Cosby's message -- moderated by Ellis Cose

[fortyfeetunder]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6732301/site/newsweek/

I would heartily agree with Mr. Cose's comments in this Newsweek online interview about Cosby. His position is that it's one thing to pontificate on the failings of a segment of society, rather than to provide examples on how to prevent the problems leading to the failings in the first place.

What Cosby is saying is indeed true, but I wish he'd talk more about how there are individuals and organizations who are making a difference in these communities. And I suspect he has, but the media is certainly selecting out those comments....

[msgadget]

1. That was brilliant,

thanks for the link. I was stung by Mr. Cosby's comments not because I'm embarrassed to perpetuate an image but for those responsible urban parents who battle far more than many of us can imagine on a daily basis. The most visible and troublesome kids and parents are the ones he must see hangin' out as he cruises by but there's a whole invisible population struggling against great odds out of his sight.

Poor people overall require more than tough talk since their problems often go back at least one generation. It's where and how you were raised, by whom, and the quality of your education. Often parents don't do better because they didn't receive better themselves and that problem isn't unique to black people. Look in rural communities and you'll see the same ignorant resistance.

[fortyfeetunder]

2. I feel the same way.

I am particularly sensitive of stereotyping people because in the end, I could be stereotypes myself.

IIRC in one of Cosby's previous discourses, he had mentioned some positive action in urban areas, but it was overshadowed in the media by his negative comments about the failings of others.

Murka likes bad news about minorities, and the media played Cosby's negative statements like a popular song....

[msgadget]

3. Yes, that they did

and then they found conservative blacks to give it legs. Truth be told, this should've passed long ago. Those who've been on panels with Cosby since find him amenable to ideas and proposals as you point out but he's tailor-made for the stern father party, especially since I don't get that he realizes he's being misused. Do you?

[fortyfeetunder]

4. I think Cosby doesn't care if he's being misused.

Cosby, at age ~66, is so far along in his career that anything he says has little impact on his reputation or his future.

[GOPFighter]

5. I've been reluctant to respond to this thread...

...because I have so many strong (and conflicting) feelings about this subject. I understand Mr. Cosby's sentiments, I don't agree with them 100% BUT AT LEAST HE GOT AMERICA TALKING about it! Damn, hundreds of thousands of black kids are not getting the help, the encouragement, the love, and the education they deserve and America's silence is deafening!

Where is the black leadership? Where is the compassionate white concern? We're so busy beating each other up in this country that we don't have any time to think about a generation of kids wasted.

Fewer and fewer black kids are going to college. More are dropping out of high school. The number of kids in trouble with the law is increasing. Bush and his rich neo-con buddies don't give a damn. Big surprise. But what about Kerry and the Democrats? They are scared to death to tackle minority issues for fear of losing more white votes.

Unfortunately, the only images of black youth that rural Americans see is the negative. They never see the successes. I wish everyone in America could meet my coworker. He has a 14 year old daughter that is the light of his life. Even though he's divorced from her mother, he is in constant daily touch with her. He makes sure she does her homework, takes her to museums, concerts, even the opera. He talks with her and encourages her and makes sure her grades remain high. She's on the honor roll and is secretary of her class at high school. She's popular yet grounded. There are thousands and thousands of similar stories out there but rural Americans who live in regions where there are few minorities never see or hear of them.

I am sooooo sick of our politicians glossing over America's real problems (because there are no easy answers that can be explained in a 30 second sound bite).

[angee_is_mad]

6. Tell us something we don't know!

That was and is my response to Bill Crosby. The black community knows what is wrong, but sometimes it is hard to compete with the drug dealer that can offer that teen a better job than working at McDonald's.
Girls receive their self-esteem from their mothers. So how do you expect a girl to behave when she is 15, the mother is 29 and the grandmother is 45 with a boyfriend.
Realistically everyone is not college material, so what are the options for people who are not college bound? I live in a mill town where the black middle class came out of those mills. Now those same mills are sending jobs to China.
I say to Mr. Crosby, get out of your bourgeois mentality and give us some real options for real people. Not every family has a Sondra,Denise, Theo or Rudy!
As a final footnote this problem is happening in every community, but of course it is always highlighted in the black community.

[candy331]

7. So true, thank you for saying so, all kids are not college material and

shouldn't have to be to earn a living. What will happen when the holy grail of college is exhausted, where will ones go then? College is held up as the only outcome for all when it should not be, soon there will be no jobs for all the glut of college graduates so where will they go then? College is to seek a job from someone it is not to teach one how to make a job for themselves, that is called entrepreneurship and Blacks need to learn it before all those college degrees become meaningless.