Opinion
 

Reading between Bill Cosby's lines

By Warren Domask

It is slowly leaking into the press, surprisingly enough, that Bill Cosby hates black people. In other media outlets, it is being proposed that Cosby is instead the intellectual solution to all problems facing the African American community. Confusingly, this disparity of ideas is rooted not in different interviews conducted over a decade, but instead off of the same critiques that Cosby has offered black America over the past few weeks.

Perhaps the opinions aren't entirely different, as both sides tend to compare the famous comedian to equally famous hate monger Rush Limbaugh, although perhaps in certain ultra-conservative circles this is a compliment. After reading the full text of Cosby's comments, it seems there is wisdom therein that pundits from both sides of the political spectrum have missed.

When Cosby criticized the massive African American high school drop-out rate, he wasn't telling the left that blacks were stupid any more than he was declaring his support for the abolition of affirmative action. Neither was he trying to portray black parents as naturally incompetent to raise children. When he pointed out the horrific ratio of free to incarcerated blacks, he wasn't calling blacks genetic criminals, or victims of leftist irresponsibility when it comes to crime. Instead, in both instances, Cosby was articulating the message that many people in this nation (specifically those in the black community) have a tendency to address problems in terms of blame, without looking to responsibility.

The civil rights lobby has left an important part of its platform improperly addressed, and that part is how to get out of the hole. That is not to say it isn't addressed, but instead that more needs to be done to get out of the mire of racism in American culture.

Regardless of who is responsible for black poverty, the only people who can decrease the African American drop-out and incarceration rates are blacks. A white society can remove barriers, but ultimately it is black people who will have to walk past them.

It is important to point out that the barriers facing black people are most certainly valid. After thousands of eligible black people were barred from voting in the 2000 election, President Bush -- the chief enforcer of civil rights, one of the only valid functions of the federal government -- even declined to speak before the National Association of the Advancement of Colored People, despite it being the most influential civil rights organization in America.

The barriers are most certainly there, just as they always have been. But as Cosby noted, the solution to the problem is not to simply point out the flaws, but to act out against them. Whether it's Rosa Parks refusing to give up her bus seat in the 1950s, or the Black Panthers acting out against gang violence and drug use in black communities in the 1970s, any advance in the position of black people has required a push against the limits.

In the interest of being fair it must be pointed out that Cosby is looking back on the black community from atop his millions of dollars, and does not have to deal with the "responsibility" he is describing. Similarly, many of Cosby's quotes pertaining to the black family structure hint of a troubling distaste for his own color, but he has pointed out that he has been speaking more of peoples' tendencies to not act, as opposed to their biological propensity to not act.

It seems appropriate to end with a quote straight from the entertainer's mouth: "They can't read; they can't write. They're laughing and giggling, and they're going nowhere." There are thousands of white Americans working at below-standard jobs and wasting their lives away, but unlike the black community, they don't have that expectation forced upon them.

Although it has many valid reasons to be cynical toward him, the black community does have an important message to gain from Cosby's words. Although the white community has tons to answer for, it is powerless to solve the problems of black America. Regardless of who made the mess, through dignity, perseverance and self-respect, black Americans are they only ones who can possibly fix it.

Domask, a columnist for The Daily Cougar, 
can be reached at dccampus@mail.uh.edu.