The week after former funnyman turned morals evangelist, Bill Cosby made the rounds on the talk show circuit hyping his new book, Come on People, and his message that blacks need to knock off the blame game and get their act up together, Nobel Prize-winning geneticist James Watson rattled things up with his quip that blacks are dumber than whites. At first glance, Watson and Cosby seem light years apart. Cosby is black, an entertainer, backs civil rights causes and bankrolls black colleges, and seems passionate in his crusade for black excellence. Watson is white, a scientist, his passionate is research, and he has a penchant for making shoot from the lip zany cracks about women, gays, and blacks. One of Watson's zany cracks was that while he hoped everyone was equal "people who have to deal with black employees find this is not true."
And one of Cosby's stock one liners in his book "The problems start early for black boys, and we can all see it. Call it ADHD or learning differences."
With only slight variations Cosby has repeated this over and over on the yak circuit the past few years. It's just another way of saying what Watson was ridiculed for saying namely that blacks are chronic troublemakers. Now Cosby and Watson have polar opposite reasons in making these bald, naked, assertions that are not supported by any factual data. Cosby wants to smack blacks in the face to get them to improve in school. Watson is just taking a cheap racial shot. But racial shot, or good intentions, the end result is the same. Watson and Cosby pound racial stereotypes ever deeper in the belief systems are far too many.
Cosby better than anyone should know this. He has spent much of his professional career battling the clown, coon and mammy image of blacks in Hollywood. He has written books touting the excellence and achievements of young blacks. He has given tons of money to charitable and educational causes whose goal is to provide resources and create opportunities for the legions of young blacks who want to improve their lives.
Though Cosby is one of the best-known blacks to fan negative racial stereotypes, he's hardly the only one. Despite much evidence to the contrary, many blacks routinely trash, demean and ridicule themselves. They unthinkingly and unquestioningly spin sordid tales of ghetto car jackers, gang bangers, drive-by-shooters, and dope dealers that supposedly turn black communities into war zones and cesspools of rot.
Some blacks in the rap and hip-hop world are deeply complicit in fanning this stereotype. The rap moguls have reaped king's ransoms peddling their music-video-cartoon version of the thug life. The rebellious young of all colors that shell out billions to enrich them are almost totally mindless of the social complexities, and the artistic and intellectual richness of the black experience. Some blacks further bolster the thug life stereotype by committing or winding up as victims of violence. The murders of rap icons Tupac Shakur, and Notorious BIG have been the stuff of cheap media sensationalism.
Cosby's off base remarks are not just grist for the mill of conservative talking heads to hammer blacks -- they certainly didn't need Cosby to do that -- they also confirm that the problems of poor blacks are self made and insoluble. Many employers admit that they won't hire young blacks because they believe they are lazier, more crime prone, and educationally deficient. Many politicians, even without the excuse of ballooning state and federal budget deficits and cutbacks, mightily resist efforts to increase spending on job, health and education programs for the poor while waging relentless war against affirmative action.
Through two failed and flawed presidential campaigns against Bush, the top white Democratic presidential candidates bought deeply into this. They were stone silent on issues such as urban investment, health care for the uninsured, fixing lousy inner-city public schools, racial profiling, affirmative action, the racial disparities in prison sentencing and the racially marred drug laws.
Despite the plummet in crime rates, racial stereotypes have ruthlessly embedded the popular and terrifying belief that crime in America comes exclusively with a young, black male face. The result: nearly one million blacks are warehoused in America's jails, the majority of them young blacks, and a significant number of them are there for non-violent, petty drug crimes.
Then there's Cosby himself. In times past, Cosby has been ripped by the same white and black conservatives that revere him for talking favorably about affirmative action, civil rights, and for his own sexual escapades. His wife, Camille Cosby, was slammed for having the temerity to suggest that racism may have been a factor in the murder of their son, Ennis Cosby.
Cosby didn't invent the shopworn stereotype that poor blacks are their own worst enemy. This belief has been around for a long time. But Cosby is a recognized and endearing icon, and when he speaks, people listen. The problem is what they're hearing is only a skewed, mangled view of the cause and effect of racial problems in America. That's the deep peril in the latest round of Cosby mythmaking.
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). hutchinsonreport@aol.com
Guess none of us are perfect (People Mag.)
There is an immediate audience for Blacks who are willing to come forward and accuse other Blacks of being lazy and unprepared. Cosby says Blacks must take responsibility for all of their own problems while O'Reilly states that he's amazed that Black restaurants run the same as White restaurants...
Blacks Americans are indeed more responsible at all economic levels than either Cosby or O'Reilly recognize. Statistics prove that there are more Blacks enrolled in college than ever before, and some of them are named LaKisha and Shanikwa...
Blacks must steer clear of the traps set by Cosby and O'Reilly and not fall "victim" to their convenient media generalizations. We must ignore the stereotypes that even Mr. Cosby tries to sell for his own profit.
It is more difficult being black in America than white and the stakes are higher. There are fewer avenues to succes without an college education now that the manufacturing base has moved on. Still, with an education there are probably more opportunities here than just about anywhere.
Boundaries to opportunity have been broken down enough to start focusing elsewhere. It is not empowering to explain to someone that a solution to their problems, however defined, lies elsewhere-either with the government or wherever. Although, there are times people need help and government can certainly play a role. But the solution lies in looking at behavior patterns that may be found in the black community, but does not necessarily make one "authentically" black. Being incarcerated certainly does not make one "authentically" black or speaking in a certain way. Many blacks from Africa or Caribbean countries speak more formally than any whites in America. However, hip-hop culture limits masculine behavior to sexism and thuggery. The real solution is being oneself whether taking an interest in science or bird watching or whatever.
You're totally missing the point. Why should anyone in the black community correct our crazy teens any more than you're correcting yours?
The point is this. Once you hold for income, everything within the control of the black community, except out of wedlock births, is the same. The problems everyone's talking about reside with our lower/underclass. Why should we focus on correcting our lower/underclass anymore than anyone else focuses on correcting theirs?
The second point is that if it WEREN'T for racism, no one would care what our lower/underclass is doing.
And there is NO SUCH thing as proper English. Black English is as credible a dialect as Harvard English. The only difference is that anything associated with blackness is treated as substandard-that's due to RACISM. 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 would argue that black folks have taken of all the advantages available to us well enough that it's time to not just focus on us.
It's hardly been 40yrs since the end of the Civil Rights Movement and 30yrs since the backlash. The Republican party is still reaping votes from the Reagan led backlash to civil rights. Instead of focusing on those of us who haven't made it, focus on those of us who have and be amazed!
The study on family structure by Cornell researchers indicating that black children from families with one parent do as well in math as black children with two parent families is extremely counter-intuitive, but I suppose believable. Still, I would argue that the presence of a father figure would help in developing confidence to offset peer pressure and developing responses to confrontation other than the physical.
The study which looks at the expulsion rates of blacks compared with white sudents is questionable to me. Many schools are predominately black or white and it is difficult to compare the reasons for expulsion of one student to another. Unruly students may be as disruptive over time as those who fight or act out aggressively. I would try to taper my behavior under these circumstances.
The most shocking study was the one indicating white offenders with a high school diploma were hired or given positive responses more than black non-offenders. Again, racism is still present. This disparity may even out between blacks and whites who have a college diploma, but is still vastly unfair.
Finally, with regard to the justice system, society should bring sentences for possession or sale of crack cocaine in alignment with those for powder cocaine. Also, as I think as Bill Cosby and others have argued, if I am a minority and I know the justice system is unfair, stay away from drugs and be careful with whom you associate. Growing up in inner-city Chicago, we were often pulled over by police. We lived in a tough neighborhood. I think this police behavior, at least in our case, had more to do with the area being a high crime one than anything. Louis Farrakhan counsels his community to maintain politeness when pulled over by police. Other than this, there is no ready solution.
Now, I feel we can have an informed discussion.
I struggle sometimes with how much to demand for lower/underclass minorities. I want what's best for everyone, starting with a two-parent home. That's usually a good thing. I wish no one did drugs or committed crimes or acted out in school. On the other hand, I think it's unfair to ask more of one group of people than another.
The problem is as you state, "There is no ready soluction." It doesn't seem like racism is going to go away anytime soon. We gotta press on inspite of, maybe even because of. The truth is, I've never met one black child who didn't want to make something of him/herself. Well, okay, there was that one girl who wanted to argue that renting a home was better than owning one because the landlord had to fix everything and he gave them a turkey every year for Christmas. Or Thanksgiving, anyway it was only one turkey a year. She argued with me more or less because she felt I had insulted her first. Which I can neither confirm nor deny.
But I digress. What's hard to communicate is that the stakes are so much higher. Cosby isn't entirely wrong - because for us, the stakes are so much higher. We don't have anymore problems than whites, it's just that for us, the stakes are higher. You know? Where's the white outcry against Kid Rock and Tommy Lee?
What's important is that as one of us succeeds, we not abandon the rest.
Further, who are these "very same people" you speak of? Name, or figments?
No one is dealing with matters of belief here. That's another discussion altogether.
Try another blog. Clearly you got nothing out of this one.
As a liberal, much as myself, you probably agree that the true power of democracy lays in the Grass Roots, not the people on top-- while certainly the people on top have power, it's because it's power we grant them. No?
If Black subculture wants to change the way it exists, does it start with enforcing change within itself, or altering the way other subcultures interact with it? In the end, culture is a democratic process, and it begins at the grass roots. If you want to change the way the black subculture exists and is perceived, the only way to do it is to affect widespread changes from within, not from without. Once you have a foundation on which to build your house, build your house.
However, from a black woman who was CONSTANTLY called an "Oreo" for excelling in school, speaking grammatically correct English and being interested in literature and science - there IS a culture among young black people to denigrate other young blacks as "acting white" being an "Oreo", a "sell-out" - and this is a very powerful force at a time when adolescents/young adults are DESPERATELY trying to find themselves and their way in life - it doesn't take MUCH to knock a young person off the path!
So society AND black people themselves are BOTH to blame.
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. I was called names, but I also didn't like the idea that my aunts and uncles were ignorant just because of the English they spoke.
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.
In the end, once you match things up, whites vs minorities, numbers vs numbers, with everything held so that middle class whites are being compared to middle class blacks, there's not much difference that can't be explained by racism. Except the high number of out of wed-lock births, but studies have shown that academically, black children from single parent homes do just as well as black children from two parent homes.
http://www.news.cornell.edu/releases/Sept02/blacks.oneparent.ssl.html
-effects of family structure
By the same token, where I agree with you is that there's no obstacle that can't be overcome.
So, while I'd really like to ask more of our lower/underclass brethen for the sake of all of us, the same standards aren't being held for anyone else's lower/underclass brethen.
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
It would seem he has a co-author....
In our typical USA concept of racism, we don't look at the elephant in the room -- the day to day disrespect by whites of African Americans and other people seen as dark-skinned, so powerful and pervasive that it even affects how these people see themselves. (Remember the Kenneth Clark doll experiment that was part of Brown vs. Board of Education arguments?)
Intitutionalized racism is a huge moral and social problem in this country -- today. Today as in it has killed people since you got up this morning. Along with other systematic ways of dehumanizing large groups of people, and our separation from the natural world that sustains us, it constitutes a sickness and a practical problem of such magnitude that all other "issues" are minor. Unless we in this country recognize the depth of contempt we hold for each other, based on lame myths manufactured not so long ago, and work to overcome this, human survival is unlikely.
Mr. Cosby was oe of the first well-rounded black role models on television. On I Spy, he was an urbane, cool, thoughtful, and well dressed government operative. I think Mr. Cosby is saying that young blacks do not have to buy into a "gangsta" self-image to be authentically African-American and that parents must parent. What is the danger in this message? Mr. Hutchinson should stop circling the wagons and confront the problems of black America, many of which are internal and not all external to the community.
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
It is dangerous to adopt the oppressor's language. You begin to eat your own. Who did Cosby write the book for? Are those he described negatively going to read the book?
What solutions does he prescribe that have not been attempted or suggested before? In simplest terms, what is the point?
Why doesn't Cosby delve into the crimes committed against the Black people that lead to this degrading of our communities, our lives?
How is it that now no one remembers what the Jim Crow laws wrought?
One poster who will certainly turn up later has been at pains to point out that these same afflictions occur across swaths of the nation and that lots of people across the spectrum are experiencing this. Why is it always the Black people who get hounded for this?
Ironic that the very same people who would say that to Cosby are often the same people who say that the N word is empowering.
It's a very strange syndrome you're experiencing...
Culture is Democratic. Stop believing that the actions of every other subculture is the cause of your own subculture's problems.
Even the Jews blame themselves ;) We're really good at that, in fact...
I'm a fan. And I'm white. And I agree with almost everything you said. Language is powerful, crimes have been (and continue to be) committed. And as for Jim Crow, Just look at Florida in 2000 and tell me it is really any better these days?
Born in Joliet, my first playmates were Black kids, I've seen racism close up; it's ugly. My two best friends today are a Black man and a man of Mexican heritage. When in the gym together we look like an ad for the U.N. People stare, in this day and age, but were cool with it.
My friends are both from big families; they all worked like hell to be a little better off than their parents; help move the family ahead one person at a time.
I think that's what Cosby is trying to get at. I've read Hutchinson--he's a Republican apologist. When he tries to conflate Cosby with Gangsta Rap, he is advancing an agenda that is not good for any minority.
The Republicans want to keep people of ALL colors as a low income, no rights, pool of labor for their corporate machine! And the Democrats want to keep them disenfranchised to maintain that base voting block they depend on.
Cosby's Right's Bona Fides are the real deal. Some of what he says sounds--negative. But he is all about community. About working together, self determination.
The last people to talk about that were Malcolm, Angela Davis, and the Panthers. They talked about a Movement! Doing it for ourselves, while making sure the neighborhoods got what was their due.
As a young, poor white man, I saw the cross over power of "I'm Black and I'm Proud!" all around the Bay Area, and that energy was real.
If I get Cosby, he's saying what I really believe--the Black Community has so much to offer,so much we can learn, and it is at its most powerful when it comes from within. And pundits like Hutchinson need to get out of the office and back in the street.