Bill Cosby is Right, Again
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Posted By: Jon C. on October 26, 2007 Bill Cosby Is Right, Again by Anthony B. Bradley Bill Cosby’s status as sage is confirmed by the release of his new book, co-authored with Dr. Alvin Poussaint of Harvard Medical School, Come On People: On The Path From Victims to Victors. Cosby and Poussaint remind us that black America’s hope for escape from abysmal self-destruction is moral formation -- not government programs or blaming white people. This book will arouse needed controversy as it challenges the victim mentality often promulgated by men like Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Michael Eric Dyson, and other black liberal elites. Cosby and Poussaint are direct, candid, and engender a spirit of urgency. We need to put silly racial politics aside and concentrate on the real reasons that black America is hemorrhaging. Cosby and Poussaint open with the $64,000 question: “What’s Going On With Black Men?” Without strong black men, they argue, the black community will continue to decompose. In 1950, five out of every six black children were born into a two-parent family and today that number is less than two out of six. Irresponsible men and fatherlessness have destroyed for many of us any hope of achieving Dr. King’s dream. White people do not make black men father children outside of marriage. “A house without a father is a challenge. A neighborhood without fathers is a catastrophe,” the authors note. Most black boys are never morally formed into manhood by virtuous men and many end up in jail because of it. Ninety-four percent of all blacks murdered are killed by other blacks. For many blacks, a Klu Klux Klan rally is a safer place than their own neighborhoods. Blaming white people for personal irresponsibility is laughable. “For all the talk of systemic racism and government screw-ups,” Cosby and Poussaint insist, “we [blacks] must look to ourselves and understand our responsibility.” No government program, well-meaning white liberal patronization, guilt-driven Saturday morning urban missions project, or large sum of unearned cash assistance will overcome the real challenge: blacks need to step up, reject the materialistic, narcissistic American Dream and love their neighborhoods again. The book also reminds us of the centrality of the family. Kids need a mother and a father. Women and children need men. The authors brilliantly highlight the fact that many black kids are lazy, addicted to television, can’t speak standard English, doubt their dignity and worth, or are physically and sexually abused because they are not in loving homes led by strong men serving their wives and children. Placing a high value on education had been a pillar of the black community until recently, when the minds of many black kids began to be filled with “self-defeating, self-degrading, and finally self-destructive” music that perverts virtue. Blacks are failing in school because many black parents have dropped the ball, for sometimes difficult reasons, and kids are being raised on BET instead of books. Cosby’s book challenges blacks to care about their own health, in light of chronic obesity, Type II diabetes, and the HIV/AIDS crisis. It encourages blacks to overcome the stigma of counseling and get help for scarring left from past physical, sexual, and emotional abuse. Cosby and Poussaint conclude their pleading with a call to self-efficacy: one’s belief about personal capacity to contribute to the good and exercise influence over events that affect one’s life. “If you are not working and your only job is to stand in line so that the government can sustain you, then you are not contributing to your community,” they write. In the end, black America is called to renew the principles, ideals, and institutions that have carried blacks along since slavery: faith in God, sustained marriages and family, an emphasis on learning, prudent financial empowerment, building community, and an unwavering hope that the future will be better for our children and grandchildren. While I cannot endorse all of the book’s proposals -- their allowance of “committed partnerships” in lieu of an exclusive focus on lifelong marriage is ill-advised -- I wholeheartedly affirm Cosby and Poussaint’s clear message: Moral and economic flourishing in the black community will be achieved only by individual blacks bestowing lives of virtue on the next generation, one child at a time. Anthony B. Bradley is a research fellow at the Acton Institute. If you enjoyed this article, Join HBCU CONNECT today for similar content and opportunities via email! |
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Jon C.
Benefits Management Analyst, State of Ohio Hampton University class of 2004 Member Since July 2003 |
Comments
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While I can agree that we as a people have to do better I think its misguided to gloss over the underfunded schools, social programs and basic services in black communities. I think its really short-sighted that they generalize when dealing with their own kind and never once address a government that has shown that the plight and status of people of color is not on their agenda. Tell Mr Cosby to put the bottle down, stop drugging and groping women and revise his outlook to be a little more broad in his approach. I think we all know most of the time that the one screaming the loudest has the most to hide. I just hope for his sake he doesn't have many skeletons when his skirt is pulled up once again.
Friday, October 26th 2007 at 5:54PM |
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Although his views are controversial there is a quote that I take from him that I think is very profound "Our children are trying to tell us something and we are not listening to them". Even in church, sometimes a pastor may say things that I don't buy into BUT if it directs me to the bible and to do my own soul searching I think it is a positive end result. There are very basic things that are not happening to our black children that is NOT the government's fault nor responsibility. 90% of a human's brain is formed by age 5. As a consultant serving preschools, I met parents who NEVER taught their children colors, letters of the alphabet, nor numbers at home. They were not too busy to do this because they did not work. They were on public assistance and their attitude was "that's what they are suppossed to learn at school..what am I going to waste my time doing that stuff for?" When I would explain to them WHY they need to do these things BEFORE the baby goes to preschool/kindergarten...they would just laugh and say "YOU do it then!". One of the moms had failed kindergarten herself and refused to see the correlation of what she did not get at home-SIGH-. So we tried to develop workshops to try to educate the parents on these important steps that can be done FOR FREE with LOVE. We could not get any of them to sign up-even with a FREE buffet breakfast in the invite. Was told we need to get Nelly/Jay-Z to endorse the project in order to get them interested-SIGH. So at some point, we do need to look inwardly for solutions to break the vicious cycle of dependency. I have not given up trying but it is hard to help those who are looking for someone else to guide/lead them. www.AchieversinTraining.com
Saturday, October 27th 2007 at 12:15PM |
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I think Mr. Cosby is dead on. On so many points. I just fine it hard to swallow coming from him about having children outside of marriage. he himself and Jesse Jackson have both had children out of wedlock. I'm not taking nothing away from what either man is trying to do for us as people, but keep it real. don't down other black men for doing the same thing. Do I think it's right no, and in the case of not blaming the white man for things that keep us down. Yes some of the blame has to go there, but not all. I love what Mr. cosby is doing and a lot of what he is saying, but like must of us we have done thing that we wish we had did diffirent, but that is what made us who we are
Monday, October 29th 2007 at 2:15PM |
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I agree with Cosby, but we all know the whole concept of marriage in this country is screwed up so it is unrealistic to expect all or most black fathers to be married for life... Though in any case we have to be responsible for bringing up our own, not anybody else.
Monday, October 29th 2007 at 2:58PM |
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I think that what Mr. Cosby has to say is very relevant and timely, but people are ready to see something in terms of execution. Specifically, not just what needs to be done, but a realistic plan for making it happen. Unfortunately, we live in a world where too many people are afraid even to mention what needs to be done. I agree there is no perfect American or perfect human... if we measured our lives by those standards we'd all fall short. The important thing is that we remember our obligation to better ourselves and the places we live. Monday, October 29th 2007 at 3:19PM |
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he is ok with me Wednesday, October 31st 2007 at 9:38PM |
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The words of Cosby fits the situation however, when things go bad, one must ask himself when confronted with something gone bad, How did I get here to this point. Blacks started of good and went bad. If one look back into history we were on a fast paste of doing good then came inclusion by black so-called leadership into Satan society. What I am saying is, at some point we were doing good, from sugar to sh..t as they say. So the answer to the black man problem is, "SEPERATION", from the evil that has cursed us. We must first discover who we are and we are not like other races but Hebrews of the bible or Torah. After find self, then we can proceed to be somebody of importance. Seperation is not bad because the whole world is segreated and once we do then we can learn to communicated with others. Respect will be gained when we identify ourselves. We do have a history and it goes far beyond slavery and this history will never be taught correctly by our enemies the Euros. That's all I got to say about that.
Thursday, November 1st 2007 at 3:24PM |
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