The Politics of Diss-cussin’ Black in the Age of Cosby
It’s time for some real talk. For the last couple of years Bill Cosby has been touring the country castigating black folks – in particular ghetto black folks about their behavior. The reactions have been stunning: A whole lot of folks silently agree with Cos. Not surprisingly a whole lot of other folks are pissed. Ok so what is he saying that has folks in an uproar?
Well, he says black men have failed as fathers and as heads of family and community. He says that too many of us know the words to every difficult rap song but refuse to read a book or go to school. He says that mothers do too much crying after their child has been shot or arrested, and questions where they were before their children got into all of that trouble.
Yo my man, let’s be real here, Cos is not saying anything new. I’ve heard Malcolm X and Minister Farrakhan say the same things. Hell, I’ve heard Elijah Muhammad say far worse. The reaction from the folks that don’t like what he’s saying is pretty much a “where does he get off” kind of thing. When reminded of things Elijah Muhammad, Malcolm X and Farrakhan have said, many say, “Well, when they say it, I know it’s out of love.”
Get da fuck outta here.
The days of telling folks stuff to make them feel loved is over. Enough with the verbal hand jobs, truth is truth. Grown folks need to grow up and keep it real. You want love stay in the strip club or better yet go to Craigslist. You get no back massage and wack off over here buddy.
Let’s start with this: “I have no problem with Jesus or God," he said in the afternoon as he addressed an audience that included many foster parents and grandparents and social service providers. "I have a problem with people sitting there and saying that Jesus and God will find the way.”
That’s real talk. We are a God fearing people, but one too many of us are looking for either a heaven in the hereafter or a mystery God to come down to Earth and change our circumstances. It’s that kind of thinking that puts people in a reactive mindset instead of a pro-active one. How many times have you heard someone say, “We just gotta wait for the good man in the sky to make things right”…? Those words are used when people have given up trying.
I believe in God just like you do, but in this world, if you don’t back your faith up with action: you’ll be stuck like Chuck somewhere, up the river with no paddle, or life jacket. That’s real. Prayer is healthy and it’s good for the soul, but if your present circumstances entail an environment that isn’t healthy for raising your kids, you’re a fool for doing nothing but praying.
Here’s what Russell Simmons has to say about all of this: “Judgment of the people in the situation is not helpful. How can you help them is the question.”
How about this, let’s start with two words: personal responsibility. We are all responsible for our own actions. If your house is a mess, it is no one’s fault but your own. You can’t fault white people cause your ass is too lazy to bend down and pick the crap up off of the floor of your home.
One too many times I have heard and seen young brothers and sisters say, “they need to stop building jails and build some schools.” Yep, that’s true. But why is it an Asian kid can go to the very same schools and walk out with an education and black kids walk out with nothing? They get the same books in the same settings, but, one group of folks are ‘too busy’ to learn.
My first job was delivering newspapers when I was 13 years old. After that at 15 I worked at McDonald’s. Granted, when I worked there, the crew was predominately black. Go to places like California and New York and tell me who’s behind the counter now? Even when I was working at Mickey D’s there was a set of brothers back then, that said, “How much you makin’? $3.35 I never would work for that.
Those are the same fools filling jail cells today.
One reason some folks are mad at Cosby is because he is airing out our dirty laundry. Well, I have news for you, are you ready for this? Are you sure? Ok. Here it is. Our dirty laundry, which you are so upset about, gets aired out everyday. All you have to do is turn on the TV or radio. But it doesn’t stop there, go to the magazine stand, our dirty laundry is on full display there too. Bill Cosby ain’t making this stuff up.
A lot of folks say Dr. Cosby is out of touch; he’s a rich guy that has forgotten what it’s like to struggle. I think not. Once you’ve come up the hard way you never forget it. Remember this is a man that worked his way up out of the ghetto of Philadelphia. You don’t make up characters like Weird Harold and Mush Mouth and all of them if you didn’t grow up knowing people like that. But you know our folks, if we didn’t see you struggling, in our minds; you came from out of nowhere.
Never mind the fact that the brother has earned the right to say what is he is saying. I can only imagine the behind the scenes battles he had to wage with television network executives, in order to get his shows produced. Keep in mind that he is the first black man to portray a character on television that wasn’t a butler, or a slave, janitor, jive talking pimp, or butt-scratchin’, head-scratchin’, jig-dancin’, eye balls bulging buffoon. He did a show in the ‘60’s called “I Spy”. His character was a Rhodes scholar as well as secret agent. That was a huge accomplishment for a black man back then. Hell, that would be applauded today.
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