How Bill Cosby Got iy Wrong

Bill Cosby got it wrong. His many speeches regarding the plight of poor blacks in this country and their lack of personal responsibility, were not only off the mark, but completely irresponsible. Cosby failed to take into account many mitigating factors, in what became his regular rants about poor blacks in this country. For example, the last of the civil rights laws was passed in 1965, so it's been forty years since the physical signs of government sanctioned racism have been in place. Please explain to me how, in forty years, we are to undo centuries of terror and government sponsored segregation, emasculation and murder? While I don't believe blaming the white man for your problems is the answer, neither is preaching to a roomful of upwardly mobile blacks who are probably doing nothing to help those who are less fortunate then they. Poverty is a hard cycle to break; especially if you're black and suffer a history where, in the not to distance past, if you dared to assert yourself as an entrepreneurial, educated person you could find yourself hanging from a tree. This is a country that used to burn blacks alive for fun; that not to long ago raped a man with a broom handle and two years ago sent a young black boy to prison for having sex with a white girl. This is a country where there are several states that have never sent a white man to death row for killing a black man but routinely send black men to death row for killing white men. And let's not forget what the state of Illinois found when they investigated their death row system. In his rants, Cosby failed to mention the sorry state of education in many of the poor neighborhoods in this country. What about elementary schools that graduate students that don't know how to read? How about a high school system that offers classes that are useless for entrance into college? Or where kids graduate and haven't taken a single algebra class? High school is supposed to prepare students for college, regardless of whether the teachers or administrators believe the students are capable of a college education. You can be a very responsible person but if you aren't given the proper building blocks for success then that responsibility may not get you anywhere. Instead of pointing out to poor people all they are doing wrong, Bill Cosby should take his time and give advice on what they can do right, what they can do to better their lives and the lives of their children. No one ever rose out of poverty because they were constantly reminded of how poor, useless and lazy they are. Instead of pointing fingers we should all offer a helping hand.