Bill Cosby’s Rant
They’re standing on the corner and they can’t speak English. I can’t even talk the way these people talk: Why you ain’t, Where you is, What he drive, Where he stay, Where he work, Who you be… And I blamed the kid until I heard the mother talk. And then I heard the father talk.
Everybody knows it’s important to speak English except these knuckleheads. You can’t be a doctor with that kind of crap coming out of your mouth. In fact you will never get any kind of job making a decent living.
People marched and were hit in the face with rocks to get an education, and now we’ve got these knuckleheads walking around. The lower economic people are not holding up their end in this deal. These people are not parenting. They are buying things for kids. $500 sneakers for what? And they won’t spend $200 for Hooked on Phonics.
I am talking about these people who cry when their son is standing there in an orange suit. Where were you when he was 2? Where were you when he was 12? Where were you when he was 18 and how come you didn’t know that he had a pistol? And where is the father? Or who is his father?
People putting their clothes on backward: Isn’t that a sign of something gone wrong? People with their hats on backward, pants down around the 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 has her dress all the way up and got all type of needles [piercing] going through her body?
What part of Africa did this come from? We are not Africans. Those people are not Africans; they don’t know a thing about Africa. With names like Shaniqua, Taliqua and Mohammed and all of that crap, and all of them are in jail.
Brown or black versus the Board of Education is no longer the white person’s problem. We have got to take the neighborhood back. People used to be ashamed. Today a woman has eight children with eight different ‘husbands’ — or men or whatever you call them now. We have millionaire football players who cannot read. We have million-dollar basketball players who can’t write two paragraphs. We as black folks have to do a better job. Someone working at Wal-Mart with seven kids, you are hurting us. We have to start holding each other to a higher standard.
We cannot blame the white people any longer.
The full transcript of Mr. Bill Cosby’s Pound Cake speech at the 50th Anniversary commemoration of the Brown vs Topeka Board of Education Supreme Court Decision
It’s interesting how so many people want to act with disgust towards a culture of people that is more of an American creation than any other in the nation. Instead, they wish for them to assimilate into White America when a majority of them are economically and culturally as far from that as possible. Ranting on the condition of your people won’t do anything after years of the government going through lengths to preserve White superiority in the country. The truth is there will always be a gap between groups of people in this country, the upper and middle class have to be preserved, but nobody cares about the lower class as long as they stay in their place. What’s happening with Blacks can be seen with all other kinds of people living in poverty, who are definitely not living the safe, friendly, comfortable and educated Cosby Show way of life.
It has become very disturbing how society has obviously not changed much since the end of the Jim Crow era, and one of our most well respected, famous and media approved “leaders” in Bill Cosby is arriving at the forefront of echoing White sentiments on the Black race. One thing he says is true though, the culture of the people needs to be changed if anything is going to change in Black society. But again, that will never happen, and Cosby is proving to be nothing more but a blow horn for the use of White audiences much like Al Sharpton has.
Nobody seems to have addressed my previous post about Asian (including Indians and Middle-Easterners) immigrants going through similar discrimination. They were virtual slaves, being paid little to nothing building railroads for the American companies. They were seen as second rate human beings, and treated as such.
Black youths as a whole today, did not create their current culture of glorifying crime and resisting affluence. It started out as a few of the uneducated rappers hip hop artists, who deviated from the respectable old-school rappers (Grandmaster, anybody?), and instead focused on songs about having sex with anybody with boobs and a vagina. Unfortunately, they have now been accepted as the de facto black youth culture. As such, blacks have embraced a culture of complaining against the machine, but doing nothing to show that they can become a productive part of our society.
Again, the whites of this country have shown similar disdain towards Asians. They didn’t even differentiate between the different Asian countries (try calling an Irish man “British,” and see what he does to you; and that’s an example where the two sides speak the SAME language). From those oppressive environment the Chinese managed to claw their way near to the top. What reasonable excuses do blacks today have?
I agree with Bill Cosby.
Take an example of Japan. They never complain about the nuclear bombs dropped in their country some 50 odd years ago. They don’t rant and point fingers at the West for their problems because of the bombs. They have picked themselves up and moved on. Poland is a good example of a nation tormented during World War 2. Again, I have met loads of hardworking Poles who do not point fingers at others for mistreating them. What is wrong then, with the African people? The atrocities committed to the Poles and the Japanese DO equal if not surpass the pain suffered during colonial occupation in Africa and the slave trade in the US. Yet who amongst all these says they were mistreated the most. The African lot. Africans have failed to pick themselves up and find solace (sic) in pointing fingers at the West. That will not get them opportunities or rid African governments of corruption. A change of attitude is the only thing that will move them forward.
Wake up African folk and take charge of your lives – nobody else will do this for you!!!
Indeed, I agree with Bill Cosby. There are too many black people who refuse to get proper educations and go around enforcing negative stereotypes.
This whole thing has been a great example of why Blacks feel alienated in this country. It’s very sad really but it’s the reality of society.
I have no choice but to agree with Bill Cosby’s well constructed thoughts. We live in a world where successful well spoken black people get treated as scum by their own race simply for becoming successful. I have seen it happen one too many times. They can blame their upbringing or whatever, but everyone, white, black, or any race, has a choice to rise above it and become something better than that.
Look at people who immigrate from India. I have spoke to many Indians who basically lived in dirt in India. In America, they take that opportunity and become doctors, scientists, or even own small businesses.
On the flipside, I still live in the real world and I have seen prejudice, racism, and hatred all too well. It sickens me to watch. Breaking through the “glass ceiling” can be a bit rough to do, especially in many regions in America. I hope that one day there will be no racism or biggotry. We’ve made a lot of progress in the past 2 centuries. However, we still have a ways to go.
Just to clarify in case anyone else was wondering.
While DR. Cosby may have many upon many upon many upon many honorary degrees…
He does indeed have a masters and ultimately a doctorate in EDUCATION.
Just in case anyone was curious….
What hasn’t been mentioned here is that the Rights movement, etc, was targeted by the CIA, and stopped in it’s tracks. How did they do that? By diverting people’s attention, with drugs mainly, $500 sneakers, and MTV.
I think if *any* community had been targeted in such a way, they would have succumbed. It’s well known that the CIA and probably other govt organizations, has pumped probably billions of dollars into keeping black America poor and uneducated and hooked on drugs. That sounds all paranoid and conspiracy theory, but think about it!!
That’s why education is so important, we ALL need to think about things like that, then they can’t escape us and slip through the cracks, only to be seen generations down the line. If wars can’t be overtly fought with guns and ammo, there are other ways, and our govt found one.
Chandira,
There is a difference between intellectual analysis, education… and your misguided, blog-informed rantings. Furthermore, if you’re going to make outrageous claims about a massive CIA conspiracy to suppress black America through drugs, $500, and MTV, the rest of us would appreciate some hard evidence. Why? Well, for starters, the CIA is so decentralized and divided that it couldn’t sniff out a bomb-carrying clown on an airplane for the life of them. What makes you think they were capable of carrying out an intricate, cohesive operation on that scale? To be honest, I do not even know what I’m trying to convince you otherwise. It’s been abundantly clear that you go through most of your days operating in alpha waves and procuring your education by reading the back of cereal boxes. Get a grip.
white people applauding a black man for being racist against blacks for them. saying things they feel so strongly, but would never say.
perhaps, these white people would be even happier if mr cosby were to put on black-face and act out all the racial stereotypes he’s ranting about?
I agree with the posts here that state that this is not just a “black issue”, but is a problem related more to socioeconomic status than to race. However, I think Bill has two justifiable reasons to single out blacks in his statements:
1: He has dedicated his life to improving the welfare of blacks… certainly there are whites, hispanics, etc. which also have this problem, but Cosby’s concern is with blacks. He singles blacks out not out of self-hatred, but out of a genuine concern for a demographic of which he is a member.
2: It appears as though this behavior has become a cultural touchstone for blacks, much more so than for any other group of people. This makes the situation even worse for blacks than other demographics… no white is criticized by his peers for using proper grammar, getting a part-time job at McDonalds, etc. There is a growing cultural bias among blacks against improving your lot in life. This is a dangerous trend, and is exactly the situation Bill is trying to combat.
@ Jeff Oct, 28
Jeff, while I do agree with the majority of what you’re saying, I strongly disagree with one point.
“Again, the whites of this country have shown similar disdain towards Asians. They didn’t even differentiate between the different Asian countries”.
For me, I understand this too well being from a family who immigrated to U.S. with no more than $20 in their pockets.Yes, in the past they have shown similar disdain towards Asians, but on a much much smaller scale than they have shown towards the black society. Being called Chinese when you’re actually Vietnamese is in no way comparable to the decades and decades of oppression the black society has endured. Even if Asians at one point were seen as “second rate human beings”, we were never oppressed to the extent that Africans were.
Jeff & Bui
Jeff
I too wonder how come few to none here had been able to address what you have said, and the answer lies in cutlure. The African American culture and way of life is significantly differently from us Asian Americans, less on new immigrants while more apparently on immigrants from generations ago.
You or I should compare ourselves to new immigrants from Africa, instead of African Americans that live in the US today as decendents of slaves. You will see that they usually fare better on things like education level, income, social status compared to what is traditionally seen as “African Americans”.
It’s rather late so I won’t go into details, but I’m sure you’d agree the experiences and culture of new immigrants are vestly different from the decendents of people that have immigrated or forced to move to the US hundreds of years ago.
Bui
Although I’d agree that blacks were perhaps a greater focus of hatred in the past and even now than Asians in the US, I’d hardly consider the discrimiation and injustice against Asians as simple and as light as “being called a different nationality”. The working conditions and wages paid to Chinese railway worker made the original Chinese immigrants no better than slaves, not to mention the head tax that was invoked at the time. It’s the hard working, driven and frugal culture of these immigrants and made them able to establish themselves as a part of the community, and became accepted later on. Obviously as slaves the blacks never had any opportunity for that, and thus I’d agree were worse off, I’d hate to have some of the people here see what our people surfered through as insignificant.
Bing
Brian
Personally I don’t know how you can take this without wanting to bash your keyboard to bits… the lack of understanding and intolerance reeks in this place.
However though, you will probably be more constructive to argue for a middle ground next time around; everyone gets on their defensive when you call them morons. The key is to think it, not to say it lol.
Bascially the argument takes 2 sides, 1: “I wasn’t here when slavery was around, so how come I’m being help responsible for the consequences; besides, it’s been 40 years since the civil rights movement, time for blacks to become just like whites” 2: “It is impossible for someone living “outside” of a culture to truly understand it’s inner workings, thus it’s both ignorant and useless for a non African American to tell African Americans what should be done, and frankly Cosby has gotten too old to understand today’s situation”.
Have I summed it up about right? why don’t we just all leave it at that; instead of place faults, time and resources are better spent to fix the situation; and like jeff said, education is the key. And that goes above and beyond making it available, such as promoting the importance of quality (yes quality, but not some of the shitty ass schools that i have been in and seen) in minority communities and making them easily accessible.
Why is it so important for some of you to believe it’s someone’s fault? isn’t it more reasonable to see this as a problem that has to be dealt with, and if successful, will benefit this country?
Did anyone actually follow the link to Dr. Cosby’s speech? The full transcript is very different from what’s above. I question if this excerpt is real.
the last statement about having 7 kids and working at wal*mart seems a little much… its as if he thinks that anyone can just get up one morning and rid themselves of years upon years of poverty or whatever you’d like to call it… who knows what options those people have – it’s different for everyone and degrading someone because they’re trying to support their family doesn’t make sense…
I grew up in projects in NJ with a single mother who worked 2 even 3 jobs at some points to make sure me and my siblings had what was necessary. Being poor and uneducated is what ties minorities down not their race. Bill Cosby is not being “white washed” (that very statement is racist for whomever decides to use it) he is preaching good morals that everyone in our country should adhere to. Opportunities come in the form of hard work and focus not hand outs. I being white, in fact being the ONLY white kid in my neighborhood had to deal with a lot of racism growing up kids would treat me as if I didn’t fit in or I had better things to do. So it’s in society that this is preached into even young African-Americans to lay down their weapons and just think white people are from another world. Rap and ghetto culture is a off-shoot of this giving them something to be a part of and take pride in. Unfortunately it’s not very productive. The only way these things will change is if people start taking responsibility and work harder. Easy to say hard to do….
Amen to that,
No, but seriously it’s the truth. I mean for Christ sake people faught and marched and died for education. And not only black, but white peole. You should all be ashamed. I’m 16 years old and where I come from, “ain’t, hain’t, yous guys, and hoe butt”, are commonly used. Nobody uses correct english or cares about what they sound like. Well that is until they want a job but don’t get it because they can’t talk.
Up until a few days ago, I might have believed what Mr Cosby was saying, even agreed in many instances in his ideas, at least until a very frightening and quite disturbing thing happened to me. Now, contrary to Mr. Cosby’s beliefs, I now believe his philosophy is flawed. I’m living proof that as a black man, sometimes no matter what you do, you still can’t win.
I have always strived to followed Mr. Cosby pattern of behavior, as well as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s philosophy of “content of his character” by striving to be a man of integrity and decency. I get up and go to work everyday, to pay for the things I own, and try to set a good example for my family, and those around me. I don’t use slang, never have used the n-word or other racial epithets towards anyone. I do my best to behave appropriately under all situations. When under stress I maintain my self control and keep things in perspective. I strive daily to increase my vocabluary and to surround myself with positive people. In addition, it has always been the core of my being to be respectful and compassionate to everyone I meet. My boss says I do a good job, and those I work for praised me almost daily for being a man of integrity.
Recently, several of the people that I work for have approached me and encouraged me to pursue other more challenging areas of employment. Although it took some convincing, I finally gave in decided to take their advice to advance my education. I temporarily took a leave from my job to begin my college education. A few days ago I was working on a video project for one of my classes when I was walking through a crowded mallway, I and another gentleman by chance bumped one another. As this is nothing unusual–being the most popular tourist area of the city–I thought nothing of it, and hearing no complaint for the gentleman, we both continued on our way. I had moved down a few blocks and set up my camera again and contined to video tape. After a few minutes I noticed a police car drive up, then two, three, four, and finally five! At this point I became excited, thinking I was about to get a huge police bust of tape. Then one of the police officers approached me and asked me if I had bumped into someone? I said yes, the two of us bumped into each other in the mallway. At this point I was wondering if maybe the man had been a pickpocket and if the officer wanted me to identify him. Then the office asked if I had any identification, I said yes and casually began to take it out of my camera bag. At this point the office became excited and commanded me to move very careful. Then my heart started to race–had the man been the victim of a pickpocket and the police thought it was me? The the officer commanded me to remove all of my camera equipment, and “take the position.” Needless to say, at this point I was terrified–I was sure that they were making some kind of mistake so I began pleading with them to explain what was happening. I tried to get an explaination from the officer in charge, but all he would say was, “the man you bumped was a lawyer; you bumped into the wrong person!” I was taken down to the police station booked and thrown in jail for battery. Keep in mind we were both in motion. Also previous to this I had never been in trouble with the law, not in all my years as an adult nor as a juvenile. I was a 48 year old black man that was born in the inner city yet had never been arrested for any reason–I had no criminal history whatsoever, nor had been associated with any criminals of any kind. Yet despite all my effors to do the right thing, in one instant, my whole life was changed forever. I went from being someone with a rare and unique history, to being just another black man in the criminal justice system. The DA of the Jenna Six said all he needed was the swipe of his pen to change someone’s life, in the case with this attorney, all it took was a few well worded sentences!
brain.
you’re right on.