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.