Does Bill Cosby speak the truth?

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Bill Cosby is now an old man, and is lashing his tongue against what he see’s the inability of the African American community to stand up…to itself.

Just a few months after he made headlines for lambasting the black community, Bill Cosby has spoken out again, this time sounding off on poorly educated children, deadbeat dads and more during a Thursday appearance at Rainbow/PUSH Coalition & Citizenship Education Fund's annual conference in Chicago.
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...saying that many members of the African-American community were not taking advantage of the opportunities that were fought for by civil rights activists.
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Cosby said his detractors were not facing the facts about poor black communities and were just trying to cover up what he called their "dirty laundry."
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"Let me tell you something, your dirty laundry gets out of school at 2:30 every day, it's cursing and calling each other n----r as they're walking up and down the street," he said.
Cosby continued railing about the state of black youth in America. "They think they're hip," he said. "They can't read; they can't write. They're laughing and giggling, and they're going nowhere."
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To African-American men, Cosby ranted, "Stop beating up your women because you can't find a job."
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He complained about rap music: "When you put on a record, and that record is yelling 'n----r this' and 'n----r that' and cursing all over the thing and you got your little six-year-old and seven-year-old sitting in the back seat of the car--those children hear that. And I am telling you when you put the CD on and then you get up and dance to it What are you saying to your children?"
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And he also ripped into sitcoms targeting African-American audiences: "Comedians coming on TV [saying,] 'I am so ugly, you are ugly, yuck, yuck.' That's all minstrel show stuff. I am tired of it."
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Cosby got in hot water with several civil rights activists when he criticized the lifestyle, education and speech patterns of his fellow African Americans, saying there is no excuse of ignorant behavior.
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"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," Cosby said in May. "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."
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"For me there is a time...when we have to turn the mirror around," he said. "Because for me it is almost analgesic to talk about what the white man is doing against us. And it keeps a person frozen in their seat, it keeps you frozen in your hole you're sitting in."
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I generally agree with Bill Cosby, although I am not a black person I have discussed this topic with my black friends and they generally agree that there is a structural problem within the Black community. Some insist that it’s the socio-economic conditions that blacks are subjected to in the US (in Canada we don’t have such a huge problem as in the US). Ghetto-ization of the Black culture in the US is obviously going to cause there to be a response, being “ghetto” imo is nothing more then a reaction to a cause, that cause being the decades of rejection from the mainstream community. But what Cosby says is largely correct, the African American community cannot blame their whole misfortune on White folk. I am personally disgusted at the level of sexual innuendo and promotion of violence in modern R&B music, and Rap. I purposely don’t listen to that music because it’s not something that I regard to be good music in the first place (my own opinion), but also because it is for me something that endangers the thought processes of so many. Now to be fair I understand that in the US you have some pretty screwed up funding for schooling, here all our schools are paid equally. In the US your schools get as much funding as its local tax base can afford which causes there to be a massive inequity in the amount and quality of education available to the inner city. I tried to watch Puff Daddy’s “Making the Band 2” I couldn’t stand the vulgar use of language, and the unabashed use of threats and violence, the virile hatred, angst, and inability to be responsible. It’s not a racial thing imo either, Mestizos are another segment of the population in the US that have the same type of life. I guess the question becomes what should be done to improve the lives of these people, or is it now up to them to fix their own problems?
 
Undecided said:
I guess the question becomes what should be done to improve the lives of these people, or is it now up to them to fix their own problems?
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I have said this before that the problem begins and ends at home in this case.

I have lived in fairly black populated area and most of my public schooling was in predominantly black schools. The only thing that kept being consistent with the behavior of black students was that they were victims of self-fulfilling prophecy. It was hillarious to see so many of them talk like after high school their life would end...that only a "gangsta" life awaited them so they gave up right then.

Take offense or not but so much of negative attitude towards black people is there for a reason. Too many young black males keep perpetuating the sterotype of an angry, dangerous black male, a being to be cautious of on the streets. Which is a serious blow to so many hard working black students I know.

Another thing I keep observing is put down of black figures by the black community itself. How many times have you seen Colin Powell being joked upon, being jesfully called white....same as Condolezza Rice. It maybe funny then but I can't help but think it is self deprication of one's race.
 
I think that the Black community really does give itself a bad rap; it is their own portrayal of their “gangsta” lives that influence so many impressionable soccer moms. How can the Black community be expected to taken seriously when they portray this model of the modern black man/women. Watching many black videos there are three main undercurrents in them, Drugs, Violence and Sex. I know that the white community isn’t portraying this model, it’s their own community. Many black people have become very successful, without “capping” someone in the ass. I know personally in school that many Black people were more concerned about that weekends “jam” then Monday’s test. When I confronted them about it they agreed that it was a misplacement of priorities, but they really could care less. I think Blacks really now only give themselves a largely bad name, have you watched BET lately? Sure Comic View is funny but it underlines serious psychological damage that blacks in the US feel today. Is it a self-fulfilling prophesy, probably. I personally believe that black people are just people, and they have potential like all of us. But they cannot get ahead if they inflict on themselves these overtly negative models.
 
Although I think Cosby is showing a little bit of his old fogieness, I can't deny that the host of "Kids say the darndest things" has some points. The "Ghetto/thug/hiphop/whatever" culture emulated by so many black youths is strongly anti-intellectual and pro-violence. Although this culture arose and is perpetuated by blacks, I would also like to point out that its rampantness, and popularization is due to the marketing industry. Someone out there at an add agency decided this sort of thing was cool. They have people to do this, cool hunter is a job position you know. And it’s been so effective in commercials, TV movies, and especially the music and music video areas of media, that suburban white kids all over my neighborhood all speak their own version of Ebonics. A black student in my university, dressed in all the designer ghetto gear made by Nike and others, actually tried to pimp two girls off on campus. Because... you know, being a pimp is glamorous, just like we see in the music videos.

I guess my point is that I don't think this is just a black problem, because white executives are watching this black urban culture closely and trying to sell it to whites, and frankly we are eating up ourselves. I don't want to say that whites are oppressing blacks, blacks are complicit in this arrangement too, but well... yes we kind of are keeping blacks down by creating this media image to brainwash their children with. Well... our children too really.
 
He is partially correct IMO but forgets that over 50 percent of the black community lives below the poverty level and that is a very difficult condition to get out of no matter what etnic group your from. It will take some help from the government for a while, until things get better.
 
cosmictraveler said:
He is partially correct IMO but forgets that over 50 percent of the black community lives below the poverty level and that is a very difficult condition to get out of no matter what etnic group your from. It will take some help from the government for a while, until things get better.
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I think Cosby's complaint is that many black people seem to have little interest in ever actually improving their position in life. And it's difficult to say this without sounding racist, but I think he has a point. If you can't read or write, you automatically condemn yourself to a life of poverty and menial labor – or crime. It often seems that the only blacks who are concerned about the widespread illiteracy in the black community are the blacks who are already educated and successful.

Cosby has donated huge amounts of money over the years to black education and job training programs, so it's unsustainable that he's frustrated with the way black popular culture promotes violence and denigrates education. Decades ago black civil rights activists fought long and hard to give blacks the opportunity to succeed, and now it seems that many of them have little interest in taking advantage of those opportunities. If you allow your child to grow up without learning how to speak proper english, well, your child is never going to be able to get a good job. End of story.
 
I think Bill Cosby should be given some type of medal for finally saying what so many of us blacks have been saying about our own community. If you will take notice, the people that are getting the most upset about it are the ones that are actually acting like that. :mad:

I think its a shame how blacks always blame everyone else for the problems they have with society when all they need to do in order to get the ball rolling their way is to take responsibility for their own actions. True, society is biased against blacks, but we arent the only ones, and personally working at my job i see a lot more OTHER minorities in worse off conditions but are actually working to better themselves more so than blacks.

As a people we need to get off our butts and make things happen and quit whining when things dont go our way because not only will it be the "man's" fault but our own as well. :eek:
 
Mod Hat - Link

Mod Hat - Link

It's not worth merging the topics together, as there's only a couple of posts to a dead topic, but an earlier round of Cosby's criticism is available for consideration in another EM&J topic: See what happens when I stop paying attention?

However, I will not claim the opinion I've expressed in that topic to be fixed and firm. It's tempting to oversimplify Cosby on this, but right now I'm flipping a coin.

On Edit: I have corrected the link.
 
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For what it's worth, I don't think it's really a "black problem". It's *human* nature. Black, white, whatever. Nobody likes to admit their mistakes. (shrug)
 
I do not claim to know the African American Experience but, there seems to be a link here with what Aboriginal Peoples of Canada may be experiencing.

Aboriginal Peoples of Canada have historically been: marginalized; stifled; to some extent opressed; discriminated; victims of assimilation - very similar to what African Americans have experienced. It's only been in the past 10 or 15 years, maybe since the Canada Act 1981, that Native Canadians have been reversing those effects, fighting for equality and finding their identity as Native Canadians, with some success.

Aboriginal leaders, for the most part, argued that the most important aspect, or most important first step, of 'healing' past wounds is finding their identity or who they are as a peoples first. The 'Aboriginal Community' has made great in-roads reversing these effects by promoting their culture and traditional practices to their young people.

The environment here in Canada surrounding Aboriginal Peoples isn't perfect by any strectch of the imagination but, the government has created avenues from which plenty of opportunities exist for Aboriginal Peoples while the Aboriginal Community has instilled confidence in their peoples that they can capitalize on those opportunities as Aboriginal People.

It appears to me that the African American 'movement' is lacking a critical component - identity.

From where I sit - a white person in Canada - young African Americans see themselves living in a white world, a world they cannot identify with because they are not white. So, they logically align themselves with anything that appears to be 'removed' from this mainstream 'white world' and African American made - Rap Music, NI**ER this NI**ER that, Gangsta' Life etc.

In my opinion, the African American Community should focus their attention on teaching their youth what it means to be African American. That begins with where they came from, the historical context of how and why they're in a 'white world' and where they want to go from here.

Sarge...
It was hillarious to see so many of them talk like after high school their life would end...
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Is it any wonder they thought this? I mean, the only 'vision' an African American youth has of their future is whats rammed down their throats by Rap Music.

The African American Community needs to play a greater role in the lives of their youth instilling confidence, identity and, ultimately, hope.

Cosby has hit the nail on the head, even though he was unaware of it.
 
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Mod Hat - Correction

Mod Hat - Whoops

Anu said:

i dont get it. are you sure the link provided is the intended one?
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Indeed there seems to be a problem. I have no idea how that occurred. I will fix it.

(Thanks.)
 
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If a minority group does not want to get an education and get out of the poverty is destined to be asking will you have fries with that order. There are a lot of opportunities in the United States to get an education if they do not use them then it is their fault. We all have our sad stories if you allow them to cripple you then it is your own fault.
 
There are a lot of opportunities in the United States to get an education

Problem is that it's not equal education, those who live in good areas are going to get a better education. Unless the US reforms her funding formula for schools, then it will be a self-perpetuating cycle. Poor Education > lower income>lower tax base> poor education.
 
Every city no matter how small has a library. Teach yourself if you have to there is no excuse in America not to get a basic education. Then you can get a higher education with various loans and grants if you are willing to struggle for them.
 
See, nigga first was used back in the Deep South
Fallin out between the dome of the white man's mouth
It means that we will never grow, you know the word dummy
Other niggas in the community think it's crummy
But I don't, neither does the youth cause we
em-brace adversity it goes right with the race
And being that we use it as a term of endearment
Niggas start to bug to the dome is where the fear went

- Tribe Called Quest

The question is:
Do upper class "niggas" know what's best for the community?
 
Undecided said:
Problem is that it's not equal education, those who live in good areas are going to get a better education. Unless the US reforms her funding formula for schools, then it will be a self-perpetuating cycle. Poor Education > lower income>lower tax base> poor education.
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I dont care WHAT high school you go to, if you have a hunger for learning you will learn no matter your income bracket or whether you got "bussed in to the good schools". I told myself that i was gonna get a college education no matter what, and 4 years later, i have my degree (granted and a hefty student loan i am paying back) and i am proud of it. I payed what i could while i was in school and took out loans for what i couldnt. Investing in my own education is one of the best things i ever did for myself.

If a person wants to better themselves, the avenues and means are there. I cant stand hearing someone say "i cant afford to go to college!" WRONG. the government has made SURE that EVERYONE who wants to go to college can go - by way of grants (which since my parents made "too much" i didnt qualify for) or by way of loans (which i took out myself and are very low interest....very reasonable) or if they are truly lucky scholarships.

Again, people need to stop whining and start making things happen for themselves. no one is gonna hold their hand.
 
I see spaganya

Just because they are in lower classes doesn't make a difference. :rolleyes:

And in effect, just because you were able to do it, everyone should be able to do it because you all receive equal opportunity.. :rolleyes:
 
§outh§tar said:
I see spaganya

Just because they are in lower classes doesn't make a difference. :rolleyes:

And in effect, just because you were able to do it, everyone should be able to do it because you all receive equal opportunity.. :rolleyes:
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I have a feeling youre being sarcastic. but i am serious. everything you just said i totally believe. Both my parents were DIRT POOR growning up (my father's side actually had a dirt floor in their two room house), one a child of 11 the other a child of 9... both were single family homes. and out of all 20 of those children, NONE of them are on welfare. They all have good jobs, all made something of themselves. And they came from some of the most dysfunctional families out there.

It busts my gut how people just say CAN'T all the time. Anything is possible. and my family and myself are living proof of that. There is equal opportunity. The only restrictions you have are the ones you make for yourself.

If people are bitching and making excuses, they cant possibly be doing anything constructive. self pity takes up too much energy for that to happen. :mad:
 
spaganya

I don’t disagree with you that if you really want an education you should work hard at it. But you are missing my point, my point being that how can we expect the lower classes to get a good education, and be motivated if their schools are basically ¼ as good as those in a middle class white neighbourhood? In Canada thankfully we believe in something called “equality” surely a foreign concept in the US, here all schools are funded equally, and it doesn’t degrade the level of education, we routinely outscore the US. In the US you cannot expect there to be good educational opportunities where teachers are paid badly, where the books are old, were there is no encouragement for education. It is proven that students do as good as their teachers expect them to do. It is shown that black students aren’t expected to do much, or very well so they don’t. You seemed to have missed the point spagnaya.
 
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