Come on People, No, Come on Cosby

Comedian Bill Cosby is the walking and now writing proof of the ancient adage that good intentions can go terribly awry. That's never been more painfully true than in Cosby's latest tome, Come On People. Cosby and his publisher boast that the book is a big, brash, and provocative challenge to black folk to get their act together. That's got him ga ga raves, and an unprecedented one hour spin job on Meet the Press. In the book, Cosby harangues and lectures, cobbles together a mesh of his trademark anecdotes, homilies, and personal tales of woe and success, juggles and massages facts to bolster his self-designated black morals crusade. Stripped away it's the same stock claim that blacks can't read, write or speak coherent English, and are social and educational cripples and failures.

Since Cosby's much touted tirade at the NAACP confab a few years back, and on countless talk shows, and at community gatherings, he has succeeded marvelously in getting the tongues of blacks wagging furiously and their fingers jabbing relentlessly at each other's alleged mountainous defects. They stumble over themselves to hail Cosby as the ultimate truth-giver.

He isn't. While Cosby is entitled to publicly air black America's alleged dirty laundry, there's more myth than dirt in that laundry. Some knuckleheads in black neighborhoods do kill, mug, peddle dope, are jobless untouchables, and educational wastrels. They, and only they, should be the target of wrath. But Cosby makes a Grand Canyon size leap from them to paint a half-truth, skewed, picture of the plight of poor blacks and the reasons and prescriptions for their plight. The cornerstone of Cosby myth-making is that they are crime prone, educational losers, and teen baby making machines.

Here are two choice Cosby whoppers from the opening pages of the book:

"There are whole blocks with scarcely a married couple, whole blocks without responsible black males"

This is a big, sweeping unsupported by any survey, stats, or factual data to back it up. And:

"The problems start early for black boys, and we can all see it. Call it ADHD or learning differences. Young black males can act up a Level 5 storm in class."

Here's another big unsubstantiated statement and there's those broad brush indicting words "all" see it" (who is all?); "young black males" (all young black males?); and they act up a level 5 storm (all black males are disruptive in class?)

The heart wrenching and much played up news shots and specials of black-on-black blood-letting in Philadelphia, New Orleans, and a handful of other big cities and the admission that blacks do have a much higher kill rate than young whites tell a tale of out-of-control, lawless blacks. The truth: homicides and physical assaults have plunged among black teens to the lowest levels in the past two decades. The rate of drug use among young blacks is no higher than among young whites. Blacks are more likely to be arrested, convicted and imprisoned than young whites who if arrested at all are more likely to get drug rehab, counseling, and treatment referrals, probation or community service. This horribly distorts the racial crime picture.

Then there is the black teen girls as baby making machine myth. The truth: the teen pregnancy rate among black girls has sharply dropped during the past decade. And they continue to fall.

The biggest myth that young blacks empty out the public schools, fill up the jails and cemeteries, and ridicule learning as acting white has risen to urban legend rank. The truth: the U.S. Dept. of Education found that in the decades since 1975, more blacks had enrolled in school, had improved their SAT scores by nearly 200 points and had lowered their dropout rate significantly. It also found that one in three blacks attended college, and that the number of blacks receiving bachelors and masters degrees had nearly doubled. A survey of student attitudes by the Minority Student Achievement Network, an Illinois-based educational advocacy group in 2002 and confirmed in other surveys, found that black students were as motivated, studied as hard, and were as serious about graduating as whites.

Cosby publicly bristles at criticism that he takes the worst of the worst behavior of some blacks and publicly hurls that out as the warped standard of black America. Cosby says that he does not mean to slander all, or even most blacks, as derelict, laggards and slackers. Yet that's precisely the impression he gives and the criticism of him for it is more than justified. Even the book title, Come on People: On the Path from Victims to Victors (a hint they're all losers) conveys that smear.

He did not qualify or provide a complete factual context for his blanket indictment of poor blacks. He made the negative behavior of some blacks a racial rather than an endemic social problem. In doing so, he did more than break the alleged taboo against publicly airing racial dirty laundry; he fanned dangerous and destructive stereotypes.

This is hardly the call to action that can inspire and motivate underachieving blacks to improve their lives. Instead, it further demoralizes those poor blacks who are doing the best to keep their children and themselves out of harm's way, often against towering odds, while still being hammered for their alleged failures by the Cosby's within and without their communities. Worse, Cosby's blame-the-victim slam does nothing to encourage government officials and business leaders to provide greater resources and opportunities to aid those blacks that need help.

Come on People, intended or not, continues to tar the black communities and the black poor as dysfunctional, chronic whiners, and eternally searching for a government hand-out. Come on, Cosby.

Earl Ofari Hutchinson is an author and political analyst. His new book is The Latino Challenge to Black America: Towards a Conversation between African-Americans and Hispanics (Middle Passage Press).

Comments

[QuietAmerican]

Come on, Hutchinson, do we really need to continue to keep our heads in the sand about this conversation Cosby wants to have?

Statistics? Forgive me from borrowing from another culture, here, but we don't need no stinking statistics! -- to see what is going on right before our very eyes!

Why is it that when a fellow African-American tries to honestly address what's going on in our communities, and OUR responsibility for it, they are immediately shouted down as WRONG by our own. And what do we get in return? Something that looks like my neighborhood:

Young girls, barely out of tweenie-hood, six months pregnant and with a toddler already in tow -- no ring on their finger and no father in sight;

Young people without a thought referring to each other as "that n*gger";

Young people who don't seem to have a concept of self-respect or respect for others, who will loudly and readily use the foulest language they can muster regardless of whether th elderly or small children are within hearing distance;

I could go on, but you get the picture. How are we supposed to start addressing the issue of poor self-image and hopelessness in our communities if we can't even speak about their symptoms?

I haven't read Cosby's book and so will admit his approach may not be perfect, however, that doesn't mean that because he hasn't Googled some statistics, he's so wrong about it all.
The things he talks about are going on right here and now, today -- and it does no good to pooh-pooh him because "statistics" say it can't be so.

[iswearington]

the situation black folk in a racist world are in is simular to the dilemna of the course of the wolfman. no matter what the wolfman does...once bitten by a werewolf...when the moon shines bright...he will turn into a werewolf no matter what.a black man...no matter how many degrees he has...no matter how well-spoken...no matter how clean his criminal record...when a racist cops baton descends...his brains will be bashed out.there is no clearer example than that of michael vick...erstwhile victim of a modern day "coon hunt". if only emmet till...sean bell or amadou diallo had been dogs.imagine if NYPD s finest had used a broomhandle on a pitbull instead of abner louima. someone would have served time.

[realpolitic]

No one would argue that blacks should deny the unhealthy impact on racism on their lives. In fact, there must be far easier countries to grow up in as black even while still in the minority. For example, many jazz musicians and other artists, such as James Baldwin, preferred France to America.

Our academic culture is biased toward a "white" or dominate culture interpretation of history and many other subjects. Still, I would argue a love of learning is not necessarily something that belongs to any race. Many blacks from African and Caribbean countries speak more formal English than any whites do in America. This speech pattern does not make them any less authentically "black." Conversely, standard English is not necessarily "white." As a teen in inner-city Chicago in the late 1970's, I spoke with friends in the rich slang of the day and spoke to adults and at school with more formality. I did not need to label this "code switching." I was just doing what seemed appropriate. I would not argue black English is lazy or substandard. People speak in ways they are exposed to. Little familarity with a more formal expression would lead to an alienation from it. For example, reading exposes a person to a rich expression. Libraries are free and most have one close by. The love of reading is often fostered by parents who read to children.

I would also argue that adopting prison culture and norms (such as letting pants hang low) doesn't make one "authentically" anything. It may be just a stage. But when coming out of that stage, one should have as many behavior patterns open to oneself as one is comfortable with adopting. If one has a love of bee keeping, for example, one isn't necessarily a race traitor. Charlie Parker is said to have liked to listen to country music on the juke box.

I do support affirmative action. Also, the sentencing laws which impose far harsher sentences for sale or possession of crack cocaine than powder cocaine should be brought into conformity.

[flatus]

Mr. Cosby's message is simple and true: For at least 8 hours a day we all must conform to the mainstream if that mainstream is to provide for us.

A message that your family, Mr. Hutchinson, apparently heard a long time ago.

[Chris11]

I was born and spent most of my life in a poor community is pretty evenly split between black and hispanic residents. I have many friends, as well as a few enemies, of both races. I think Cosby is one of the most honest black man speaking on these issues today. And many of the problems he cites affect latinos as well as blacks.

What I hear him saying is: you can do well for yourself if you're willing to work hard, take advantage of the education that is offered to you, have respect for yourself and others, avoid illegal and stupid behavior and, especially, get rid of the victim's mind-set. I think Cosby"s right on the money. Blaming whitey for all of your problems may make you feel good but it does nothing to improve your situation or your future prospects. Blaming whitey for everything is simply whining, and a cop-out. By taking responsibility for our lives and actions we can succeed in spite of the obstacles. Bill Cosby is proof of this. Michael Jordan is proof of this. So are the many successful blacks (and latinos) who are not "stars" but who have built solid, respectable lives for themselves.

Yes, there is racism. But focusing on it, and obsessing about it can only hold one back.

On the other hand people like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton do incredible harm, imo, by making every legal dispute into a "race" issue, and making any black person involved in appear (often mistakenly) as a victim. Jackson and Sharpton feed the victim mentality that holds many people back, imo. They have built careers out of selling and nurturing a culture of victimhood.

There is much in Cosby's message that can help young people of all races, if they will listen.

[acanthus]

The first mistake a lot of people make when they look at this issue is to assume that most poor black people (or most blacks in general-the exact target group seems to change according to the specific issue being discussed) think that all their problems are caused by racism, and that they obsess about racism. Not true. But, I see the tactic at work here. Any complaint about rascism is immediatelt pounced on and termed "obsessing", and "making excuses". It's designed to chill dissent, just as calling liberal "traitors" is designed to chill dissent.

[Nommo]

The other thing is that they say it exists, but it ain't no big thing. Like the weather. As if all this stuff just happened. Everybody is looking around like "wow"!
Long before Cosby or Poussaint got their pantie all bunched, white politicians and social scientists and whoever else have been saying these things about Black folk as far back as you can see.
They used all of that propaganda to deny us everything. Now that they have well qualified Negroes to do that, they can just sit back and keep laughing...

[tbone99]

Civil rights work is not done and to be aware of that is not obsession -it is realism. Schools remain segregated and for too many education is just a form of babysitting denying them the chance to really learn, redlining continues in housing, nooses are still being left in peoples workplaces to insinuate violence, every couple of years a black man is dragged to death behind a car and the criminal justice system is a funnel designed to take young black males straight to lock-up..Plenty of studies have been done indicating harsher sentences for young black males for early minor offenses compared to white males and of course the laws for crack compared to coke( both the same substance) are totally racialized.Once someone has that record they are denied decent jobs and housing.People feel like victims because they see there are 2 sets of laws, 2 sets of opportunities and 2 standards of judgement.
Racial economic history is written clearly in the neighborhoods of every town and you don't have to have a Phd to read it.Black people have survived this far in America because they are astute, forced to be awake to survive, and know how to play the white man ,ESPECIALLY Mr Cosby..

[Blazion]

If I read one more story about one's limited personal experience of working in an innercity school or getting a cartier watch stolen, which is then used a springboard to leap to some off-based generalized conclusions about "those blacks," I'm going to vomit. It's not about YOU. Your condescendsion and personalization of everything "black" makes you sound rather foolish.

Also, I don't know where you people got this nonsense about black people making good grades being told they're acting white, but it wasn't reality. As sociologist Orlando Patterson pointed out, studies show that this is a myth with no factual merit. I didn't even need any studies to show me that because I am black and I grew up around other people and not once from K to 12 have I ever accused of "acting white" when I made an A. If you want to say education isn't valued enough in poor black communities, I will agree. You might be called a nerd or labeled as weird just like in many white schools, but no one calls people white just for making good grades. I'd bet next month's mortgage that not one person here that has regurgitated this myth has ever heard the accusation come out of a black person's mouth directly.

[iswearington]

this blogger is on the right track.the fact remains...that if some one could wave a magic wand...and tomorrow morning bright and early would wake up with a PHD hanging on their wall...their little brains permeated with knowlege...every little brain cell infused with learning..and as thomas gradgrind would have it...their little heads stuffed with facts...they would still be black doctors in a white racist world...only marginally better off than their middle school drop out brethren...subject to the picadillos of ever racist cop...employer and politician from sea to shining sea. when will the cosbys of the world get it? the true solution is the eradication of racism. when racism is removed from the equation...the cream will rise to the top...either with or without the help of government programs.

[Alessan]

Once people of color have been imprisoned and released, there is very little opportunity for them to change their lives, and isn't likely no matter how much education you have you will be hired with a prison record. I don't know if you have to state that on your resume or job application, but the employer may want to know what you have been doing in the last year or five years. I believe the idea of the ranting Crosby is doing at people of color, is to do just what the title says. Pay attention to your children, get involved in their lives. Yes, many parents work, but there is still time. Bringing the child up with good old fashion manners at home, starting when they are toddlers, there is nothing like a good early start. This goes for all children regardless of color. The media reports all of the black crime, but little of the white crime, so it would look like there is more black crime anyway, even if the statistics weren't pointed out. But I must say there are two standards of justice in this country, when a person of color gets more time than a white person for the same crime or perhaps the whigte person doesn't get any time depending on the circumstances. But Bill Crosby's goal in writing this book is to keep people of color out of prison to begin with and that simply means good family values.

[tbone99]

Considering what they have to work with blacks are pretty damn admirable -considering the forces against them -these are some resilient people. Whats that you say? well African American Households median house-
hold assets (half above, half below) equal $8,000, while white median households assests equal $88,000
(Pew Trust statistics 2005).And most blacks don't live in the cheaper rural areas.
It starts being a little more understandable why people aren't finishing school,getting married, starting businesses and avoiding jail ( who' can afford a lawyer) and just doing WHATEVER it takes to stay alive.. when you see the resources people have to work with ( or not) I think Mr Cosby fell out of touch with his peeps a few million dollars ago- BTW he's not making the book available for free to poor urbanites is he?

[Nommo]

they probably have to be Costco members or something..

[Kansas Evans]

Thanks for the facts and the reminder.

[ladyfractal]

While most of the time I tend to applaud Hutchinson for his insight, this time I have to part company. Is it true that racism is alive and well in America? Yes. Is it *also* true that, certainly in working-class black communities there is a self-defeating ethic that equates reading and study with 'acting white'? Yes! For too long, the black community has looked the other way, given excuses for or ignored those voices of self-defeat within our communities. Unfortunately, Mr. Hutchinson's column is in this latter category.

What he does (and what many intelligent black commentators do) is do some vague hand-waving in the general direction of education, self-determination, responsibility and striving and then, in the very next statement, take back with the right hand what was given with the left.

When I was coming up, my parents drilled into my sister and I that we lived in a fishbowl. Our actions reflected not just on our family but on black people as a whole. Now, this is, admittedly, an unfair amount of pressure to heap on kids but that doesn't make it any less true. Every black person reading these words has had the experience, at least once in their lives, of being asked "why do black people..." as if we were all part of some hive mind. Like it or not, 50 cent *represents* the black community! We should ask ourselves if he is the representative that we want.

I am happy to see Cosby and Pouissant making their case and disappointed that swaths of the black intelligentsia are having the knee-jerk reaction of claiming that they have gone conservative. It's not conservative to look around, do the math, and realize that those who have education do better than those who do not on average. It's not conservative to push to use proper English (and one cannot help but note that Hutchinson does not write his columns in ebonics).

Cheers
LF

[nihilon x]

I can agree with a lot of what you say, but 50 Cent in no way reflects upon me as a black person.

As I see it, anyone who chooses to make that projection is the one who has issues, not me.

And if that means the whole world has issues, then so be it.

[ladyfractal]

Nihilon:

While I certainly agree with what you are saying, the fact of the matter is that given the sheer numbers, most people in America will never have a close relationship (friend, lover, partner, etc.) with an African-American. A moment's reflection on the math will lead you to understand why that is true. Which is why representations in the media *are* so important! 50 cent doesn't reflect me or anything I am about as a black woman, but if someone thinks about a representative of the black community who do you think is going to *first* leap to mind; 50 cent or a dreadlocked biologist? Hell, even without getting that obscure, 50 cent or Colin Powell (tarnished as he is)?

I agree that it shouldn't *be* this way, but that doesn't change how things *really* are. That was the only point I was making. That we need to deal with the realpolitik of the situation.

Cheers
LF

[lk5287]

At the very least, I think we all have to admit that Cosby has generated an excellent discussion about what IS the right solution to the problem.

[realpolitic]

Cosby is exactly right! Blacks need to turn the dialogue inward. The days are past when the black community can keep blaming whites for their social and economic ills and start trying to improve their lives through discipline and a stable family structure. Racism still exists, but one can not continually define oneself as a victim without harming one's own self-image. Parents and ministers must speak loudly to counter the negative messages associated with the hip-hop community.

As Mr. Hutchinson says, it is great black teen woman are having fewer children. Still aproximately, 50% of black males drop out of high school and 1 in 4 between the ages of 18 and 30 or so are in prison, on parole, or on probation. These numbers are astronomical. You need leaders like Crosby and Barack Obama who say blacks must abandon the peer pressure that argues it is "white" to read or speak correctly or do well in school. These ideals are not "white", but a prescription for success and learning about oneself. Society is not the enemy for young black males and should no longer be defined as such.

[Kansas Evans]

You seem really sincere, so I say this in sincerity, not in some lame attack.

One, it's wrong to assume you know what's being discussed within the black community. The media doesn't cover the more positive aspects of black life the way it covers the negative.

Two, the facts argue against Cosby.
http://www.child-dev.com/drupal/node/87
-school discipline

http://www.dmiblog.com/archives/2007/09/white_convicts_as_likely_to_be.html
-employment

http://www.insidehighereducation.com/news/2007/08/13/race
-effects of ending affirmative action

http://www.news.cornell.edu/releases/Sept02/blacks.oneparent.ssl.html
-effects of family structure

http://hrw.org/campaigns/race/criminal_justice.htm
-justice system

And, I gotta speak to the issue of being "white." There's no doubt that the culture of academia has much in common with white American culture. But instead of telling black children they need to master what actually is "white" in order to succeed in school, we tell black children their home culture is substandard; they need to unlearn that in favor of "white" culure. Let me tell you, that is a painful and confusing experience someone explains to the child that what's happened. The part white privilege plays in that.

Linguists agree that black English isn't "lazy" or "substandard," but an entirely different and intelligible English dialect in its own right. If you compare one dialect of English to another, neither is better; it's just that one's preferred. In European countries like Italy, they don't teach the children their home dialect is inherently insufficient, they teach them they have to learn standard Italian in order to be successful in the world. They teach their children to code-switch, and where code-switching is used in the US it is very successful in keeping both the grades and esteem of black students up.

I completely agree that it's unhealthy to define one's self as a victim. But, honestly, the most unhealthy thing for a black person to do is deny the negative impact of racism on their lives.

[MWAnderson]

ALVIN F. POUSSAINT, M.D.
Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School


For the sake of argument, isn't he the Elephant in the room here? No mention of him in the article at all, and he's a co-author...I'm just sayin'.

[iswearington]

mr poussaint was taught white psychiatry to treat white folk. there is no black psychiatry. if there were then the medical community would have discovered "whiteciphrenia". a debilitating acutemental illness decimating the black population caused by the effects of 600 years of racism...jimcrow...and unabated institutional racism.other mental illnesses like SORTS (SEVERE ONGOING RACIAL TRAUMATIC STRESS)and WOYBM (WHITEY ON YOUR BACK MELANCHOLIA,and CGADTNMHHYW SYNDROME( CAINT GET A DAMN THING NO MATTER HOW HARD YOU WORK) would also have been discovered

[JimR]

"Comedian Bill Cosby is the walking and now writing proof of the ancient adage that good intentions can go terribly awry."

There's another saying: Denial ain't just a river in Egypt.

The main thrust of your post seems to be that things aren't as bad as Cosby describes. Even if that is true, they are still bad.

Cosby does a lot of work with youth in my hometown of Springfield, Mass. All of the problems he describes in his book can be found there. This doesn't mean it is just a black problem or that these problems can be found in all, or even most, black families. But the problems are there. And your dismissive comments, especially the one about "a few knuckleheads," are almost laughable.

You know what? Some - I said some, not all, not most - of the black poor (and the white poor, and the Hispanic poor) ARE dysfunctional, ARE chronic whiners, and ARE eternally searching for a government hand-out. It is this segment especially that Cosby seems to be trying to reach.

At least he is out there trying to make a difference. He puts up money for scholarships for black students. He regularly talks to parents and young people in organized events in the city. He has dedicated himself to this cause.

You make some valid points about his use of flawed statistics. But instead of acknowledging that problems exist, you seem to be trying to cover them up with your own statistics.

[nihilon x]

"Cosby does a lot of work with youth in my hometown of Springfield, Mass.

At least he is out there trying to make a difference. He puts up money for scholarships for black students. He regularly talks to parents and young people in organized events in the city. He has dedicated himself to this cause."

If this is true, I'd like to see more emphasis on this in the media, rather than the focus on his negative comments regarding the black community.

This goes right back to what I've said before about how the media constantly plays up negative behavior (and assertions) while ignoring the positive news that can inspire and uplift the community.

I think this would make a good "60 Minutes" documentary -- you'd probably find that many people wouldn't be so hard on Cosby if we saw him actually out there making a difference in the communities that he is constantly portrayed as only criticizing.

[Chris11]

"If this is true, I'd like to see more emphasis on this in the media, rather than the focus on his negative comments regarding the black community."

His 'negative' comments cannot be disregarded. The only way to solve problems is to get them out in the light. That's what Cosby is trying to do. That IS the news, that IS his message.

If blacks who criticize Cosby succeed in burying his message and silencing him, what will they accomplish? Only to continue hiding the problems and to delay finding solutions.

Maintaining a victim's mentality, blaming others for our own shortcomings is a loser's game. Cosby knows this, he also knows it is not a message that is easy to accept. And, I believe he keeps hammering the message home because he knows it can change lives for the better.

[PhantomAviator]

I had a wanna-be gangsta tell me, "Reading is for suckers."

Allegorical, it's true. But telling since he had SONS!!!

Suckers and punks and bitches.

See some black men place every other person they see on the ladder of what they would be in PRISON.

Pitchers and catchers.

I'll paraphrase Chris Rock:
"I finished high school."
"Yeah. But I can kick yer ass."

Higher learning at its best.