Bill Cosby's recent interviews

[stubeeef]

Wow, what a hot potato. I am sure there are 250,000,000 views in the US alone. What is your take?

Here is a copy of one that I have......(Excerpted from comments on May 17, 2004 at the NAACP dinner in Washington.)

http://www.manhattan-institute.org/html/_dmn-bill_cosby.htm

http://brownwatch.squarespace.com/cosby-distraction/

Partial transcript of Bill Cosby’s remarks:

People marched and were hit in the face with rocks to get an education, and now we've got these knuckleheads walking around. ... The lower economic people are not holding up their end in this deal. These people are not parenting.

I am talking about these people who cry when their son is standing there in an orange suit. Where were you when he was 2? Where were you when he was 12? Where were you when he was 18, and how come you didn't know that he had a pistol? And where is the father?

People putting their clothes on backward: Isn't that a sign of something gone wrong? ... People with their hats on backward, pants down around the crack, isn't that a sign of something, or are you waiting for Jesus to pull his pants up? Isn't it a sign of something when she has her dress all the way up ... and got all type of needles (piercing) going through her body? What part of Africa did this come from? We are not Africans. Those people are not Africans; they don't know a ... thing about Africa.

We have millionaire football players who can't read. We have million-dollar basketball players who can't write two paragraphs.

With names like Shaniqua, Taliqua and Mohammed and all of that crap, and all of them are in jail. Brown vs. the Board of Education is no longer the white person's problem. We have got to take the neighborhood back. ... They are standing on the corner and they can't speak English.

People used to be ashamed. ... [Today] a woman has eight children with eight different "husbands," or men or whatever you call them now.

The idea is to one day get out of the projects. You don't just stay there.

We as black folks have to do a better job. ... Someone working at Wal-Mart with seven kids, you are hurting us. We have to start holding each other to a higher standard.

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 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?

We cannot blame white people.
-------------------------------------------

I am a white guy and have no clue on what it is to live otherwise. I have traveled the world, lived overseas and seen alot, but realize I must filter it through my own experience. One of my best friends in college was black, and republican in the early 80's, nixon had eatten at his home twice. We had interesting debates and were the best of friends. But this is certainly a hot subject, and I know that I don't have the answer, but am intriqued by the banter.

[LethalWolfe]

I'm sure this was discussed when it was new news, but my 2 cents is I agree w/Cosby. When oppurtunity knocks you have to answer the door. It's not going to let itself in and carry you off to never-never land.

I used to work in working class, mainly non-white area and I saw the gambit of individuals from those that would forever mooch off society and blame "the system" for keeping them down to those that worked their butts off (and hopefully we be able to break free and do something w/their life). I had one girl working for me that had two jobs, was going to school, her mom wasn't around much, dad was somewhere else, and mom's b-friend was a crack addict they put in jail for stealing their stuff. A sure fire way to get on her bad side was for another black person to make a "I can't get ahead because I'm black" kind of statemet. She'd most certainly give that person a piece of her mind. Many of my more educated black customers had similar feelings on the subject. One woman in particular went on a mini-rant one night about the unique names that seemed to be popular in the black community. I'm not claiming to know all the in's and out's of it, but it is interesting to note the rift in the black community between the "racism is keeping me down" and the "you're keeping yourself down" camps.


Lethal

[patrick0brien]

-All

Let's remind ourselves that Cosby has some pretty good social capital here as he himself grew up in the projects and got himself out of there to eventially become the World's Richest Entertainer (circa 1990).

He has a lot of wisdom to spread.

[Daveman Deluxe]

I think that all parties are guilty in this case. There's certainly still a "glass ceiling" holding black people down, but on the other hand, they've been given a hammer with which to break that glass ceiling and largely have chosen not to. It's a bit like a trademark--if you don't defend your rights, you lose them. I think that Cosby's got a very good point and it's good to hear a well-known African-American person say so--a man respected both inside and outside the community. I hope he keeps on being vocal about his opinion--we may yet see equality amongst the ethnic groups in our lifetimes if people heed his message.

[vniow]

Isn't it a sign of something when she has her dress all the way up ... and got all type of needles (piercing) going through her body?


Hey!

[zimv20]

maybe it's just me, but his new material doesn't seem as funny as the old.

:-)

[katchow]

These people are not parenting.


and yet the "accountability" sits squarely on the teachers.

[themadchemist]

those that worked their butts off (and hopefully we be able to break free and do something w/their life).

Unfortunately, sociological studies suggest that the overarching, oppressive, and restricting socioeconomic structure bears down so effectively on inner-city residents that they lack significant agency to achieve success. The social factor, then, predominates to such an extent that it is of little relevance what sort of effort an individual makes. I reference McLeod's "Ain't No Makin' It" for more on this topic.

Mr. Cosby's extraordinary story is, to be sure, the exception that proves the rule.

[skunk]

xI reference McLeod's "Ain't No Makin' It" for more on this topic.
Looks like an interesting study.

[pseudobrit]

Unfortunately, sociological studies suggest that the overarching, oppressive, and restricting socioeconomic structure bears down so effectively on inner-city residents that they lack significant agency to achieve success. The social factor, then, predominates to such an extent that it is of little relevance what sort of effort an individual makes. I reference McLeod's "Ain't No Makin' It" for more on this topic.

Mr. Cosby's extraordinary story is, to be sure, the exception that proves the rule.

I have to agree.

While I embrace the idea that you make your own luck, I also am not so naïve that I think any luck can take you anywhere you want to go.
Otherwise we'd all be millionaire rock stars and athletes.

There's a reason we use the phrase "American dream" and not "American reality."

[Daveman Deluxe]

But what about the people that say the white man's keeping them down without even trying to apply themselves? I think there are a lot more people than most people think that are like that.

[mactastic]

It's a two way thing it seems to me. People who say the white man is keeping them down to excuse their own lack of effort are just as bad as ones who say that racism, particularly institutional racism, are dead and gone and that individuals of color only need to work hard to get ahead.

We need to meet in the middle.

[zelmo]

It's a two way thing it seems to me. People who say the white man is keeping them down to excuse their own lack of effort are just as bad as ones who say that racism, particularly institutional racism, are dead and gone and that individuals of color only need to work hard to get ahead.

We need to meet in the middle.

Well put. People who say that programs like welfare, food stamps, and unemployment perpetuate the problem only see what they choose to see. Sure, there are people who are lazy and take advantage of the system, simpy because they feel it is owed to them. There are also lots of people who appreciate the assistance and use it as a springboard to make a better life for themselves. You can't let people who are perfectly willling to abuse a system prevent you from getting that assistance into the hands of people who will use it as a springboard to improve themselves.