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Blacks must drop victimhood and reclaim dignity - By Bill Cosby and Alvin F. Poussaint

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This entry was posted on 11/8/2007 10:41 AM and is filed under uncategorized.

 
New York and Boston - Martin Luther King had a dream that some day his children would "live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."
 
He wanted his children to become strong, beautiful people. But what we see today in poor African American neighborhoods is a nightmare.
We know there are forces that make the ability to escape poverty seem bleak: overburdened single-parent homes, a high dropout rate, joblessness, gangs, drugs, crime, incarceration, deaths at an early age from guns fired by angry black men. We know that systemic racism and governmental neglect still exist.

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    • 11/14/2007 5:54 AM Jeanette wrote:
      When will black Americans start actually using statistics to their advantage? According to the 2000 census 75% of black people DO NOT LIVE POVERTY.Concentrating on the 25% who do, demeans us all. My husband and I raised 3 children overseas, we are both Vietnam-era veterans and college graduates. He retired from the Air Force, and I have over 25 years working for the Debarment of Defense. We have been married 32 years to each other. My greatest horror is that every 10 years the lagging intelligence scores of black Americans are plastered all over with no outcry from black leaders. Most non stereotypic black Americans live in suburbs, small towns, and even in rural areas, and sprinkled around in cities. So why is all attention given to the poor and uneducated? Black people in America need an image makeover, just as one creates an impressive resume when searching for employment, blacks need to recreate their image before the old stereotypes can be erased from the minds of all Americans.
      Jeff Foxworthy and the cable guy portray an image that all white Americans laugh at and still hold thier heads high. But, in the public mind inner city ghettos is where all black Americans reside and there is no changing that image. I have seen panels where someone has mentioned changing the image, and it is always dismissed as unimportant. It is VERY important. Black America needs to stop allowing negative stereotypes by refuting each instance with a positive statistic. The statistics are publicly available, why aren't they being used?
      Reply to this
      1. 12/12/2007 5:27 PM Anonymous wrote:
        I agree that we all don't live below the poverty line but a lot of black families do. I beleive that the issues with Black America is that we have no unity in our communities. We can't continue to separate ourselves. We are lacking positive role models and mentors for our young black males thats growing up, you're right the statistics are avaiable for us to see that our kids(black kids) are not sucessful in school and will most likey be incarcerated. There is a huge crisis with blacks, we really do need to take responsiability for our communities. I believe that black families must be restored and the black community as a whole.
        Reply to this
      2. 3/12/2008 12:05 PM Jesse Anderson wrote:
        From my point of view is that when the cost of living keep going up and people like me that have to support family and some peoples that can not make it on their own, begin to be a problem, you can show and teach the right things but when you get to the bottom line it the the right kind of money to hold everyone up in this time of age's today, may God give us more insight on how we can con't to do the thing's that are right.
        Reply to this
    • 11/21/2007 1:48 AM books4blackwomencom wrote:
      This is UTTERLY RIDICULOUS. Listen to all you bougie black snobs: Middle class, Upper middle class blacks are not sitting there victimized, nor need to be lectured to. The people Bill Cosby want to SHAME into doing right are our lower income blacks that dont have HALF the support system, nor economic resources, education resources, that we do, so HOW DARE YOU snub your nose, when you need to be working with the local neighborhood services of the communities YOU MOVED OUT OF, rather than trying to shame a segment of black society that hasn't made it out yet, and don't even have the basic resources or knowledge of where to start. Give me a break. Are you serious?! Why dont you move into the projects, then start spewing your bougie crap.

      Sorry so passionate, but man, the people who are the most vocal are the ones that move out as soon as they can, and don't reach back to help the others that couldnt make it.

      lisa@books4blackwomen.com

      ps You can find a copy of Eric Jerome Dickey's "Is Bill Cosby Right Or Did Black America Lose Its Mind." on my website, www.books4blackwomen.com
      Reply to this
      1. 11/25/2007 1:48 PM BobbyK - Brooklyn NY wrote:
        Thanks for your very passionate response to this article. It is an eye opener.

        Although I am very much in agreement with Mr. Cosby's message, I can also relate to a number of the points you have made.

        First, we must also understand the issue of the plight of Black America today is extremely complicated and there are no simple solutions.

        Bill Cosby does a great job of stating what should be obvious to each and every one of us, things are bad and we don’t take action, further deterioration will result. Mr. Cosby is clearly passionate about the conditions impacting our people and like all of us, wants to see real change. You must give him credit for that. He cares about those suffering when most sucessful blacks could care less.

        In support of your position, many people of color today have prospered from the struggles fought and won by our fathers and forefathers, yet feel no obligation to support and nurture the next generation. (Although I don’t think that Mr. Cosby fits this category.) Unfortunately, there are also far too many of us who have become successful by exploiting our own, promoting the negative images that have become “in vogue” in the current culture, and believing that empty rhetoric will result in change.

        We must all work together collectively use our passions to create pathways to effective change for the future. We must also realize that we cannot expect or depend on the support of many prosperous blacks, like we've traditionally have, to do it.
        Reply to this
    • 11/24/2007 2:48 AM Sam wrote:
      Yes we as black people have to get our goals accomplished and we are making history!
      Reply to this
    • 2/9/2008 5:27 PM Tracedog wrote:
      Sometimes we just have to stop arguing over details and accept that there isn't going to be a perfect solution-whether or not the problem is complex or simple makes no difference. This cycle of violence/broken home/busted community has just got to left behind in the rearview mirror forever. It is a challenge but it can be done. Look what the black generations before had to overcome for Gods sakes. You can do it! Just stop arguing over it.

      The young men and children in the hoods have NO role models, NO mentors, NO examples of real character in their day to day lives. That isn't the whole problem but it IS a big one and it is SOMETHING that can be FIXED. If black parents/main stream media/black celebrities/white owned record companies (that have a stake in this crap) would just stop funding/promoting/idolizing gangsta rappers/drug dealers/foul mouthed "comedians"/materialism/victimhood and stop using, talking about, or repeating stupid useless words and phrases like "racism and "N" and "racial tension" and "African-American" (just be an AMERICAN for once) etc and start teaching/illustrating/demanding "Responsibility", Valor, Courage, Commitment, Respect, Honesty etc, instead then we could begin the process of turning things around a lot quicker than the slow or non-existent pace they are going now. Popular black experience needs a serious vocabulary upgrade, not more of the negative garbage on the airways and streets.

      And our kids in the hoods need more examples of real men. Start reading bedtime stories to your 3-year olds...about real hero's, etc. That's how it was done in the old days. That's just ONE example of how little kids used to learn right-from-wrong. How many black parents in the ghetto read to their kids at night? (I could ask the same of whites and everybody else - but this post is about blacks) Jeez, we've got to get started somewhere. Thank you Mr Cosby for sticking your neck out to tell a truth.

      Went to High school in LA in the early 70's. Got to see first-hand the second generational seeds that sewed of many of todays ills. We used to watch the young "brothers" with their big boom boxes, fancy clothes, dressed low-rider cars, etc (1980s/90's gangsta materialism in its infancy). I had a very wise white friend at the time who looked at all this and said..."poor black dudes...always trying to get what the white man has, and doesn't realize that what the white man has isn't worth s---".
      Looking at all the wreckage of our current financial system and the phony materialism that proceeded it, I would have to say that he was absolutely right. But where does that leave us now?

      -Just the perspective of an average white guy who cares deeply about the current state of affairs.
      Reply to this
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