BILL COSBY - A MUST READ

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The Reverend Jesse Jackson almost never gets upstaged and I had never seen
the Reverend Jesse Louis Jackson cry in public until last month.

Jackson invited Bill Cosby to the annual Rainbow /
PUSH conference for a conversation about the
controversial remarks the entertainer offered on
May 17 at an NAACP dinner in Washington , D.C.
when America 's Jell-O Man shook things up
by arguing that African Americans were betraying
the legacy of civil rights victories. Cosby said
'the lower economic people 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? But they won't spend $200 for Hooked on Phonics!'

Bill Cosby came to town and upstaged the reverend
by going on the offense instead of defending his
earlier remarks. 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 Reverend
but he preached circles around Jackson in their nearly hour-long
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 the critics who pose, 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. The book bag is very,
very thin because there's nothing in it.

Don't worry about the white man, he added.
I could care less about what white people think
about me. . . Let them talk.

What are they saying that is so 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 us 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 years
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.

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."

Teach our children to speak English.

There's no such thing as "talking white".

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.

We all send thousands of jokes through e-mail
without a second thought, but when it comes
to sending messages regarding life choices,
people think twice about sharing.

The crude, vulgar, and sometimes the obscene
pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion
of decency is too often suppressed in the schools and
workplaces.

There's a lot of truth to those words and I can't deny I don't hear it on my way home from work. The sad thing is, that type of social behavior you hear among black youth, is just not coming from black youth. I hear it coming from all American youths and that is what is shocking.

As Black Americans there is no doubt, we have a lot of work to do and a lot of damage to repair.

My question is has Bill ever contributed any funds to building a mult-resource center, that would provide services and information in obtaining the necessary resources to help specific communities, deal with social ills that exist there?

I know he and Camille have contributed tons of money to Black colleges, and charities, just wondering since he seems to target a specific portion of the Black community, when he is not referring to them as a whole, if he has made any effort to build these type of centers in particularly lower-income areas, where those resources are needed most.

It would be nice if Bill actually went right into the areas that need to be uplifted, instead of bringing this to light at universities, where the ones he's targeted don't have a seat in the house.
[Edited 10/1/09 11:32am]

Yea, the whole right wing just said Amen too. Cosby is a prick

Wave your wildsigns high!!

2freaky4church1 said:

2freaky4church1 said:

2freaky4church1 said:

You don't blame the victims first, you blame the people in power. There are complex social pathologies that Cosby doesn't mention or care about. It's not as simple as saying do your homework and pull up your pants.

First, inner cities are like concentration camps. The idea that people can be fully formed humans in that environment is crazy. Environment is a big part of social construction. Black families in the suburbs do much better--it has nothing to do with color.

Jobs left the inner cities years ago, beyond liquor stores, check cashing stores, dollar stores.lol

There is little or no green space. Green space has been found to make people more humane.

Schools are underfunded or are forced to adhere to idiotic usings of standardized testing, which has been found to not teach. Problem students get sent to special ed, unlike middle class schools. Special Ed is a holding cell for prison. They cannot get good teachers and what they teach is boring or culturally biased.

You have drugs, crime, gangs, these things change social structures, teaching kids how to be better thugs, not better humans. Parents there tend to work longer hours, so they cannot be with their kids. These pathologies breed stress, heart disease, cancers, mental instability. Cosby cannot walk in their shoes.

The drug war tends to unfairly target blacks. Young blacks get more jail time than whites, who get off, because they have access to better lawyers. Crack cocaine gets you a higher sentense than powder. Whites also have more drug addiction than blacks, but police don't target them. Banks launder drug money, but we focus on the little thug on the block. Crime and shootings make life bad for everyone. Social stress creates skewed views of the world.

Parents in the inner city cannot read themselves, so how do they teach their kids?

Poverty breeds bad behavior. People there tend to eat fast food, since it is cheap, tasty and doesn't take long to get. Bad diets lead to mental problems and bad behavior. Vegetables cost lots of money and good quality veggies are hard to find in underfunded local stores.

People in the inner city tend to watch more television on average. Television has been linked to learning problems later--plus television just makes you dumb. They watch it, because it is cheap entertainment and makes for a babysitter, since going outside is so dangerous. Why get shot, turn on the tube and zone out.

On television inner city kids see skewed lifestyles and greed on parade. They are told that making money is the only human worth. This leads kids to sell drugs, because money becomes a second God. They want what the white man has, even if that means do bad things. Ads show skewed visions of how to live ones life. This factors in to why black kids act off.

Corporal punishment is a big one. It is a cultural problem because studies show that hitting a kid is just wrong and will create problem children later. Culturally, blacks think spanking are good. Inner city pathologies create abuse and neglect. Hitting a kid is seen as not acting white. It is also seen as hip to be dumb. Smart kids are fags, nerds, wannabee whites.

Hip Hop culture is to blame, but corporate America promotes the bad stuff, fed to kids through the corosive popular culture.

It is much more complex than Cosby says.

Wave your wildsigns high!!

I don't care what nobody says that's my mofo. Nothing but unadultarated truth. I admire his balls for standing up and saying what needs to be said when all other black celebs are only concerned about protecting their "brand" and making money instead of doing something to help their people. Bill has always put his money, time, and intellect where his mouth is time and again. The time for excuses and blaming the white man for everything is past cuz the black community is damn near on life support.
[Edited 10/1/09 12:43pm]

You don't need directions and you don't need cash. From your Jimmy Choos to your Ultralash. ~ Prince
And when the groove is dead and gone, you know that Love survives so we can rock FOREVER. ~ RIP MJ

Hannity loves Cosby.

Wave your wildsigns high!!

2freaky4church1 said:

You don't need directions and you don't need cash. From your Jimmy Choos to your Ultralash. ~ Prince
And when the groove is dead and gone, you know that Love survives so we can rock FOREVER. ~ RIP MJ

2freaky4church1 said:

SCNDLS said:

I don't care what nobody says that's my mofo. Nothing but unadultarated truth. I admire his balls for standing up and saying what needs to be said when all other black celebs are only concerned about protecting their "brand" and making money instead of doing something to help their people. Bill has always put his money, time, and intellect where his mouth is time and again. The time for excuses and blaming the white man for everything is past cuz the black community is damn near on life support.
[Edited 10/1/09 12:43pm]

Graycap23 said:

2freaky4church1 said:[quote]You don't blame the victims first, you blame the people in power. There are complex social pathologies that Cosby doesn't mention or care about. It's not as simple as saying do your homework and pull up your pants.

First, inner cities are like concentration camps. The idea that people can be fully formed humans in that environment is crazy. Environment is a big part of social construction. Black families in the suburbs do much better--it has nothing to do with color.

Jobs left the inner cities years ago, beyond liquor stores, check cashing stores, dollar stores.lol

There is little or no green space. Green space has been found to make people more humane.

Schools are underfunded or are forced to adhere to idiotic usings of standardized testing, which has been found to not teach. Problem students get sent to special ed, unlike middle class schools. Special Ed is a holding cell for prison. They cannot get good teachers and what they teach is boring or culturally biased.

You have drugs, crime, gangs, these things change social structures, teaching kids how to be better thugs, not better humans. Parents there tend to work longer hours, so they cannot be with their kids. These pathologies breed stress, heart disease, cancers, mental instability. Cosby cannot walk in their shoes.

The drug war tends to unfairly target blacks. Young blacks get more jail time than whites, who get off, because they have access to better lawyers. Crack cocaine gets you a higher sentense than powder. Whites also have more drug addiction than blacks, but police don't target them. Banks launder drug money, but we focus on the little thug on the block. Crime and shootings make life bad for everyone. Social stress creates skewed views of the world.

Parents in the inner city cannot read themselves, so how do they teach their kids?

Poverty breeds bad behavior. People there tend to eat fast food, since it is cheap, tasty and doesn't take long to get. Bad diets lead to mental problems and bad behavior. Vegetables cost lots of money and good quality veggies are hard to find in underfunded local stores.

People in the inner city tend to watch more television on average. Television has been linked to learning problems later--plus television just makes you dumb. They watch it, because it is cheap entertainment and makes for a babysitter, since going outside is so dangerous. Why get shot, turn on the tube and zone out.

On television inner city kids see skewed lifestyles and greed on parade. They are told that making money is the only human worth. This leads kids to sell drugs, because money becomes a second God. They want what the white man has, even if that means do bad things. Ads show skewed visions of how to live ones life. This factors in to why black kids act off.

Corporal punishment is a big one. It is a cultural problem because studies show that hitting a kid is just wrong and will create problem children later. Culturally, blacks think spanking are good. Inner city pathologies create abuse and neglect. Hitting a kid is seen as not acting white. It is also seen as hip to be dumb. Smart kids are fags, nerds, wannabee whites.

Hip Hop culture is to blame, but corporate America promotes the bad stuff, fed to kids through the corosive popular culture.

It is much more complex than Cosby says.[/quote]


Yeah, like blame anyone and anything other than yourself.
Was Cosby always rich?
People can't turn a television off, instill values?

SCNDLS said:

I don't care what nobody says that's my mofo. Nothing but unadultarated truth. I admire his balls for standing up and saying what needs to be said when all other black celebs are only concerned about protecting their "brand" and making money instead of doing something to help their people. Bill has always put his money, time, and intellect where his mouth is time and again. The time for excuses and blaming the white man for everything is past cuz the black community is damn near on life support.
[Edited 10/1/09 12:43pm]

2freaky4church1 said:

"A project is another term for an experiment." Chuck D.

I also forgot to mention the black radical movements that were destroyed by the FBI and the CIA and the environment. Bad environments tend to be in inner cities.

Poor people don't have values, how is that? Values are a class issue? odd.

Wave your wildsigns high!!

2elijah said:

SCNDLS said:

I don't care what nobody says that's my mofo. Nothing but unadultarated truth. I admire his balls for standing up and saying what needs to be said when all other black celebs are only concerned about protecting their "brand" and making money instead of doing something to help their people. Bill has always put his money, time, and intellect where his mouth is time and again. The time for excuses and blaming the white man for everything is past cuz the black community is damn near on life support.
[Edited 10/1/09 12:43pm]

Hi!!!


Parents need to raise their kids with some morals and values. If they did you wouldn't have kids beating other kids to death.

You don't need directions and you don't need cash. From your Jimmy Choos to your Ultralash. ~ Prince
And when the groove is dead and gone, you know that Love survives so we can rock FOREVER. ~ RIP MJ

2freaky, u are making excuses. What are we talking about here? A demand for accountability and self-involvement. Part of the reason blacks (I am black btw) are so far behind in so many categories - health, finance, education - is that we have stopped relying on one another to "get our house in order" and have chosen to take the easy way out and fall into silence. The only people today who are cutting right to the heart of issues in our community are comedians. It seems that we can pay $50 to go listen to someone tell us exactly what is wrong with our community - and laugh about it, no less - but get upset when the truth is spoken outside the friendly confines of a comedy club. Bill Cosby’s challenging words of inspiration - and that’s what they are - should not go unheeded. We should feast on them and decide to walk in our divine order by not settling for second-best and the status quo.

Look, Cosby was not giving the oppressors of black America an out. He would be the first to agree that lack of funding equity has created the two school systems in America: one for the haves and the other for the have-nots. But the black families pre-Brown dug deep in their pockets to make sure their kids got a top education. Even if they couldn’t read themselves, they made sure their children could read. So how can anyone look at reading statistics today that shows black fourth graders lagging far behind their counterparts and be happy?

Cos, a very wealthy man, knows full well that the economic opportunities of many African Americans can’t compare to whites. Labor stats show that even black college graduates have a higher unemployment rate than their white counterparts. But that doesn’t mean we forego an education! Also, how can we get upset when he legitimately questions the savings of black America, as opposed to our spending habits? Spending $700 on throwback jerseys means that, in the words of entrepreneur Joshua Smith, "your assets are on your ass."

I don't care what anybody says, Bill Cosby is the speaking the truth.

JellyBean said:

SCNDLS said:

2elijah said:

Hi!!!


Parents need to raise their kids with some morals and values. If they did you wouldn't have kids beating other kids to death.

Hey, honey!

Growing up, my mother always told me, my teachers, and anybody that would listen the following:

"I know we live in the United States now and I can't control what happens outside in the world. But when you come up in THIS house, you better know that you're ass is right back in Panama. Kinda like an embassy, so the laws and customs of Panama are in full effect. And Panama is a dictatorship and I'm the dictator, you're the people, and the people have no say."

Any parent who's engaged and committed to rearing their children well can, at the very least, control what happens in their own home and what their children are exposed to, regardless of socioeconomic factors. That is NOT happening in a lot of homes regardless of race, but especially among black folks. The numbers don't lie and it's not all about institutional racism.

I was the latchkey kid of a single mother working two jobs and going to school. I was alone EVERY weekday from 6:30 am to 10 pm from 2nd grade all the way through high school graduation. From the 2nd grade on, I was responsible for getting my ass up, getting myself dressed, riding my bike or taking the bus to school, coming home, and doing my own homework, ALONE until moms came home at night.

I knew my mother's expectations and the consequences for not toeing the line. With all that unsupervised freedom, I still managed to have good manners, get good grades, graduate from high school a virgin, never used drugs even to this day, finished college in three years at 21, and went on to get a master's degree at 26, both of which I paid for myself. I certainly didn't have a silver spoon in my mouth but I did have a mother with high standards and expectations and not meeting those standards was not an option.

Furthermore, my FORTY year old mother and I came to the states for a 2 week vacation when I was 7 and ended up staying here. So we LITERALLY had one suitcase a piece, NO money and no support system or family. Yet she managed to keep a roof over my head, put food on the table, and stay off welfare. Hell, I didn't even speak English. On top of all that, my mother managed to get her bachelor's at 48 and her master's at 50, WHILE working two jobs. I learned from her awesome example, cuz you know, that's what kids do when parents are on their muthafuckin' job.

So, you know what??? Cry me a fucking river then build a bridge over that bitch and get the hell over it cuz despite all of the challenges of the world a lot of parents are simply not on their jobs. Furthermore, black folks were catching REAL hell 50-60 years ago but still managed to be parents and encourage their children to become educated despite overwhelming odds. Things done changed alright, and not necessarily for the better.
[Edited 10/1/09 15:23pm]

Graycap23 said:

i agree i think that we as blacks need to get back to the basics as far as raising our children E-D-U-C-A-T-I-O-N i can not stress that word enough we need education in our communities really bad and its something that we should have taken advantage of since DAY ONE education gives people more options in life better jobs and more cash to take care of yourself and your family not only that it makes you think and gives you more crediablity to talk about deeper issues

we also need to teach our kids more morals and values such as manners treating others with respect conflict resolution ways to stop the violence in our communities and health education

another thing since no one in school once to talk about it i think we need to teach our children Black History at home since teachers dont want to talk about black acheievements at home or on the History Channel teach our kids about the civilizations of Africa Black American History our black leaders all that or even teach them other languages

this is NOT acting white this is acting and being SMART we can no longer blame the white man for our issues because its not them holding us back its ourselves also black men need to be fathers to their children and stay out of prison and black women need to deal with what ever they need to deal with because they have alot of issues as well

i think with this bevahior of the black community today is a huge disgrace and slap in the face to our ancestors who died for us to have freedom and to have the right for us to have a good education i think we need to pay our respects and honors to them by getting ourselves together and to take advantage of what they give us because they give us so much but we take that for granted in the worst way hopefully Barack Obama will encourage us to do better but right now how blacks our acting today this is NOT what our ancestors died for
[Edited 10/1/09 19:27pm]

may u live 2 see the dawn

a yo prince im really happy for you imma let you finish but Michael Jackson had one of the best records of all time!

PurpleDiamond2009 said:

2freaky4church1 said:

2freaky4church1 said:

bill, 2 freaky and jelly all made me think and i agree with quite a few of their points so their is no need for me to re-iterate.

there is a story that talks about accomplishments. if anything in this life is to be accomplished there first must be a seed...someone has to plant, another has to water, and yet another has to cultivate, and still another has to harvest, and one more has to distribute.

if you look at america,what is the dominant culture? i think we can all agree it is capitalism...we are all trying to chase that "scrilla" If you look back, at the origin of accomplishments, that came from something sacred (yes, the holy scriptures) so for the dominant culture to be the accomplishment of money, evidently the concept of accomplishment was stolen and distorted.

america sees that now and wants to find a solution to an accomplished problem which was again, .....chasing that "scrilla". so the folks that are left behind, trying to do their thing the right way, maybe in some cases, gods way, seem to be screwed.


There are lots and lots of bills running around saying individually that something needs to be done to include americas families beyond poverty, they want to say in essence...plant a seed. thats fine, but we already know...there needs to be an entire team of bill cosbys, brad pitts, al sharptons or whoever is willing to carry out that plan.

fortunately tho, even in what they call impoverished sections of town, there are in their own communities and family, those that plant, water, grow, cultivate and harvest and the influence as to what crop it is cannot be accomplished at the hands of a "neighborhood program"

bill, brad, martin lawrence, chris rock, u2, needs to go to those people. it sounds far fetched, but i give my life if they could do it without cameras and hoopla, we could surpass that Hollywood, D.C. bullshyt and make them come to us and be able to set whatever boundaries it takes to keep our families in tact.

i follow my kids around like a troll, and no im not looking for them to be in trouble i just want to be annoying enought where they will think...damn, she always coming around...and know that i just might.

SCNDLS said:

Any parent who's engaged and committed to rearing their children well can, at the very least, control what happens in their own home and what their children are exposed to, regardless of socioeconomic factors. That is NOT happening in a lot of homes regardless of race, but especially among black folks. The numbers don't lie and it's not all about institutional racism.

I was the latchkey kid of a single mother working two jobs and going to school. I was alone EVERY weekday from 6:30 am to 10 pm from 2nd grade all the way through high school graduation. From the 2nd grade on, I was responsible for getting my ass up, getting myself dressed, riding my bike or taking the bus to school, coming home, and doing my own homework, ALONE until moms came home at night.

I knew my mother's expectations and the consequences for not toeing the line. With all that unsupervised freedom, I still managed to have good manners, get good grades, graduate from high school a virgin, never used drugs even to this day, finished college in three years at 21, and went on to get a master's degree at 26, both of which I paid for myself. I certainly didn't have a silver spoon in my mouth but I did have a mother with high standards and expectations and not meeting those standards was not an option.

Furthermore, my FORTY year old mother and I came to the states for a 2 week vacation when I was 7 and ended up staying here. So we LITERALLY had one suitcase a piece, NO money and no support system or family. Yet she managed to keep a roof over my head, put food on the table, and stay off welfare. Hell, I didn't even speak English. On top of all that, my mother managed to get her bachelor's at 48 and her master's at 50, WHILE working two jobs. I learned from her awesome example, cuz you know, that's what kids do when parents are on their muthafuckin' job.

So, you know what??? Cry me a fucking river then build a bridge over that bitch and get the hell over it cuz despite all of the challenges of the world a lot of parents are simply not on their jobs. Furthermore, black folks were catching REAL hell 50-60 years ago but still managed to be parents and encourage their children to become educated despite overwhelming odds. Things done changed alright, and not necessarily for the better.
[Edited 10/1/09 15:23pm]

2freaky4church1 said:

2freaky4church1 said: