[Live Oak]

MANY more folks need to take this position and tell it like it is! It is about time someone did and I am so glad it was Bill Cosby. If anyone else in another skin tone had said this; the cries of racism would have been rampant. Sometimes the truth is painful but truth is the best way. People of ALL flavors need to take note of this. :thumbsup:

As Cos tells it, we ain't learnt nothin' yet

 

[Stewart]

Sad but true!:clap:

 

[Argee]

Who better to speak up?

 

[bontai Joe]

Bill Cosby has always been a champion for education, and may God bless him for it. No group of people of ANY color will ever break the cycle of poverty if they don't embrace what an education will give them. The 2 dozen rap stars with ALL their "bling bling" do NOTHING to help the uneducated get ahead. Neither do the majority of pop stars we see on MTV and Entertainment tonight. My daughter was ooooing and ahhhhing over how Paris Hilton lives. I told her that Ms. Hilton should be very greatful that she was born rich, because she sure would not have the ability to get far on her own talents and skills. It is hard to get through to a teenager that just becaused an incredibly small segment of the population is showcased as being successful via the media even though these people have little or no education, that the education young people get gives them more options that can and will be important for the vast majority of them. Mike Tyson is NOT a success story, Bill Cosby is. Charles Manson is NOT a success story, Jimmy Carter is. Marilyn Monroe is not a success story, Katherine Hepburn is. And yet the media are making yet another movie about Manson for what purpose, to inspire future serial killers? make money off of someone else's misery?

Thanks Chief for the link. Dr. Cosby is almost always inspirational when discussing education.

 

[psrumors]

I want to see the speech in it's entirety. If anyone comes across it let us know.

 

[jodyand]

I'm with you psrumors i like to hear the whole speech. The sad part is instead of them come up they are going down.

 

[jodyand]

Originally posted by psrumors
I want to see the speech in it's entirety. If anyone comes across it let us know.

Here is part of his speech.

BILL COSBY QUOTES

"People marched and were hit in the face with rocks to get an education, and now we've got these knuckleheads walking around. . . . The lower economic people are not holding up their end in this deal. These people are not parenting."

"I am talking about these people who cry when their son is standing there in an orange suit. Where were you when he was 2? Where were you when he was 12? Where were you when he was 18 and how come you didn't know that he had a pistol? And where is the father?"

"People putting their clothes on backward: Isn't that a sign of something gone wrong? . . . People with their hats on backward, pants down around the crack, isn't that a sign of something, or are you waiting for Jesus to pull his pants up? Isn't it a sign of something when she has her dress all the way up . . . and got all type of needles (piercing) going through her body? What part of Africa did this come from? We are not Africans. Those people are not Africans; they don't know a . . . thing about Africa."

"With names like Shaniqua, Taliqua and Mohammed and all of that crap, and all of them are in jail. Brown versus the Board of Education is no longer the white person's problem. We have got to take the neighborhood back. . . . They are standing on the corner and they can't speak English."

"People used to be ashamed. . . . [Today] a woman has eight children with eight different 'husbands,' or men or whatever you call them now."

"The idea is to one day get out of the projects. You don't just stay there."

"We have millionaire football players who can't read. We have million-dollar basketball players who can't write two paragraphs."

"We as black folks have to do a better job. . . . Someone working at Wal-Mart with seven kids, you are hurting us. We have to start holding each other to a higher standard."

"…We cannot blame white people…"

"The incarcerated? These are not political criminals. These are people going around stealing Coca-Cola. People getting shot in the back of the head over a piece of pound cake and then we run out and we are outraged, saying, 'The cops shouldn't have shot him.' What the hell was he doing with the pound cake in his hand?"

Source: The Washington Post

 

[Chris]

Instead of embracing this truth, Cosby will be labelled a kooky old Uncle Tom who got his fair share and now wants to tell blacks how good it is to be white.

Anytime a black person tries to stand up and speak facts, truth and offer earnest support for their community, they get defensive and started this rhetoric. He was the invited speaker, the invited guest --- a celebrity who made it bigtime coming from very modest roots. Instead of looking to him or other strong black men (I am not talking about athletes) as role models, the community rather dwells on the glorification of murder, music, pimping, drugs, violence and sports. I do blame it on the parents --- It all starts by the parents deciding that this is where they are going to raise their children, this is the path and goals that will ultimately lead their family to stay on welfare, live in poverty in the projects and give up on their children. Either because they are too lazy, too incompetent or perhaps too complacent to look for work as they earn a free government paycheck once a month.

Everything I have done in my life has been 1st generation. Nothing was ever given to me as a child, teenager nor adult. I worked my way through college on sports & academic scholarships. I applied myself (like any decent student and athlete could have done) and then I landed back and made some critical decisions that led me to having a young wife and a new young daughter on the way. Went from the glory of it all to earning $6/hr and driving to work with little pride in my $400 car. Driving through the burger place twice because we found more change on the floorboard in order to get 2 hamburgers that night in lieu of one. I have been in poverty, but I promised myself, my family and my child that I would make them a better life. It is nothing about being black or white --- it is about being accountable for your decisions, taking responsibility for your actions and ultimately doing whatever it takes to make something work. It took years to get to a place where we felt a little more comfortable and believe me this was very difficult. I went from a professional sports contract to scraping by trying to cope with the reality of the day.

When we finally moved out here to Hammond and I could honestly afford my own home, we could afford much else --- including a refrigerator. We lived out of an ice chest for several months. The first and only gift from my parents was to pay for the refrigerator and then I would pay them back (which I did in full)
It is not about where you are from, nor what you have been through --- ultimately it is mostly about the character of the person and their individual drive that will led to success. Nothing mystical nor colored about it. Black, white, green, red, pink or purple --- opportunity is out there and with the systems the where they are, I firmly believe that minorities have distinct advantages and opportunities.

Regards,
Andy

 

[Spike]

Nice note Andy.


Didn't I read that same thing in one of Termy's posts?