let's see who agrees with him, like jesse jackson who "defended [cosby's statements]."
why do you think the leaders of Howard University won't release the full text of cosby's speech? or have they? i thought the shrub group were the ones who refused to release materail to public.
"Perhaps Bill did us a favor," says NAACP President Kweisi Mfume, who attended the ceremony, "and more people will now be prepared to step forward. It'll be a tough-love conversation, whether or not people want to have it. And it will take opinion leaders to say those things that should be said.
"After all, if you believe that racism continues to largely limit black success, that will certainly prove itself true. "There is no reason that black students have to do poorly in math and science, in speech, in cognitive abilities," Mfume said. "When you're quiet about those (shortcomings), young people notice, and it sounds like you're giving your approval."
"When I was in high school in the early 70s, blacks suffered under a system of punishment at the hands of other blacks so severe that any administrative trouble or torment was considered well worth it, including flunking out of school. In fact, that was rewarded by the black inner sanctum of self-destruction. God forbid a black boy be able to read and properly pronounce a sentence in class! They knew that if they were called upon to read aloud, and did it correctly, the punishment they'd receive from other blacks outside of class would be horrendous and everlasting. Speaking properly and reading well were considered "white man's bullshit." I used to have long, excellent, intellectual conversations with a black classmate safely secluded under an oak tree behind the high school, talking about Orwell and Dickens, etc... but in class, he was a marble mouthed oaf, on purpose, so he wouldn't get his ass kicked. I brought this to the attention of the english teacher privately, and told her that the logical thing to do for such a smart kid would be to test him privately, separately, and keep his scores a secret if need be. I was told I was a rabble rouser and removed from the class. I was told "the system" knew better than I did. The teacher had some twisted, vested interest in keeping these remedial-bound blacks right where they were; Future floor sweepers, janitors, garbage men and dope dealers.
"Cosby can be a bit of a snob, at times, but this is one ocassion where he is absolutely correct. Not "word up," but absolutely correct. -- Alton Raines
"Unfortunately for Cosby, the case he espoused did not go far enough. Not nearly far enough."
-- Jim Mortellaro Jsmortell at aol.com
R
Cosby appeared Thursday with the Rev. Jesse Jackson, founder and president of the education fund, who defended the entertainer's statements at the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition & Citizenship Education Fund's annual conference.
"Bill is saying let's fight the right fight, let's level the playing field," Jackson said. "Drunk people can't do that. Illiterate people can't do that."
Cosby also said many young people are failing to honor the sacrifices made by those who struggled and died during the civil rights movement.
"Dogs, water hoses that tear the bark off trees, Emmett Till," he said, naming the black youth who was tortured and murdered in Mississippi in 1955, allegedly for whistling at a white woman. "And you're going to tell me you're going to drop out of school? You're going to tell me you're going to steal from a store?"
Cosby also said he wasn't concerned that some whites took his comments and turned them "against our people."
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Cosby Blasts Black America's Failings Pointed Remarks May Spark Much-Needed Debate By Cynthia Tucker 5-27-4 http://www.rense.com/general53/cos.htm
Never mind Howard University. The administration of the Washington, D.C., institution is apparently in a bit of a huff because Bill Cosby used its podium to criticize the failings of black America -- especially its underclass. Howard's leaders, who won't release a transcript of Cosby's speech, are still not prepared to have a public discussion of self-inflicted wounds.
But much of black America, especially its middle class, is ready to have that conversation. In that sense, Cosby's speech was a watershed event -- a sign that black America is now comfortable enough with its accomplishments to discuss its shortcomings. "Perhaps Bill did us a favor," says NAACP President Kweisi Mfume, who attended the ceremony, "and more people will now be prepared to step forward. It'll be a tough-love conversation, whether or not people want to have it. And it will take opinion leaders to say those things that should be said."
Not all black Americans agree with the remarks Cosby made at a May 17 celebration of the 50th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court's Brown v. Board of Education decision. Indeed, his criticism of everything from speech patterns to spending habits among the black poor was pointedly politically incorrect.
"Ladies and gentlemen, the lower economic people are not holding up their end in this deal," he said. "These people are not parenting. They are buying things for kids -- $500 sneakers for what? And won't spend $200 for 'Hooked on Phonics'" to improve their children's reading and speech. Of the disproportionate number of blacks in prison, Cosby had this to say: "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, and then we run out and we are outraged, saying, 'The cops shouldn't have shot him.' What in the hell was he doing with the pound cake in his hand?"
After the speech, Theodore Shaw, head of the NAACP legal defense fund, rushed to the podium to serve up a rejoinder, noting that larger (read "white") American society still bears some responsibility for the failure of so many black Americans to join the economic and cultural mainstream. That is clearly so. But isn't it about time that black Americans acknowledge that, at the dawn of the 21st century, personal responsibility has at least as much to do with success in modern America as race? Isn't it only fair to note that the landmark Supreme Court ruling of 50 years ago did roll back much of systemic racism?
After all, if you believe that racism continues to largely limit black success, that will certainly prove itself true. "There is no reason that black students have to do poorly in math and science, in speech, in cognitive abilities," Mfume said. "When you're quiet about those (shortcomings), young people notice, and it sounds like you're giving your approval."
Some blacks have recoiled from Cosby's pointed remarks not because they disagree but because they don't want to discuss certain ignominious truths in front of white folks. They fear such painful self-analysis will only provide fodder to the race-baiters -- the Neal Boortzes and Rush Limbaughs -- who work hard at stoking a white backlash. I'm sure Boortz and Limbaugh have already made ample use of Cosby's speech to stir up racist rants among a certain segment of their listeners. So what? They'd look for excuses to poke the tender wounds of race, no matter what Cosby had said.
It is more important that black Americans have a spirited debate about the challenges of the post-civil rights era: How do we raise the academic achievement of black students? How do we curb black-on-black crime? How do we attack the AIDS epidemic spreading like wildfire in black America?
In a way, Cosby's speech was an eloquent reminder of the stunning success of the civil rights movement that followed the Brown decision: Black America is strong enough and successful enough to admit its shortcomings and gird itself for the work ahead.
Cynthia Tucker is editorial page editor for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
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Comment Alton Raines 5-27-4
As early as Cosby's character "Mush Mouth" (Fat Albert entourage), he's been making the point that a vast number of black people can barely speak english, while they have no primary foreign language to claim as a hinderance. Ebonics is, at best, a sick joke. Hearing black people say "ax" instead of "ask," or studder through the start of a word deliberately, or pronounce "teeth" as "teefers" or "tooth" and "toof"... is nauseating. And RAP isn't helping any, despite demonstrating phenomenal verbal capacity, what is coming out is borderline glossolalia, whether one is "down wit it" or not.
When I was in high school in the early 70s, blacks suffered under a system of punishment at the hands of other blacks so severe that any administrative trouble or torment was considered well worth it, including flunking out of school. In fact, that was rewarded by the black inner sanctum of self-destruction. God forbid a black boy be able to read and properly pronounce a sentence in class! They knew that if they were called upon to read aloud, and did it correctly, the punishment they'd receive from other blacks outside of class would be horrendous and everlasting. Speaking properly and reading well were considered "white man's bullshit." I used to have long, excellent, intellectual conversations with a black classmate safely secluded under an oak tree behind the high school, talking about Orwell and Dickens, etc... but in class, he was a marble mouthed oaf, on purpose, so he wouldn't get his ass kicked. I brought this to the attention of the english teacher privately, and told her that the logical thing to do for such a smart kid would be to test him privately, separately, and keep his scores a secret if need be. I was told I was a rabble rouser and removed from the class. I was told "the system" knew better than I did. The teacher had some twisted, vested interest in keeping these remedial-bound blacks right where they were; Future floor sweepers, janitors, garbage men and dope dealers.
Despite all the liberal re-education programs where all reading materials were reduced to comically race-based short stories in the remedial english classes, blacks didn't give a damn. They couldn't give a damn. Their very culture was calling them to failure as a duty in an army against "the man." It seemed the only ones who escaped this and suffered through it, by and large, were black females. And so it is today, black females have surpassed black males in almost every strata. There is nothing inherently defective in the Negro people, and those who suggest such are simply racist morons. On the contrary, when a black person is encouraged and enabled in an environment free from the the self-destructive "ghetto" mentality, they quite often excel beyond whites and asians.
Cosby can be a bit of a snob, at times, but this is one ocassion where he is absolutely correct. Not "word up," but absolutely correct.
Comment
>From Jim Mortellaro
Jsmortell at aol.com
5-28-4
Unfortunately for Cosby, the case he espoused did not go far enough. Not nearly far enough. Because 'hip' white kids, Hispanics as well as 'you name it' race, color and creed (not just blacks) have embraced the Ebonic trend as if it were the Hoola Hoop and this was 1953. A good example is the high school which I attended. In the 50's it was 'the' premiere pre college place to get an education. It still is. But with a difference.
Today, the students, a mix of colors, speak the perfect King's English. Until school is over. Then, it's 'aks' and blingbling' until morning class. Go figger. Jim Mortellaro