Aint Sayin’ Nothin’ New: Bill Cosby and Us
GENERAL By TSSCrew on March 5, 2007 at 11:33 am
Whenever I read about Bill Cosby these days, I expect the same verbal repetoire of “pull yourself up by your own bootstraps.” Kind of like Booker T. Washington with more acidity. With his recent comments on Tupac Shakur, I did the same thing I always do; I shake my head, grumble a bit then move on. I do this mainly because while his comments border on the silly side, the fact remains that he speaks from something we aren’t ready to confront head on just yet. Which is that he speaks for more people than you realize. Members of your church or mosque. People you work with. Even your relatives. So why are you upset at Bill Cosby? Because he did a total 360 and did it in a way that cut us deep.
You’d think that Mr. Cosby would explain his stance better, been more eloquent. He does make a couple of points, things we all agree on about community and education. But he speaks from anger, bitterness and finally, sadness. He’s been a major part of black history and American history in general(whether or not those are separate entities is up to you), rising to fame in a turbulent time period. He’s put in work for black people; the man was tight with Coltrane, and he even financially backed Melvin Van Peebles’ “Sweet Sweetback’s Badassss Song”. You already know about the Quincy Jones projects.
Yet he saw dreams deferred. Assassinated and outright ostracized. His own efforts meant nothing in the grand scheme of things; the man did get turned down after an attempt to buy NBC. Then Mr. Cosby looked long and hard at us. And America. And while he knew there was change, he knew there wasn’t nearly enough.
And then his son was murdered.
The promising life he helped create was taken away by someone who represented the same demons he’d been sidestepping for years. He didn’t say it, maybe he couldn’t say it. But Mrs. Cosby called it what it was. Racism. It was there, right there in that moment of grief that the man you hear today changed. And he let loose. Unleashed everything he had inside. And directed it towards the usual suspects: poor black people and hip-hop. He couldn’t take on the system and call it what it truly is. Instead, we get quotes like, “Five, six children – same woman – eight, 10 different husbands or whatever. Pretty soon you are going to have DNA cards to tell who you are making love to.” Hiding behind shades as if he couldn’t stand to even look at us.
Maybe he blames us for his son’s death, as if we didn’t try enough to be a greater part of American society in the “right” way, not realizing that the system’s problems are more than a clear-cut case of black and white. Maybe he attacks Tupac Shakur and others in hip-hop out of bewliderment. Think about it; rappers are now and have been making economic power moves and can make more of a difference than other leaders in terms of outreach. Put plainly, Bill Cosby’s voice along with others doesn’t really affect the black community on a whole anymore. We listen with respect, but we don’t hear it. We know that all it amounts to is a bunch of loud talk that works thematically but is no real substitute for needed changes in the system this nation operates under economically and socially. Bill Cosby claims that he’s trying to tell us something. It aint nothin’ new, Bill.
Ask Stanley Crouch
Posted in GENERAL
Tweet This
Digg This
Save to delicious
Stumble it
RSS Feed
32 Comments
“His own efforts meant nothing in the grand scheme of things”…
“Now that, i don’t know.” (c) Foxy Brown. (Plus, i think you’re simplifying BTW, but maybe that’s just me.)
Good piece, though, especially since i had no knowledge of his attempt to buy NBC. Too bad he didn’t make a bid for BET.
I guess the major irony for me is the same unfocused anger that led to ‘Pac’s death seems to be what drives Cosby.
Yeah, it took me a sec to find an article relating to it but….
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1077/is_n7_v49/ai_15198531
” That ambivalence figured prominently among the reasons Cosby tried to buy NBC last year. He was also painfully aware of just how little access to this powerful medium Blacks have to tell their story. (African-Americans own only approximately one percent of all U.S. broadcasting companies.)
“My partners and I went very, very far and our presentation was first rate,” says the star of his efforts to turn NBC into the Network of Bill Cosby. In the end, however, “I just could not generate the rest of the money,” he says.”
Cosby said this,
“”In the book, ‘To Momma With Love,’ or something like that, he is so happy that he’s able to take money from selling cocaine and give the money to his mother,” Cosby said.
“How wonderful. Isn’t that wonderful. You’ve got to be kidding. How many lives have you ruined selling packets? How many mothers are not going to go to work because they want to snort? How many dead mothers because of crack, how many babies we got to make turn around because they are crack babies?”
Cosby said the house Shakur bought his mother should be adorned with the pictures of users who died due to drug use.
“Hang up the pictures of the people’s lives you ruined,” Cosby declared.”
I don’t get why people try to twist the things he says into “oh he’s hating on tupac” blah blah, he’s stating simple facts. I enjoy listening to songs by weezy, and I like the movie scarface, yet that’s where I end it. There are choices. Unfocused anger of pac and cosby are so f’ing far apart. You have one guy choosing to live a lifestyle he really wasn’t brought up in, vs a old man who’s seen it all.
It’s funny that those he’s trying to help the most are the quickest to villify this dude.
p.s. the dude who killed cosby’s son was a fucking immigrant from ukraine, didn’t get here till late 80’s and did it in 1995.
“He couldn’t take on the system and call it what it truly is”
what would he take on? Immigration? I agree with 90% of what cosby says.
“We know that all it amounts to is a bunch of loud talk that works thematically but is no real substitute for needed changes in the system this nation operates under economically and socially.”
these blanket statements are so easy to make. Why don’t you tell us what real changes are needed, and how you’re going about doing it?
Cosby feeds a ton of kids through his before school breakfast thing he was drawing attention to years ago, and has given a lot more than harsh words and time back.
I don’t neccessarily agree w/some of Cosby’s statements. I just think his raving lunatic way of espousing them are show little tact.
As far as Pac goes, I posted my thoughts on it last week in the link. He could’ve took plenty of others to task, plenty others WHO ARE LIVING, than to pick out Pac.
p.s. the dude who killed cosby’s son was a fucking immigrant from ukraine, didn’t get here till late 80’s and did it in 1995….what would he take on? Immigration?
================================================
You do realize HIS OWN WIFE cried racism or did you not take the time to click the linked article? And last I checked racism wasn’t relegated to just Americans so I’m sure immigrants could possibly either come w/prejudices or quickly develop them pretty quickly.
these blanket statements are so easy to make.
=============================================
Realistically, Cos knows exactly what he’s doing & he’s making pretty sweeping generalizations himself. He’s taking very public events to make blanket statements of his own.
Again, while I see his points, he’s turning away more than he’s inviting in w/his methods.
man, the more i hear cosby the more i agree with the guy. he doesn’t coddle you before the info is dropped. maybe because people have been being too politically correct when dealing with us he feels that what we need is a good slap in the face. he says things that at some point we’ve all wanted to say while watching maury or riding the bus. “damn, mufuckas need to pull it together or get left behind”
RICH BOY
http://rapidshare.com/files/19556614/RichBoy_Album_.rar.html
naw son… even in what you said… Pac didn’t sell… he never glorified selling…
This is a sign of misdirected anger…
when Cobsy speaks about hip-hop… it just goes in one ear and out the other nowadays because of irrational and unresearched statments such as these…
it is literally a bunch of loud talk…
blaming music… is like blaming video games… which is why it’s funny that no one blames cartoons with similar violence in them…
but anyways.. it is anger, I believe the author has a valid point in regards to that
I don’t think Bill Cosby is trippin’ at all. His voice still should be relevant for all black people, its just that most of us have tuned it out because he’s not as socially relevant as he was back on the Cosby show. He’s also saying things we don’t want to hear.
Angry? Yes. A little bitter maybe? Sure. But still relevant.
I give Bill Cosby more credit for advancing black people than any rapper could, would, or has. As an older black man like Bill…..I’d be real scared for the future of our youth. I’m only 31 and I’m scared now. Rather than just dismiss the man, try and look beyond the bitterness and sadness and see he’s saying. I think its a classic case of “Look at the message - don’t shoot the messenger” type of stuff.
And as for Tupac, granted, he may or may not have sold drugs. I don’t care. He died over some bullshit though. Way too young. I think he would have been the type of person Bill Cosby would have tried to reach. A black man with immense talent, perspective, and voice that succumbed to some bullshit. Imagine if you were an older black man like Cosby, you lived through all types of racism, you broke your back to make it easier for people like Tupac to shine, and after all this, you watch the destruction of the black family, you watch black entertainers out there cooning to sell records, either by glorifying drug selling or singing minstrel show type stuff. What do you expect him to do, be happy after all that shit? Its funny watching people attack him b/c he’s proud to be black and holds himself and his people to a standard. Lets put it in perspective. He comes from a different time than us.
I think Bill is mainly preaching personal responsibility and being held accountable for your actions….a lesson that many of us young black men need to learn. I applaud Bill Cosby - someone who finally takes us to task instead of blaming others. I don’t really see any Black leaders vocally doing the same thing. Its refreshing (for me at least) to hear a different viewpoint.
2pac was a fake and liar, but one thing I never remember him spitting was coke and crack lyrics.
Coz ain’t been the same since Ennis was killed. It really changed him, both public and personal. Usually I like hearing from him because he always seizes the change to say things that anyone else in his position would refrain from.
Real talk @ spizzy. trill post.
I did read article his wife yelled racism, and it could have been cause I’m not saying it doesn’t exist, but let’s be real, who kills more young black men than other young black men? There is so much shit you see and want to just scream in someones head Wake the fuck up… cosby to me is voicing what a lot of us feel a lot of the time but don’t say.
“Unfocused anger of pac and cosby are so f’ing far apart.”
Actually, no, they’re not. ‘Pac’s misguided anger prevented him from instituting the change he rapped about, if he was truly serious. That anger led him to ally w/ Suge, which eventually led to his death, as opposed to channeling it to something productive. Cosby’s anger causes him to talk *at* people he should be talking *to.* I ain’t sayin’ dude’s gonna get shot on the Vegas strip (unless he starts hangin’ out w/ Pac Man Jones), but it’s not a good path for him to travel down, and it truly limits the effectiveness of his speech. No one said he didn’t have a point, just that he’s not voicing it properly.
“It’s funny that those he’s trying to help the most are the quickest to villify this dude.”
Lord knows w/o Bill Cosby’s help i wouldn’t have my degrees to keep me warm at night, or that i’d be robbing someone for a piece of cake. Or who knows how far Michael Eric Dyson would go if he’d just listen to Dr. Cosby…
I’d argue the people who tend to disagree w/ Cosby the most are probably people like me who agree black people are screwed up, but the black middle- and upper-classes who’ve gotten where they are by participating in the pimping of the lower-class are equally to blame.
whos go the new arcade fire - neon bible?
^5 Stephen
last i heard, “personal responsibility”
…won’t get you better points on a mortgage
…won’t get you any further with police who pulled you over cuz you “fit the description”
…won’t get you a job ahead of a white felon
…won’t actually get you much of anything because “the personally responsible” are NEVER recognized - not by Cosby and his ilk…not by the media..and certainly not by upper-class and middle-class blacks.
they’re too busy talking about the 3 thugs they’ve heard about than the 10 folk that are struggling to make it while living within the systems of institutionalized racism known as capitalism and white supremacy.
and cut the BS, people. Marriage is a dying institution across America - not just in the Black community. Ain’t no 50% dropout rate - as a matter of fact, poor black high school graduates outnumber middle-class black high school graduates. and if i hear that old saw about black men in jail outnumber black men in college i’m going to vomit. you’re going to tell me that there are more 18-24 year old black men in jail than in EVERY post-secondary institution in the country? show me some stats - I WANT TO SEE PROOF.
stop trickin off your pre-conceived (white supremacy influenced) notions of Black inferiority. recognize the cats that are doing whut it dew and stop listening to the lies about your people.
what strikes me upon reading all of these responses is that everyone missed the entire point of the article. i am in essence, giving my opinion on where cosby’s statements stem from. in the first paragraph, i essentially conceded that it was a message not many people are ready for. and i did agree that he had valid points. what i disagree with is his
sentiment.
re:spizzy…there are black people saying the same things. tavis smiley for one. the thing is, they do it with clarity and focus. cosby’s speeches sometimes go into a rant mode and while you feel he’s finally taking us to task, why did we need his words to spur us into accountability? why are we still looking outside of ourselves for accountability we should have proactively to begin with?
He’s got some badazz locs on.
Amazing Roots tribute to Bono @ the NAACP Awards this past weekend…. figured I’d try to contribute. Do with it as you wish.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcnaDUwU5SQ
Spizzy is right on point. Yeah, rappers do have more of an influence, and rappers are now and have been making economic power moves and can make more of a difference than other leaders in terms of outreach…but so many choose not too. In a day and age where the most visible black voices (i.e. rappers) waste meaningless time and money with diss record after diss record, society has real problems that need to be addressed. Rappers could use their money and influence to make Black America more aware of its own self destruction, but the Curtis Jacksons and Cam’rons could give a shit about this. If I can grow up and give a shit, why can’t my culture?
Black America in 2007 has more economic, social, and political clout than we have ever had at any time in American history, but as a people, we’re dying inside. No other race in this country is nearly as self destructive as we are. As a black man in the south (Macon, GA to be exact), I am in more danger from my own kind than from the most racist, rebel-flag waving, Ford F-150 driving redneck that’s supposed to exist down here, and bedevil us black folk into fear and submission.
The first step in solving a problem is to admit that there is a problem.
Bill Cosby just did.
The question is do we pretend it doesn’t exist, or do we give a shit, try to fix it, and save us from ourselves?
cosby’s acceptance speech from friday’s image awards was on point…real deep and touching.
@ compermiso - I disagree. Personal responsibility, to me, appears to help every situation you mentioned. It wont get you better points on the mortgage after the fact, but it might help you SAVE MONEY and KEEP GOOD CREDIT which would get you better points on that mortgage. I dunno.
Also, I have no notions of black inferiority. Like Bill Cosby does. He’s calling us to task EXACTLY because he doesn’t believe we are inferior. Thats why we have the PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY to stop the inferiority complex and acting like we are inferior. We have a right to disagree, I guess.
@ Preach - I can dig what you are saying. I missed out on Tavis and others. But I think that we need to look within ourselves for accountability. One of the best lessons my people ever taught me was to stop blaming white people for my problems and to look inside myself for the solution. I think looking outside yourself is the problem.
Like this problem: it galls the shit out of me to hear someone called “white” because they talk a certain way or they are educated. Like how Obama isn’t “black” enough. Who the fuck decided what “black” is? Why can’t we have variety in the race? Its problems like this that are slowly killing us black people.
(off my soapbox)
It is good to see intelligent discourse though. Keep up the good work TSS
Excellent dialogue on this topic…the M-F grind doesn’t allow me to pitch in the way I’d like, but it doesn’t mean I can’t give props. Keep doing the do.
iono, spizz. you’re walking head on into my last point with your mouth open and your hands down. the fact is that with exactly similar credit scores and income, when race is added as a factor blacks (latinos/as too but not as much) often receive higher mortgage rates. that’s from a HUD study, as well as independent research by economists and others.
my main point is for folk to avoid buying into the deficit argument of Blackness. For example - i’m not talking about cats with low credit scores and spotty employment histories - i’m talking about people with near peerless records, good jobs, and significant savings.
Personal responsibility has nothing to do with the fact that if you buy property in a Black neighborhood, you’ll pay more for less and your equity will not increase at the same rate as if you had bought the same house in a white neighborhood.
YMMV, obviously. but i want folk to spend more time lookin at what we do well, rather than focusing on the minority that is lost, struggling, and fuckin up.
what truly upsets me is the misdirected anger from the previous comments - and trust me, i AM that person who chooses to skim through them, rather than read ‘em all, just based on the display of the continuance of ignorance.
people are so quick to “protect” their so-called leaders, but are never willing to criticize them. for example, did anyone who saw “dreamgirls” and prayed for eddie to win the oscar, decide not to call him out for “norbit”?
didn’t think so.
if we are to take accountability for ourselves - a people, a generation, a race - then we need to open our eyes to when our parents are tearing us down. for all that cosby has said to denigrate our generation, when’s the last time he commended us for the noteworthy accomplishments? think about that shit the next time someone speaks their mind so freely.
can’t help but to think of nas when i say, “these are our heroes.”
N*ggas is trippin’ because
For some reason, NO CAN PUBLICLY CRITISIZE N*GGAS THAT SELL CRACK ESPECIALLY RAPPERS.
I LEARNED THAT SH*t w/my Video Vixen/Carm vs. Nas/ Jay Z post.
Morally, selling crack and making money off of rapping about it is more tolerable than being a woman who f*cks the dudes that sell crack and make money off of rapping about it. Lol.
1. Bill Cosby has a right to critisize Black people. 20 Million dollars to Spelman/Morehouse has BOUGHT him the right.
2. Is there a generational GAP that is illustrated by his comments? Of course.
3. Pac. Pac was no saint. But Peep Game. Bill said a lot of other sh*t that the media AIN’T pick up on. Don’t believe the hype.
4 What would be dope is a website dedicated to tracking his statements, then seeing the MEDIA focuses on.
5. I HATE WHEN PEOPLE USE THE “UNDERMINE THE COMMENTER” method to shut someone done in blog comments sections, al la “WHAT have you done?”
The threshhold issue is not, WHAT HAVE I DONE, but ANALYZING what is going on around me.
Think about it, who loves Black people enough to critisize us publicly.
The secondary issue is, What am I doing.
Sh*****T. Shame is a GREAT motivator.
Talk about illuminati, ahem, I mean illuminating.
~dn
PREACH.
to EFHuttin…
bill cosby is not the first nor will he be the last to say there’s a problem. rappers do have an influence only because
what their voice used to be was the voice of dissent and protest. the voice has changed. and so have we. you got rappers
(i.e.)Andre 3000 on the Walk It Out remix)
saying in essence the same thing. but he
does it differently. and doesn’t get listened to because 50 Cent and others like him speak to escapism and the need for it in our lives. and that’s what i think is the problem…this problem has
been there for years. and if people think
it’s a big issue now, then i’m at a loss
as to what we’ve all been focusing on for all this time.
Preach, I feel the same way 100%
sharp
Re: Preach
Our focus is mainly on white racism. Does it exist? Yes, it does, but if we were to say that the biggest obstacle in Black America is white racism, then we’d be lying to ourselves.
The black “leadership” in this country (Rev. Al and Jesse Jackson) are way too focused on something that, in 2007, is the least of our worries. Yes, there will always be racism and racist people, but if we don’t stop destroying ourselves, Black people are going to lose everything that we spent the past three centuries trying to overcome, and we will have no one to blame but ourselves.
The first thing we need to do is hold our “leaders” accountable…if they really want to be leaders, how about leading us to some self-respect and dignity? Yeah, it might mean that the white bogeyman may not be as attractive of a target, and it might mean that White America knows all of our “dirty secrets,” but in the long run, admitting our own mistakes will benefit us more than saving face in mainstream America.
@EFHuttin…
i disagree. i feel that while white racism is a giant problem for black people in america, it is the entire economic and sociopolitical structure on
a whole that is to blame. there are sections of latinos that employ racism towards blacks. the same with some asian
ethnic groups. like tony brown said, “the
world’s economy was built on the backs of
africans.” i feel that sharpton and jackson do that because to focus on anything else spells doom…look at what
happened to martin the moment he began to
be involved in vietnam and fought for the
rights of the poor. and both men have made no secret of their ambitions.
i think we admit our own mistakes…but we dont do it to the point of humiliation.
i think the reason why cosby and others who express similar views in a similar fashion are influenced by what american society has become which is a society of
disrespect. people are now accustomed to
venom in the guise of candidness. and so
we feel that is necessary to hear because
everything else doesn’t seem to work. and
psychologists will tell you that constant
belittlement will always make that person or persons embrace and ultimately embody
those characteristics you chastize them for.
i do agree with you on the ‘black leadership’ though…this generation is dealing with those figures from a couple decades ago whose messages don’t always hold fast over the years. and there’s not enough recognition of those who are willing to step up to the plate.
If you have the patience, check out Eddie Glaude on the 1st half of the State of the Black Union 2007 summit. he’s saying much of the same things…while Jesse and Al get heated LOL