(philly.com) An interesting thing has happened in the three years since Bill Cosby got blasted for, among other things, describing his people as “those people.”
Somewhere along the way, he became one of “those people,” connecting with black folks – especially poor black folks – in a way he never had before.
No amount of millions – and, trust me, America’s Dad has got more cash than Jell-O has pudding pops – could ever erase Cosby’s humble beginnings. Growing up poor in the Richard Allen Homes, dropping out of both Germantown High and Temple, repping North Philly all the way.
But since his controversial comments, which erupted during a speech that was supposed to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education, Cosby has traversed the country with a missionary’s zeal, espousing his message of African American self-responsibility.
Before, he often came off as unduly harsh.
His words: Poor people were the “lower economics,” kids who didn’t speak proper English were “knuckleheads,” and parents who gave their children African American names such as Ali and Shaniqua were lambasted.
Who could be inspired to do better when all they heard was a diatribe from the mouth of Cliff Huxtable?
Need for outrage
But here’s the thing. This year, as the homicides pile up at an alarming rate, with no end in sight and no solution on the horizon, the very unfiltered outrage Cosby was once criticized for openly expressing seems more than justified now.
We should be outraged that no one is outraged over this bloodshed. What does it take?
Apparently, if the Michael Vick case is any indication, you have to be a dog to get anyone to care. If you want jail time, kill a dog.
But black folks? Nobody seems to care that they are being killed every day. There’s no outrage from our public officials, not from our residents, not even from the disproportionate number of African American men the violence affects.
“I literally cry out every day [about] the idea of black men dying being normal and not even noteworthy,” says Marc Lamont Hill, professor of urban education at Temple. “What [Cosby] has done is model the type of outrage we’re supposed to have.” (more…)
Hill hit the nail on the head with his comment here. This was something I tried to express in my post “Random people behind the statistics (and you want me to target ALL my anger towards White against Black injustices?).” Young Black men being killed everyday in this country has become the norm in both White and Black circles. It as if folks have accepted the notion that being shot in a civilized country is a normal part of the life cycle of Black men.
As I said when Cosby first launched into his national tour on Black responsibility, how it is said and who it is said in front of does not bother me just as long as it is being said. Yes, there are folks out there that have addressed these issues in the same tone Cosby has been using. But he has both the audience and the money for it to hover in the consciousness of Americans a little longer than your average foot soldier out there who has been doing it without media fanfare.
What really took me over the edge with this was how folks online were screaming about the Jena six case while virtually ignoring the over 100 mostly Black individuals who were killed in New Orleans so far this year (within the same state as Jena) UNDER THE NOSE OF A BLACK MAYOR WITH MOSTLY BLACK SUPPORTING LEADERSHIP. No special blogs created, no chain e-mails…nothing. White cop shoots Black kid—wailing and screaming about how this is a continuation of slavery.
Finally, Cosby’s talks does not even come close to the harsh, unfiltered fire we throw around when criticizing Whites. Yet in the back of our minds we know “they” can take it. Criticism of Black folks (that is usually on the money) within earshot of Whites and now we have to play dead because he is being too hard on us.
Well there are hundreds of dead Black men and women in our streets who are not playing dead. Somebody has to get angry about this.
I know I have been sounding like a broken record on this issue, but it needs to be repeated. Something is really wrong when folks get more fired up about interracial dating than the life of another Black kids being snuffed out by another Black kid. This should not be the norm!
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