WingsOfAnAngel
Banned
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 3
Analysis: A Reality Check: Bill Cosby’s Take on Black Responsibility
Date: Tuesday, May 25, 2004
By: DeWayne Wickham
When Bill Cosby was called to the stage of Constitution Hall last week to receive an award for his philanthropy during a Washington, D.C. gala that commemorated the 50th anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education decision, what the comedian said was anything but funny.
Cosby used his time on stage to applaud the sacrifices made by the civil rights activists of the 1950s and 1960s and to complain that too many blacks today are wasting away the opportunities that the Civil Rights Movement made possible for them.
His words sparked a heated debate among blacks — and a feeding frenzy among right-wing commentators who have tried to turn Cosby’s remarks to their advantage.
While most media reports on this matter have been based on second-hand accounts of what Cosby said, BlackAmericaWeb.com has obtained an audiotape portion of his speech to share with its readers.
Jesse Jackson once said that “Content without context is pretext.” Mindful of that admonition, we offer this reality check on some of what Cosby had to say during that controversial speech.
Bill Cosby on the Poor Verbal Skills of many Young Blacks:
“I can’t even talk the way these people talk: ‘Why you ain’t, where you is’…I don’t know who these people are. And I blamed the kid until I heard the mother talk. And then I heard the father talk. It’s all in the house. You used to talk a certain way on the corner and when you got in the house you switched to English. Everybody knows that at some point you switch to English, except these knuckleheads.”
“We’re raising our own home-grown immigrants.”
BAW Reality Check:
Last year the College Board, which administers the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) reported that while test scores for virtually every other racial and ethnic group rose, blacks students made no progress on the exam between 2001 and 2002. Black students had the lowest average score of all groups in both the math and verbal portions of the test.
Bill Cosby on Blacks and Crime:
“I’m talking about these people who cry when their son is standing there in an orange (prison jump) suit. Where were you when he was two? Where were you when he was 12? Where were you when he was 18 and how come you don’t know he had a pistol?”
“Looking at the incarcerated, these people are not political prisoners. These people are going around stealing Coca-Cola. People getting shot in the back of the head over a piece of pound cake. Then we’re all outraged. Ah, the cops shouldn’t have shot him. What the hell was he doing with the piece of pound cake in his hands? I wanted a piece of pound cake just as bad as anybody else. I looked at it and I had no money, and something called parenting said ‘if you get caught with it you’re going to embarrass your mother; plus you’re gonna to get your butt kicked.’”
BAW Reality Check:
The federal Bureau of Justice Statistics reported that 12 percent of black men between the ages of 25 and 29 were in jail or prison in June 2002. Nearly 560,000 black men between the ages of 20 and 39 were incarcerated at that time.
Bill Cosby on Out-of-Wedlock Births to Blacks:
“Grandmother, mother and great-grandmother in the same place raising children and the child knows nothing about love or respect from any one of the three of them. All the child knows is give me, give me, give me.”
“We’re not parenting ladies and gentlemen. Listen to these people. They are showing you what’s wrong. People putting their clothes on backward; isn’t that a sign of something going on wrong? Are you not paying attention? People with the hat on backwards and pants down around their crack. Isn’t that a sign of something, or are you waiting for Jesus to pull his pants up?”
“Isn’t it a sign of something when she’s got a dress on all the way up to her crack?”
BAW Reality Check:
Sixty-eight percent of all babies born to black women in 2002 were born out of wedlock, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' National Vital Statistics Report.
Date: Tuesday, May 25, 2004
By: DeWayne Wickham
When Bill Cosby was called to the stage of Constitution Hall last week to receive an award for his philanthropy during a Washington, D.C. gala that commemorated the 50th anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education decision, what the comedian said was anything but funny.
Cosby used his time on stage to applaud the sacrifices made by the civil rights activists of the 1950s and 1960s and to complain that too many blacks today are wasting away the opportunities that the Civil Rights Movement made possible for them.
His words sparked a heated debate among blacks — and a feeding frenzy among right-wing commentators who have tried to turn Cosby’s remarks to their advantage.
While most media reports on this matter have been based on second-hand accounts of what Cosby said, BlackAmericaWeb.com has obtained an audiotape portion of his speech to share with its readers.
Jesse Jackson once said that “Content without context is pretext.” Mindful of that admonition, we offer this reality check on some of what Cosby had to say during that controversial speech.
Bill Cosby on the Poor Verbal Skills of many Young Blacks:
“I can’t even talk the way these people talk: ‘Why you ain’t, where you is’…I don’t know who these people are. And I blamed the kid until I heard the mother talk. And then I heard the father talk. It’s all in the house. You used to talk a certain way on the corner and when you got in the house you switched to English. Everybody knows that at some point you switch to English, except these knuckleheads.”
“We’re raising our own home-grown immigrants.”
BAW Reality Check:
Last year the College Board, which administers the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) reported that while test scores for virtually every other racial and ethnic group rose, blacks students made no progress on the exam between 2001 and 2002. Black students had the lowest average score of all groups in both the math and verbal portions of the test.
Bill Cosby on Blacks and Crime:
“I’m talking about these people who cry when their son is standing there in an orange (prison jump) suit. Where were you when he was two? Where were you when he was 12? Where were you when he was 18 and how come you don’t know he had a pistol?”
“Looking at the incarcerated, these people are not political prisoners. These people are going around stealing Coca-Cola. People getting shot in the back of the head over a piece of pound cake. Then we’re all outraged. Ah, the cops shouldn’t have shot him. What the hell was he doing with the piece of pound cake in his hands? I wanted a piece of pound cake just as bad as anybody else. I looked at it and I had no money, and something called parenting said ‘if you get caught with it you’re going to embarrass your mother; plus you’re gonna to get your butt kicked.’”
BAW Reality Check:
The federal Bureau of Justice Statistics reported that 12 percent of black men between the ages of 25 and 29 were in jail or prison in June 2002. Nearly 560,000 black men between the ages of 20 and 39 were incarcerated at that time.
Bill Cosby on Out-of-Wedlock Births to Blacks:
“Grandmother, mother and great-grandmother in the same place raising children and the child knows nothing about love or respect from any one of the three of them. All the child knows is give me, give me, give me.”
“We’re not parenting ladies and gentlemen. Listen to these people. They are showing you what’s wrong. People putting their clothes on backward; isn’t that a sign of something going on wrong? Are you not paying attention? People with the hat on backwards and pants down around their crack. Isn’t that a sign of something, or are you waiting for Jesus to pull his pants up?”
“Isn’t it a sign of something when she’s got a dress on all the way up to her crack?”
BAW Reality Check:
Sixty-eight percent of all babies born to black women in 2002 were born out of wedlock, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' National Vital Statistics Report.
