth’s still alive. I have to apologize to him for these people because Kenneth said it straight. He said you have to strengthen yourselves…and we’ve got to have that black doll. And everybody said it. Julian Bond said it. Dick Gregory said it. All these lawyers said it. And you wouldn’t know that anybody had done a damned thing. 50 percent drop out rate, I’m telling you, and people in jail, and women having children by five, six different men. Under what excuse, I want somebody to love me, and as soon as you have it, you forget to parent. Grandmother, mother, and great grandmother in the same room, raising children, and the child knows nothing about love or respect of any one of the three of them (clapping). All this child knows is “gimme, gimme, gimme.” These people want to buy the friendship of a child….and the child couldn’t care less. Those of us sitting out here who have gone on to some college or whatever we’ve done, we still fear our parents (clapping and laughter). And these people are not parenting. They’re buying things for the kid. $500 sneakers, for what? They won’t buy or spend $250 on Hooked on Phonics. (clapping) A\Kenneth Clark, somewhere in his home in upstate New York…just looking ahead. Thank God, he doesn’t know what’s going on, thank God. But these people, the ones up here in the balcony fought so hard. Looking at the incarcerated, these are not political criminals. These are people going around stealing Coca Cola. People getting shot in the back of the head over a piece of pound cake! Then we all run out and are outraged, “The cops shouldn’t have shot him” What the hell was he doing with the pound cake in his hand? (laughter and clapping). I wanted a piece of pound cake just as bad as anybody else (laughter) And I looked at it and I had no money. And something called parenting said if get caught with it you’re going to embarrass your mother. Not you’re going to get your butt kicked. No. You’re going to embarrass your mother. You’re going to embarrass your family. If knock that girl up, you’re going to have to run away because it’s going to be too embarrassing for your family. In the old days, a girl getting pregnant had to go down South, and then her mother would go down to get her. But the mother had the baby. I said the mother had the baby. The girl didn’t have a baby. The mother had the baby in two weeks. (laughter) We are not parenting. Ladies and gentlemen, listen to these people, they are showing you what’s wrong. People putting their clothes on backwards. –isn’t that a sign of something going on wrong? (laughter) Are you not paying attention, people with their hat on backwards, pants down around the crack. Isn’t that a sign of something, or are you waiting for Jesus to pull his pants up (laughter and clapping ). Isn’t it a sign of something when she’s got her dress all the way up to the crack…and got all kinds of needles and things going through her body. What part of Africa did this come from? (laughter). We are not Africans. Those people are not Africans, they don’t know a damned thing about Africa. With names like Shaniqua, Shaligua, Mohammed and all that crap and all of them are in jail. (When we give these kinds names to our children, we give them the strength and inspiration in the meaning of those names. What’s the point of giving them strong names if there is not parenting and values backing it up). Brown Versus the Board of Education is no longer the white person’s problem. We’ve got to take the neighborhood back (clapping). We’ve got to go in there. Just forget telling your child to go to the Peace Corps. It’s right around the corner. (laughter) It’s standing on the corner. It can’t speak English. It doesn’t want to speak English. I can’t even talk the way these people talk. “Why you ain’t where you is go, ra,” I don’t know who these people are. And I blamed the kid until I heard the mother talk (laughter). Then I heard the father talk. This is all in the house. You used to talk a certain way on the corner and you got into the house and switched to English. Everybody knows it’s important to speak English except these knuckleheads. You can’t land a plane with “why you ain’t…” You can’t be a doctor with that kind of crap coming out of your mouth. There is no Bible that has that kind of language. Where did these people get the idea that they’re moving ahead on this. Well, they know they’re not, they’re just hanging out in the same place, five or six generations sitting in the projects when you’re just supposed to stay there long enough to get a job and move out." (continued)
(continued) "Now look, I’m telling you. It’s not what they’re doing to us. It’s what we’re not doing. 50 percent drop out. Look, we’re raising our own ingrown immigrants. These people are fighting hard to be ignorant. There’s no English being spoken, and they’re walking and they’re angry. Oh God, they’re angry and they have pistols and they shoot and they do stupid things. And after they kill somebody, they don’t have a plan. Just murder somebody. Boom. Over what? A pizza? And then run to the poor cousin’s house. They sit there and the cousin says “what are you doing here?” “I just killed somebody, man.” “What?” “I just killed somebody, I’ve got to stay here.” “No, you don’t.” “Well, give me some money, I’ll go…” “Where are you going?” “North Carolina.” Everybody wanted to go to North Carolina. But the police know where you’re going because your cousin has a record. Five or six different children, same woman, eight, ten different husbands or whatever, pretty soon you’re going to have to have DNA cards so you can tell who you’re making love to. You don’t who this is. It might be your grandmother. (laughter) I’m telling you, they’re young enough. Hey, you have a baby when you’re twelve. Your baby turns thirteen and has a baby, how old are you? Huh? Grandmother. By the time you’re twelve, you could have sex with your grandmother, you keep those numbers coming. I’m just predicting. I’m saying Brown Vs. Board of Education. We’ve got to hit the streets, ladies and gentlemen. I’m winding up, now , no more applause. I’m saying, look at the Black Muslims. There are Black Muslims standing on the street corners and they say so forth and so on, and we’rere laughing at them because they have bean pies and all that, but you don’t read “Black Muslim gunned down while chastising drug dealer.” You don’t read that. They don’t shoot down Black Muslims. You understand me. Muslims tell you to get out of the neighborhood. When you want to clear your neighborhood out, first thing you do is go get the Black Muslims, bean pies and all (laughter). And your neighborhood is then clear. The police can’t do it . I’m telling you Christians, what’s wrong with you? Why can’t you hit the streets? Why can’t you clean it out yourselves? It’s our time now, ladies and gentlemen. It is our time (clapping). And I’ve got good news for you. It’s not about money. It’s about you doing something ordinarily that we do—get in somebody else’s business. It’s time for you to not accept the language that these people are speaking, which will take them nowhere. What the hell good is Brown V. Board of Education if nobody wants it? What is it with young girls getting after some girl who wants to still remain a virgin. Who are these sick black people and where did they come from and why haven’t they been parented to shut up? To go up to girls and try to get a club where “you are nobody..,” this is a sickness ladies and gentlemen and we are not paying attention to these children. These are children. They don’t know anything. They don’t have anything. They’re homeless people. All they know how to do is beg. And you give it to them, trying to win their friendship. And what are they good for? And then they stand there in an orange suit and you drop to your knees, “(crying sound) He didn’t do anything, he didn’t do anything.” Yes, he did do it. And you need to have an orange suit on too (laughter, clapping). So, ladies and gentlemen, I want to thank you for the award (big laughter) and giving me an opportunity to speak because, I mean, this is the future, and all of these people who lined up and done..they’ve got to be wondering what the hell happened. Brown V. Board of Education, these people who marched and were hit in the face with rocks and punched in the face to get an education and we got these knuckleheads walking around who don’t want to learn English (clapping) I know that you all know it. I just want to get you as angry that you ought to be. When you walk around the neighborhood and you see this stuff, that stuff’s not funny. These people are not funny anymore. And that ‘s not brother. And that’s not my sister. They’re faking and they’re dragging me way down because the state, the city and all these people have to pick up the tab on them because they don’t want to accept that they have to study to get an education. We have to begin to build in the neighborhood, have restaurants, have cleaners, have pharmacies, have real estate, have medical buildings instead of trying to rob them all. And so, ladies and gentlemen, please, Dorothy Height, where ever she’s sitting, she didn’t do all that stuff so that she could hear somebody say “I can’t stand algebra, I can’t stand…and “what you is.” It’s horrible. Basketball players, multimillionaires can’t write a paragraph. Football players, multimillionaires, can’t read. Yes. Multimillionaires. Well, Brown V Board of Education, where are we today? It’s there. They paved the way. What did we do with it. The white man, he’s laughing, got to be laughing. 50 percent drop out, rest of them in prison. You got to tell me that if there was parenting, help me, if there was parenting, he wouldn’t have picked up the Coca Cola bottle and walked out with it to get shot in the back of the head. He wouldn’t have. Not if he loved his parents. And not if they were parenting! Not if the father would come home. Not if the boy hadn’t dropped the sperm cell inside of the girl and the girl had said, “No, you have to come back here and be the father of this child.” Not ..“I don’t have to.” Therefore, you have the pile up of these sweet beautiful things born by nature raised by no one. Give them presents. You’re raising pimps. That’s what a pimp is. A pimp will act nasty to you so you have to go out and get them something. And then you bring it back and maybe he or she hugs you. And that’s why pimp is so famous. They’ve got a drink called the “Pimp-something.” You all wonder what that’s about, don’t you? Well, you’re probably going to let Jesus figure it out for you (laughter). Well, I’ve got something to tell you about Jesus. When you go to the church, look at the stained glass things of Jesus. Look at them. Is Jesus smiling? Not in one picture. So, tell your friends. Let’s try to do something. Let’s try to make Jesus smile. Let’s start parenting. Thank you, thank you (clapping, cheers)"
In a follow up discussion about the now famous remarks: Last week Jackson invited Cosby to the annual Rainbow/PUSH conference for a conversation about controversial remarks the entertainer offered May 17 at an NAACP dinner in Washington, D.C. That's when America's Jell-O Man shook things up by arguing that African Americans were betraying the legacy of civil rights victories. "The lower economic people," he said, "are not holding up their end in this deal. These people are not parenting. They are buying things for their kids -- $500 sneakers for what? And won't spend $200 for Hooked on Phonics!" Thursday morning, Cosby showed no signs of repenting as he strode across the stage at the Sheraton Hotel ballroom before a standing-room-only crowd. Sporting a natty gold sports coat and dark glasses, he proceeded to unload a laundry list of black America's self-imposed ills. The iconic actor and comedian kidded that he couldn't compete with the oratory of the Rev. But he preached circles around Jackson in their nearly hourlong conversation, delivering brutally frank one-liners and the toughest of love. The enemy, he argues, is us: "There is a time, ladies and gentlemen, when we have to turn the mirror around." Cosby acknowledged he wasn't critiquing all blacks -- just "the 50 percent of African Americans in the lower economic neighborhood who drop out of school," and the alarming proportions of black men in prison and black teenage mothers. The mostly black crowd seconded him with choruses of "Amens." To critics who posit it's unproductive to air our dirty laundry in public, he responds, "Your dirty laundry gets out of school at 2:30 every day. It's cursing" on the way home, on the bus, train, in the candy store. "They are cursing and grabbing each other and going nowhere. And the book bag is very, very thin, because there's nothing in it." Don't worry about the white man, he adds. "I could care less about what white people think about me. . . . Let 'em talk. What are they saying that is different from what their grandfathers said and did to us? What is different is what we are doing to ourselves." For those who say Cosby is just an elitist who's "got his" but doesn't understand the plight of the black poor, he reminds that "We're going to turn that mirror around. . . . It's not just the poor -- everybody's guilty." Cosby and Jackson lamented that in the 50th year of Brown vs. Board of Education, our failings betray our legacy. Jackson dabbed away tears as he recalled the financial struggles at Fisk University, a historically black college and Jackson's alma mater. When Cosby was done, the 1,000 people in the room all jumped to their feet in ovation. Long after Cosby had departed, I could not find a dissenter in the crowd. But in the hotel corridor I encountered a vintage poster for sale that said volumes. The poster, which advertised the Million Man March, was "discounted" to $5. Remember the Million Man March? In 1995 Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan exhorted "a million sober, disciplined, committed, dedicated, inspired black men to meet in Washington on a day of atonement." In 2004, perhaps all that's left of that call is a $5 poster. We have shed tears too many times, at too many watershed moments before. While the hopes they inspired have fallen by the wayside. Not this time. Cosby's plea to parents: "Before you get to the point where you say 'I can't do nothing with them' -- do something with them." Like: Teach our children to speak English. When the teacher calls, show up at the school. When the idiot box starts spewing profane rap videos, turn it off. Refrain from cursing around the kids. Teach our boys that women should be cherished, not raped and demeaned. Tell them that education is a prize we won with blood and tears, not a dishonor. Stop making excuses for the agents and abettors of black-on-black crime. It costs us nothing to do these things. But if we don't, it will cost us infinitely more tears.
Cosby's points are well taken and they apply to all races and ethnic groups. There are plenty of white children living in dysfunctional homes and without the proper parental guidance. I see plenty of white kids that can't spell very well and don't speak proper English. This is a big disadvantage when it comes to applying for a decent job. These are often the same people want to whine about not getting hired or only getting hired for the lowest paying jobs. I see young men applying for jobs where I work (all races) who bring a relative or friend along because they can't fill out an application themselves. The handwriting and spelling is awful. Their appearance in many cases dirty and/or sloppy. Some of these guys might be good workers but unless they have a lot of experience and a spotless track record they don't have a prayer of getting hired. I believe that Cosby's point was simply to stop blaming the white man for every thing that goes wrong in a black person's life and that black people must accept responsibility for their own actions. Sure there is still bigotry out there but there are lots of opportunities for people of all races.
People who give you decent, well paying jobs and/or decent well paying clients do. What I do for a living DEPENDS on my communication skills. If I didn't speak proper English, not only would I never had passed my Boards in order to practice, I wouldnt be able to keep a client on the phone long enough for them to become a paying client. Suceess (even if that just means being able to feed your children) depends on being able to communicate. Period. I also find it odd, that my dh and I make a very decent income, and yet there are people who don't bring in a tenth of what we do, yet spend TEN TIMES what we do on a pair of kids shoes. It is a waste of money that could go for better causes. We are solidly middle class, and my kids get their shoes, clothes and basically everything else at discount stores. Being successful didn't just drop into my and Bear's lap, we had to work for it. HARD. We had NOTHING when we first got married and had our first couple of kids, we saved and COMMUNICATED and made it work. Bear wouldn't have the job he had if he couldn't communicate well. I may be buying my kids a college education I can't "afford" but I won't buy them shoes or clothes that I can't. It is a matter of importance. My 18 yo dd has saved several thousand dollars for college. ALL on her own. She got a job, when many of her freinds said "there are no jobs" by taking a "low" job as a waitress and keeping it and making it work because she can COMMUNICATE. Best thing is, she won't be doing this forever, but she understands money like many adults don't. "Hooked on Phonics" is IMO a damn finer way to spend several hundred dollars than stupid, mega conglomerate Gym Shoes made in sweat shops by little children in the Third World. How much BRAINS does that take to figure out?
