Bill Cosby

[Omari Taylor]

In a word...scathing.
As some of you on this forum are aware of, Bill Cosby has had some harsh words for black people in general over the last couple of months. As a former black man myself (you can look at my icon to see how a rare skin disease has turned my skin reptilian green) I find myself agreeing (strangely) with some of the things he says, but a lot of his words could have been chosen and said with a lot more tact. But whatever. In principle, I'm posting it here to see what some of you think.
Enjoy.

"Well, tell Bill I said have a Coke and a smile and shut the fuck up! Jell-O puddin' eatin' muthafucka!"


More Harsh Words from Bill Cosby
Jul 1, 5:13 PM EST

The Associated Press

CHICAGO -- Bill Cosby went off on another tirade against the black community Thursday, telling a room full of activists that too many black men are beating their wives while their children run around not knowing how to read or write.

Cosby made headlines in May when he upbraided some poor blacks for their grammar and accused them of squandering opportunities the civil rights movement gave them. He shot back Thursday, saying his detractors were trying in vain to hide the black community's "dirty laundry."

"Let me tell you something, your dirty laundry gets out of school at 2:30 every day, it's cursing and calling each other n------ as they're walking up and down the street," Cosby said during an appearance at the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition & Citizenship Education Fund's annual conference.

"They think they're hip," the entertainer said.

"They can't read; they can't write. They're laughing and giggling, and they're going nowhere."

He also had harsh words for black men who don't have jobs and are angry about their lives.

"You've got to stop beating up your women because you can't find a job, because you didn't want to get an education and now you're (earning) minimum wage," Cosby said. "You should have thought more of yourself when you were in high school, when you had an opportunity."

In his remarks in May at a commemoration of the anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education desegregation decision, Cosby denounced some blacks' grammar and said those who commit crimes and wind up behind bars "are not political prisoners."

"I can't even talk the way these people talk, 'Why you ain't,' 'Where you is' ... and I blamed the kid until I heard the mother talk," Cosby said then. "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."

Cosby elaborated Thursday on his previous comments in a talk interrupted several times by applause. He castigated some blacks, saying that they cannot simply blame whites for problems such as teen pregnancy and high school dropout rates.

"For me there is a time ... when we have to turn the mirror around," he said. "Because for me it is almost analgesic to talk about what the white man is doing against us. And it keeps a person frozen in their seat, it keeps you frozen in your hole you're sitting in."

Cosby lamented that the racial slurs once used by those who lynched blacks are now a favorite expression of black children. And he blamed parents.

"When you put on a record and that record is yelling n----- and you've got your little 6-year-old, 7-year-old sitting in the back seat of the car, those children hear that," he said.

Cosby appeared Thursday with the Rev. Jesse Jackson, founder and president of the education fund, who defended the entertainer's statements.

"Bill is saying let's fight the right fight, let's level the playing field," Jackson said. "Drunk people can't do that. Illiterate people can't do that."

Cosby also said many young people are failing to honor the sacrifices made by those who struggled and died during the civil rights movement.

"Dogs, water hoses that tear the bark off trees, Emmett Till," he said, naming the black youth who was tortured and murdered in Mississippi in 1955, allegedly for whistling at a white woman. "And you're going to tell me you're going to drop out of school? You're going to tell me you're going to steal from a store?"

Cosby also said he wasn't concerned that some whites took his comments and turned them "against our people."

"Let them talk," he said.

[Jennifer]

Omari Taylor,
Oh lord-i think he presents his opinions is a real stupid-ass way! He sounds as bad as the people he's critising-

[bingolong]

Omari Taylor,
Just watched a segment about it on CNN.Basically the guy they had on the program agreed with Cosby but stated that basically he is singing to the choir,he needs to market his message to the people who need to really hear it.He needs to take his message directly to the "hood".

My problem is as I have posted numerous times before on several forums around here is that he is going about it wrong,Sure he can get away with saying it but he is really alienating the people he is trying to get this message to.If you can believe it there is a sort of racism within the black race.Classism or whatever it maybe.Cosby is actually perpetuating this divide if you ask me.Good Intentions I'm sure but he needs to present solutions and help execute them!!!!!Otherwise he is just breaking peoples spirit...

[Jennifer]

bingolong,
That's hitting the nail directly on the head! He is creating a bigger divide!!! Well said, you need to go speak on his behalf, to the hood--again I think Cos has lost something-i hope it's not his mind!Do something positive Bill!