mh67511

I know that this is kind of "old news," but they are talking about it on TV right now and I don't think I ever saw it on here. So what do you think about what he said?

If you don't know what I'm talking about you can read about it here: http://racerelations.about.com/b/a/088359.htm

I think that he made a lot of good points, but I think some people have been using it to bash black people, which is wrong. Also I think a lot of what he is saying is easy for him to say, he's got quite a bit of money...don't know if he grew up poor or what not, but it's easy for the rich to bash the poor (and vice versa).

meretwins

what he said is what a lot us i.e. black folks have been saying for a long while...not all of us live in the ghetto and not all of us live in mansions but most of us regardless of our socio-economic background work our asses off to succeed and deal with the reality of the world we live in...we''ve been doing that since we've been here...

bill cosby is addressing those few who don't do a damn thing but complain about what they can't or won't do and take no sene of responsibility in doing their part...sadly some folks take it as an exscuse to generalize all of us as lazy etc. but that's a stereotype we've delt with since we've been in this damn country so it's nothing new...

there's a shared responsibility that we have not only to ourselves but to our communities to continue our education and stay involved in the political process...our history is too ugly for us to be complacent and selfish because too many sacrificed their lives for the opportunities many take for granted today...it's only been 40 years since we were allowed to vote, use the front entrance to buildings instead of the back and go to any school of our choosing....

so my education and political involvement hold a very special place because my grandmother never had the chance to do what i am freely allowed today...

as a black woman i deal with race on a daily basis...be it in small or big ways but i deal with it...i'd be quite stupid to close my eyes to it and walk around blindly assuming the world is full of rainbows and hugs and that everything is all right...i wish that were the case but i can't afford to indulge in that luxery...

there is a lack of self-respect that we allow to be portrayed about blacks in regards to our self images...it really pisses me off when i hear the "n" word and the lack of understanding the history of the word and it's racist beginnings on the part of many has led many folks to buy into the crap that changing the meaning makes it less harmful...

that word is too damn dirty to ever be clean and what makes it worse is that kids of other racial backgrounds use it as a form of expression to each other not knowing the meaning and ugly history behind the word just because they see a handful of blacks ignorantly saying it's okay...

so with bill cosby saying what he did i'm glad...he's only saying what a lot of us have been saying for a long damn time..frankly i'm sick and tired of us being shown as the bootie shaking mama in the rap videos etc. 'cause there's a hell of a lot more to us than that than being folks "ghetto pass"...

Priori Incantatem

I really like Bill Cosby...It's about time there is a positive black role model around. What do black people have to go on? 50Cent, Jay-Z, Lil' Kim? Please...maybe if they listened more to positive black leaders instead of their stupid rap music and their awful movies (I.E. My Baby's Daddy) that glorify having multiple sex partners, and doing drugs, and getting shot then I woudn't have to hear so many complaints of how the white man is the reason for all the black man's problems...I am white by the way, and I'm sick and tired of white people being blamed becuase the black man can't get ahead. We have affirmative action...we should DO AWAY with Affirmative Action...Do you know that Asians...by golly another minority...aren't even entitled to Affirmative Action? You know why? Because Asians (who by the way are also discriminated against, lets not forget our Japanese Concentration camps of the WW2 era) out perform whites in most academic areas...so what is the reason Black or Hispanics can't do the same? Instead of sitting around complaining about how sucky your life is living in the ghetto, or not living in the ghetto but supposedly having the white man slagging you down, why not get out and prove that you can out perfrom me without some handicap helping you along the way...all I am saying is if you are equal to me (And I sincerely belive that no one is better than anyone else) or better than me, PROVE IT.

meretwins

first off i really hate when anyone dicsusses a group as "they or those people it always raises my hackels that we're reduced to a "those people" mind set...

most of us have positive role models beyond bill cosby but media wise we're portrayed as the thugged hood or the bootie shaking mama because it sells and i'm damn tired of being portrayed in such a one dimensional way because folks can't seem to grasp how very diverse we really are...

if you'd really like to know the majority of people who buy "rap" are the middle class white suburban kids trying to live off of some "ghetto fantasy" that most black folks neither live in or care for...most of us i.e. black folks are working our asses off and have been since we came over here on a lovely boat ride ...

what bill cosby is saying is that some folks are not holding their end of the bargain that the civil rights movement gave us...by not taking an active role in the political and educational process that the rights movement granted us some folks are not doing their part in upholding the legacy that many bled and died for...

he's talking about carrying ourselves in a manner that shows self-respect and not self-loathing and making mockeries of ourselves to get a buck...which sadly some folks would rather sell themselves off as some player in a minstrel show to make ends meet because they don't know any better...but who can blame them when the very people who are affronted by this image eagerly give money to prostitute it and make loads of money off of it...in this country too many times blacks have been used as a cash cow and then discarded and looked upon as fools because of it...

on affirmative action what some people fail to grasp is that is is not about being better than anyone but about providing the opportunity to succeed that many don't have the access to i.e. school tutorial programs, sat prep courses etc. ...sadly many kids of color who live in areas where the school system is very stymied cannot afford these frivolties because there is no money to pay for them or they don't have their own independent financial means to accomplish it...

be they urban or rural many kids of color i.e. hispanic/black/asian/ or even white do lack the proper tutorials to suceed in the academic world we live in today many are due to financial reasons...the other is that there are not enough people willing to give their time and effort to help skill them along the way so they can succeed despite the conditions of their situation...

i really hate that people like to use asians as the "positive minority" stereotype of success because it locks them into a narrow box and image of all being affluent and scientifically and mathmatecally astute...asians endure many of the same issues many people of color contend with...it's an issue of money that some have and others do not...

it's rather hard to have an "equal" playing field for opportunties when you've never been presented with the tools and abilities to succeed...again affirmative action is not about being better and proving it to anyone because i'll be damned if i have to prove anything to anyone...it's about providing opportunities so that people can succeed...

it's a shame most folks don't take the time to understand that...

n e r b l e

to me the democrats still think that black people are second class citizens that can't do it on thier own. they think that blacks need all these entitlements or they'll never make b/c they're to stupid, or too poor, or hell just too black. why else wouldn't they say we may still have rasicm but those people are stupid and we can do better and rise above it. MLK Jr never asked for handouts. and let's not forget that the democrats were the party that opposed the civil rights movement. before dems didn't believe that blacks were our equal and apparently they still don't.

Milt Palacio

wtf? That's not true at all. You are way off base.

You ever notice that 95% of African-Americans vote Democrat and 95% of black politicians are Democrats? Do you think they would be voting Democrat if the party viewed them as "second class citizens"? Your statement is just ridiculous.

The Democratic party wants to help all people, not just the wealthiest.

meretwins

as a black female voter i have to say wft are you talking about? you've really got your information all kinds of twisted...

first off all we still do have racism and any blind idiot could tell you that...if you honestly think it doesn't exist than you really are living in a bubble my friend because i don't know reality you're in...

we never asked for handouts we asked for opportunities that should have already been accessible to us but because of bigotry and instituionally racist policies we didn't have them...

thirdly democrats don't make me feel stupid etc. and the reason blacks generally vote democrat is because they focus on the issues that are important to us while traditionally republicans don't...

while we're on this democrats didn't vote for the civil rights bend you'd be quite interested to know many republicans who currently serve who were politicians during that era didn't vote for it either...i believe the "dixie crats" aka southern democrats were the ones who didn't vote for the civil rights legislations...

being informed is a great thing but only when you know what you're talking about...

n e r b l e

yes. they offer them the most stuff. and they've been working for the black people for how long? and they've accomplished what? you'd think after all this time they would have accomplished SOMETHING.

also, of john kerry, john edwards and george bush who has the least net worth? it's not someone named john.

if you actually read what i wrote i said "we may still have rasicm". eg yes we have rasicm but it won't hold us back b/c we are better than those people. eg screw people like that they're not worth anything.


so what policies are in effect now that hold black people back from having the same rights as all citizens? what policy is keeping black people from getting jobs, into college, getting married, ect? i don't know of any. and what do you call reparations but hand outs? don't hire me b/c i'm the best person for the job and have a good education and expereince that i worked for. hire me b/c i'm black.

what do they focus on? the democrats are against vouchers which would allow blacks in horrible school systems to get into better schools. they are also not one bit concerened about the whopping 70% illigitimacy of black children. and what black democratic leader got where they were on reparations and welfare. wasn't al sharpton. or jesse jackson.

here's a history lesson b/c it seems you need a review of the facts

Senator John Sparkman DEMOCRAT was against Eisenhower a REPUBLICAN sending troops to enforce desegregation in AK. The Eisenhower administration, still REPUBLICAN, spearheaded the first civil-rights bill since Reconstruction. 79% of REPUBLICANS voted for civil rights and only 67% of DEMOCRATs. In addition the vote to break the filibuster to let the legistlation through was voted on by REPUBLICANS (27-6), but only (44-23) by the DEMOCRATS.
Also, just an FYI Robert Byrd DEMOCRAT is a former KKK member. The only Republican I can remember like that was Strom Thurmand who later recanted everything he had done and started out as a Dixie Crat THEN became a Republican.

JohannafromIHJ

Ignore nerble, he/she is just trolling again.

n e r b l e

aka i have no response to your actual facts so i will stoop to ad hominemattacks.

JohannafromIHJ

I'm not the one who came into a thread about Bill Cosby and started attacking Democrats, calling them (and I assume you meant white Democrats) racists on one hand, whilst basically labelling the black supporters inferior moochers.

What do we call it when someone goes off-topic on a thread simply for the sake of bashing other people and getting attention for it? TROLLING. I’m surprised a mod would sink so low.

Also, you have no facts and you know it. You’ve been corrected already, so why should I waste my time? I’m not going to give you the negative attention you crave, so go bait someone else.

n e r b l e

it's what i believe and it's in line with the topic. cosby called out black leadership for giving in to what people like the democrats are offering instead of something that would actually matter.

in addition, you haven't answer ONE charge i've made. how have i been corrected? list one example. come on, it's right here on the thread. show me where my facts are wrong. you may disagree with my opinion but you have not disproven my facts.

meretwins

if you really took the time to follow all of what bill cosby has spoken on you'd realize he has never mentioned black leadership or demorcrats but the lack of responsibility some blacks in lower income brackets have regarding their role in continuing to strive for a better way of life...bill cosby is talking about folks taking the reigns of the responsibilities granted to us from the civil rights movement and upholding them and doing something about it...he never talked about democrats etc....

most people don't want vouchers for schools they want the schools already in place improved with better educators and programs instead of having another movement of kids going to school outside of where they live...

no on is talking about reperations because that's not the issue no one has ever received them...it took this country how long to at least acknowlege that slavery was a pretty crappy thing to build this nation upon....none of us in the black community have any real expectation of this country paying us one red cent because the history of america has always been one of greed and we've been sacrificed too many times in it's account to really expect anything out of it...

we just want to have the opportutnities to have a good life and for our children to do the same....sadly some folks can't seem to grasp that if you don't allow for folks to have good educational access the opportunities may not be as great....

btw if you're interested the biggest group who benefits from welfare is not the urban black but the rural white...

the issue is that in this world we still are classified by race and specifically what race you are....sadly sometimes we are not hired because of it or worse we can't buy houses in certain neighboorhoods because of our color and the worry that 'we'd bring the value of the neigherboorhood down'...these things still exist and we deal with them everyday....

fyi those democrats you stated as voting against civil rights were dixie crats, southern politicos who were for segregration and other racially segregated political efforts...many of which switched to the republican party after the passage of the civil rights movement...

it's truly quite amazing how some folks can be so informed but yet have no real sense of the issues...

peacecorps2006

I am a 16 year old Black male. I live in Louisiana. I live in a middle-class neighborhood. I havea 3.5 GPA. I think for myself. I believe Bill was completely right. I mean I don't go around acting all thugish or defaming women. I think it's wrong to call women the b word. But that's what my parents taught me. I have sisters, and even when I'm mad, I would never call them that. Rap has completely hurt Black people. Young black kids believe that rap is all that rich Blacks can be. So they think it's all right to go around talking about drinking 40's or snorting crack. I think it's awful and it is hurting my race. And if no one stops that kind of thinking, then well Black men will become extinct.

meretwins

it's sad that our image as a group is exactly that...not only to the nation but globally...you'd be suprised how some folks in think that is all we are about because that is the only way we are portrayed majority of the time via the media...it's only a small percentage of us that actually live that way but we've always been shown as only that so it's no wonder that some people have very skewed conceptions of what we are as a whole...

bill cosby is only saying what we've been saying to each other and it's damn tired that some of us have bought into the idea of believing that this image of the "ghetto" lifestyle is okay...

it's quite trifling that we've become a phenomenom in that it's trendy to act "ghetto" and be seen as it's personification instead of the successful and intelligent people we've always been....

it's like phylicia rashaad said about this whole issue, it's a shared responsibility on our part to do what we can to uplift and suceed and continue to produce our "talented tenth".... and on the part of the nation to make sure we have the opportunities to do so...