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A while back we had a very interesting discussion about race and social connections in the USA. For someone like me who has no knowledge of this at all it was an eye-opener. I have come across this piece written by Bill Cosby. (I have checked, and it is genuine.) I would like to learn from a (polite!) discussion here about what he has to say. To what extent do the Americans here agree with what he says? Is it not possible that the language he deplores in these "knuckleheads" is a kind of "Polari" - an 'underground' code? Or is it really a self-perpetuating awful education?
J F R
They're standing on the corner and they can't speak English. I can't even talk the way these people talk: Why you ain't, Where you is, What he drive, Where he stay, Where he work, Who you be... And I blamed the kid until I heard the mother talk. And then I heard the father talk.
Everybody knows it's important to speak English except these knuckleheads. You can't be a doctor with that kind of crap coming out of your mouth. In fact you will never get any kind of job making a decent living. 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. They are buying things for kids. $500 sneakers for what ? ? And they won't spend $200 for Hooked on Phonics. 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 ? ? Or who is his 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 or black versus the Board of Education is no longer the white person's problem. We have got to take the neighborhood back. People used to be ashamed. Today a woman has eight children with eight different 'husbands' -- or men or whatever you call them now. We have millionaire football players who cannot 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 the white people any longer.'
The paradox has often been noted that the United States, founded in secularism, is now the most religiose country in Christendom, while England, with an established church headed by its constitutional monarch, is among the least. (Richard Dawkins, 2006)
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Unfortunately this is the truth. Blacks who speak good english and behave in a civilized manner are refered to as Oreos. White on the inside, black on the outside, and it is an insult. Blacks dont do well in school not because they are stupid but because it is seen as giving in to the white race. Black on Black crime in the US is rampant. Blacks want to blame the whites, but its not the fault of whites and Cosby has caught hell trying to tell his people whats wrong. It was another black boy who shot his son to death on the side of the road.
Sweet dreams till sunbeams find you......
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It is really a self-perpetuating awful education.
Do you really want to know? Are we really going to open up this can of worms again?
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To understand Bill Cosby's remarks, one must first understand the Supreme Court Ruling "Brown vs. Board of Education" to which he is referring. In short, in 1954 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that laws that established separate but equal educational facilities for black and white children were denying black children equal educational opportunities. Rather than go into it here in painful detail, I have listed the wikipedia link. One can go into major detail overload on this link. Of interesting note is the map which shows where segregation in public schools was required, forbidden, optional, or not legislated prior to 1954.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_v._Board_of_Education
Bill Cosby's speech was given at the NAACP's 50th anniversary celebration of the Brown vs. Board of Education decision. It was basically speaking about the educational responsibilities of the black family in the US. It was not what the NAACP wanted to hear. They figured he would be giving a speech citing how far blacks had progressed in the 50 years since "Brown". Instead, he lambasted the black community for not following up on the rights and opportunities given to them by the B vs B of Ed decision. Here is the full content of the speech, known as the "pound cake speech".
http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/billcosbypoundcakespeech.htm
The following is my opinion, so you can take it for what it's worth. The examples he uses in his speech can be seen in many northern cities. I see it as a social class issue, a lower social class. Even the multimillionaire basketball players to which he is referring probably grew up in the lower social classes, and were able to use their skills to move out of the ghetto. They moved up economically, but not socially in his example. I think he is stereotyping blacks to make a point in his speech. I know very few self respecting and society respecting blacks who would talk like that, act like that, and not be a quality parent. His examples, though, hit some very raw nerves. Because he is black, he could say "shame on the black community for being so apathetic about your future" and not be accused of being a racist. The point he is trying to get across to the NAACP leaders is that education is the way to climb out of that class they are in. However there seems to be in certain social structures the pressure to remain in that lower strata of society. The black community must police their own in order to improve society's perception of them, and to make the members of that lower social strata feel that remaining there is undesirable.
I am sure as I chew through my thoughts, I'll be back and revise items. I do remember the speech and the furor it created. I was at the National Education Association's Representative Assembly that summer in Washington DC when the 50th year of Brown vs Board of Education was recognized by the education community.
Hope this helps.
Scott
[Updated on: Fri, 22 February 2008 03:10]
Cycling is the one sport where a guy can shave his legs, wear spandex and bright colors, and be accepted.
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