May 22, 2004
Cos won't apologize for tough talk
In an interview yesterday, Bill Cosby stood behind his harsh words from earlier in the week. In a speech at an NAACP event this past Monday in Washington, Cosby criticized black Americans who were more willing to spend $500 on gym shoes as opposed to spending the same kind of money on educational items that can help their children.
Cosby said he was chagrined that conservative radio talk shows seized on his comments and recirculated them. Yet he said he was more concerned about protecting children in unsafe neighborhoods.As you can imagine, the Soul Patrol wasn't pleased with Cosby's words; they feel that Cosby is being harsh."If I weigh a loudmouthed conservative racist announcer's thoughts and opinions against a 12-year-old child being shot," concern for the child wins, he said.
"I didn't want to throw cold water on the celebrating," said Cosby, but he stressed that many African-American neighborhoods were in crisis. "We've got to help these people," he said. "We've got to get the neighborhood back."
Cosby blamed lack of education on many ills that he sees in black communities.
"We should look and see how many males are incarcerated and look and see how many of them are illiterate," he said.
Of course, when I say the same thing, I'm branded a sellout; when someone white says the same thing, they're branded a racist.
Go figure...
Posted by mhking at May 22, 2004 11:38 AMIs your email addy a baddy? I got an 'invalid recipient. Whassup wid dat?
Posted by: gary at May 22, 2004 11:58 AMFor now it is - BellSouth has hosed it, and I'm fighting with 'em.
If you need to get to me for now, try mhking@gmail.com
Posted by: mhking at May 22, 2004 12:06 PMI don't mind being labeled "racist" nor "bigot" anymore... I just consider the source.
Dr. Cosby is a very talented man. Funny, successful, and he surely does shoot from the hip. I have always enjoyed hearing him. He seems to always carry the same message about personal responsibility, though I sense it gets stronger as the years go by. Maybe that's just me, but I don't consider it a bad thing.
Posted by: Deb at May 22, 2004 03:07 PMIf, as a white guy, I want to see the black community succeed, and that makes me a racist; then have at it Cosby. Really, we're on the same side, but one of us is dropping R-bombs. On my (local cable access) show on Friday, I highlighted Cosby's words because I felt they were important words for my audience to hear. Strangely, I didn't get any calls from the liberal "intelligensia" that I normally do...
Posted by: Matt Hurley at May 24, 2004 02:00 PMHello there - Edwin here: I have been searching for Bill Cosby's FULL TEXT speech. Everything I get is "out of context" remarks. Do you know where I can get the full text?
As far as I'm aware, neither the NAACP nor Howard University (co-sponsor of the event) has released the full text of the Cosby speech.
Atlanta Journal-Constitution columnist Cynthia Tucker makes note of that, along with her criticism of both institutions in a piece she did last Wednesday (5/26).
Posted by: mhking at May 31, 2004 08:14 PMBill Cosby was absolutely, 100% correct. We have to stop blaming Whites for the deeply dysfunctional behavior of the Black underclass. We have huge problems facing that part of the Black community - drugs, crime, Black-on-Black violence, the huge numbers of Black men in the criminal justice system, AIDS and "down low" bisexuality, gangs, the disdain of many Black youth for education as "acting White", fatherless families, rampant teen pregnancy and a 73% illegitimacy rate, lack of respect for the larger society, and a subculture that glorifies "thug life". But the worst problem is that we are still unwilling to face these problems head-on and admit that virtually all of them are self-inflicted. "We" have to fix "us". Thanks, Bill Cosby, and Amen! I appreciate you speaking truth to ignorance. We need to stop blaming Whites for our own self-inflicted problems, we need to get over this "cult of victimhood" mentality (nod to Professor John McWhorter), and we have to admit that the Black underclass bears almost all the responsibility for its current sorry condition. It's just that simple. One final point - I think we should nominate Bill Cosby to be the next president of the NAACP. I'm serious. Cosby just did more to help Black America in one 30 minute speech than Kwesei Mfume has done in the last five years.
I have no respect Cosby. This man never considered himself to be black.
Posted by: Black at January 5, 2005 01:15 PMBlack:
Considering you have no empirical evidence or proof of your allegation, please research the situation and the people whom you speak of before you allow your ignorance to show how stupid you truly are.
Posted by: Michael at January 5, 2005 02:46 PM