Cosby Encourages Black Youths
Cameron Jackson | Jan 10, 2005 | Comments 5
Bill Cosby is one of America’s favorite comedians. Recently, though, he has turned from comedian to activist. Cosby has become very outspoken about the poor state of the black community. Specifically, he has been attacking black youths for their poor grammar, lack of education, attachment to sports and promiscuous lifestyle.
Cosby’s intent is to bring into the open the dirty laundry of the black community in an effort to reverse some negative trends. While Cosby has received criticism for his actions, it is my belief that he is absolutely correct and his message is a healthy breath of fresh air for the black community.
I have a lot of experience with the black community. I was a police officer with the city of San Diego for six years. My first three years were spent working in a predominately black neighborhood.
I saw first hand the harsh conditions of street life for a black American. Poverty, gangs, violence and drugs were so commonplace that even I lost perspective on what was normal. I was fascinated with what made the black community different from all others in America. Being immersed in the black community gave me some insight about their hardships.
It is easy to pigeonhole the black community as lazy, dumb or incompotent based on historical stereotypes. Saying so not only shows a narrow-minded view, but is pretty damn racist as well. I can say from my observations that there are two primary factors working against the black community.
First, there has been a complete breakdown of leadership within the community. People like Al Sharpton, Jessie Jackson and Louis Farrakhan do not have the best interests of the black community in their agenda. These so-called black ‘leaders’ only have one goal: to gain and keep as much power and money as possible.
How do they do it? They use racism and the white man as their scapegoat. They have spent the past 20 years telling the black community that their problems are due to the white man keeping them down. So while black youths kill black youths, impregnate young black women and go about life without a good education or job, Sharpton, Jackson and Farrakhan sit back in their multimillion dollar homes and enjoy the good life.
When was the last time you heard any of those three men offer a solution to the black community? When was the last time any of those men looked within the black community and said there is a problem? Never, and you will never hear them offer a solution. A solution means an end to their monopoly of power and money.
The second factor is the U.S. government. Since the Great Society of Lyndon Johnson and Affirmative Action was put into effect, the black community has been told by the government that they are special.
They do not have to work as hard to get the same job as the rest of America. They have a special place assigned to them wherever they go. They have special protections afforded only to them because of the color of their skin.
What do you think this does to the psyche of a culture? Let me try and conceptualize this for you. You had to work pretty hard to get into UCI. You studied hard in high school, performed well on the SAT, engaged in some type of extracurricular activity in order to make you the most attractive candidate to the school. When you got accepted you felt pretty good about yourself. Now, imagine that the government told you that no matter what you do, either nothing or something, you will get into UCI just because the color of your skin is correct. Would you put the same amount of effort into getting into UCI? And when you got in would you feel like you had a sense of accomplishment?
That is what the government has taken away from the black community: a sense of accomplishment. When you tell two generations of people that they get a free ride, what do you think happens? They loose their drive, their thirst for achievement, their hunger for accomplishment.
As we pull away from Affirmative Action and reduce government handouts, how would you expect a community that has come to depend on those things to react?
Cosby recognizes this and rather than be counterproductive by using scapegoats and racism as an excuse, he is trying to point out the real problems that the ‘leaders’ have ignored.
Cosby is trying to transcend the failed policies of the U.S. government. Cosby is not only talking; he is working to solve the problems by starting an organization to help blacks achieve their goals.
I think we shall see that Bill Cosby and others like him will do more for the black community in the near future than any of the ‘leaders’ or the U.S. government has been able to do since LBJ. Cosby is right on and I applaud his efforts.
Cameron Jackson is a political science graduating senior. You can email him at jacksonc@uci.edu.
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I can see that you haven’t studied The Honorable Minister Farrakhan. Go back to the 90′s. When he did the stop the killing tour. Now bring it up to date with the justifiable homicide lecture series. He is the most chartiable man that I have ever known. Needless to say the millions of lives he has touched and transformed by ALLAH’S permission. He is bigger than any black leader you lump him. He is Allah’s Messenger in our mist today.
Note this article was written 4 years ago! Buy anyway Cameron Jackson wrote:
>>>People like Al Sharpton, Jessie Jackson and Louis Farrakhan do not have the best interests of the black community..<<<
Now this is just plain ignorant. Sharpton, Jackson and Farrakhan have all done a hell of a lot for their communties and continue to do so and anyone who attempts to play Cosby against them obviously does not have the interests of the black community at heart. Such a person is either simply foolish or desires to fabricate division where there is none.
Back in 2004, Cosby, refering to the Nation of Islam said, he was “jealous” of the fact that Muslims are able to gain support and have a strong influence on sectors of the community where the police and others can’t.
Quoting an article his words were: “I want my Christian family to hit the streets and duplicate what they’ve done,” he said. At a similar forum discussion in Springfield, Mass. in August, Dr. Cosby did more than just praise Muslims when he publicly expressed a desire to meet with the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan." (Article source: http://tinyurl.com/ybmd9hn)
Despite some of the things I disagree with, I love Bill Cosby and I know he wants the best for his people and it's never neccessary or productive for writers like Cameron Jackson or perpetual critics like Ta-Nehisi Coates to veinly attempt tear down others while attempting to better themselves and their community.
I applaud Bill Cosby for his work to try and help improve the condition of the Black community. However, the author of this article is very disingenuous when he states that Minister Louis Farrakhan does not have the Black community in his best interest. He provides no facts to back up his misguided opinions. Even Minister Louis Farrakhan’s critics must bear witness that he is the only leader that has the ability to change the thinking of Black people, thereby changing their condition for the better. Minister Farrakhan has a proven program that SOLVES the problems within the Black community. If Mr. Jackson was sincere in his “concern” for the Black community, he would be writing about the amazing work of the Honorable Louis Farrakhan.
Sure, James. Too bad the Nation of Islam has taught you to hate white people and blame the very country that preserves your right to be an idiot when the real problem is your own culture. “Old Bill” recognizes that. If you don’t want to change for the right reasons, you will just change into something that is different, but equally bad. Black Islam is not the solution. It is its own disease. Rise above the crap that you think is truth and embrace the equality the US Constitution guarantees you and most white people so desperately want to give you if you would only accept the responsibility that goes with it. Rise up and be a man rather than a muslim terrorist waiting for orders. Mohammed was a liar, and Elijah Muhammad was a fraud and a racist. Rise up and be a man.
Old Bill sound a little crazy, The Honorable Elijah Muhammad and The Nation of Islam headed by The Honorable Louis Farrakhan, has always offered a solution. Where has he been for the last 20,30 50, years. Maybe chasing women,I am one who have benefited from the Nation. Who cares where they live, maybe he both the home from the Farrakhan cd’s and DVDS we BOUGHT. Sorry Cosby’s DVDS doesn’t turn me on or make me want to change for the the better, somthing’, we all need to due and stop talking negatively about each other. I guest he wasn’t at the Million Man March, I bet u can pay him to make a movie about it, like the rest of those hypocrites on GET ON THE BUS!