Do you want to see what Bill Cosby wrote?

Question

Can't Blame White People
by Bill Cosby


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.
Mushmouth is what they speak!?
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 throwing that all away.?
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?
They're walking around with their nasty underwear showing, and
holding onto their pants to keep them from falling to the ground!


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 to her panty line,
and got all types of needle piercings 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 saying...
you are hurting us.
We have to start holding each other
to a higher standard.
We cannot blame the white people any longer.
It is not for media or anyone of this time
anymore to say whether I'm right or wrong.
It is time, ladies and gentlemen,
to look at the numbers.
Fifty percent of our children are dropping out of high school.
Sixty percent of the incarcerated males happen to be illiterate.
There's a correlation.
Tell the media to stop asking me what I think about people
who don't believe what I'm saying or feel that I'm too harsh or feel
that I'm just running my mouth because I'm old.
Seventy percent of the teenagers pregnant happen to be African
American girls.
Don't ask me to soften my message.


Bill Cosby

Answer 1

I think white people assume erroneously that all blacks blame them for their problems. With inner city people like the people he's referring to in his letter, they're lost. They come from generations upon generation of people who didn't value education and integrity. While they're not totally to blame, as history has shown, they chose their own paths in life. I'm not one of the blacks who blame whites. I'm not the person Bill is referring to in his letter, either.

Blacks have a lot of issues to deal with. A part from family guidance, I blame the hip-hop community, as well, because I feel they are glorifying those very things discussed in this letter for monetary gain, which is disgusting considering the amount of blacks who are in prison or dead because of the very acts glamorized in rap songs.

In essence, we're all to blame to a certain degree. I'm to blame for not trying to go back to the inner city and mentor. But, honestly, I don't feel they want a mentor. My mother, on the other hand, is a principal and has worked in the public school system for over 20 years. She's dedicated her life to helping inner city kids and she's led a lot of them to the right path. If only more people were like my mother, maybe we could save some of these kids.

It's pretty much hopeless for the adults, but it's the kids that hurts my heart because they're only products of their environments. They haven't been given a chance because their parents are deadbeats, smoking weed all day, not caring what their children are doing. The mothers are bringing multiple men into the household, dressing like whores and wondering why their daughters are pregnant at 14.

Yes, there's definitely a problem here.

Answer 2

The thing is, Mr. Cosby has always been up front and candid with his thoughts. To disbelieve or disagree with his statements would be hiding your head in the sand. This however, is not a black only issue. The white kids hanging out on the corners are talking like this, and their pants are "down around the crack" too. I like his message. It's to the point, and shows us where we are headed. Was there ever a generation though, that didn't get criticized for something they were doing that didn't conform. Probably not, but were those being criticized better educated? I think so. Seems we're going backward a bit, instead of forward.

Answer 3

I agree with parts of what he is saying but i am wondering what has he done to help the African American today.
I am not an American so i will not know. But i have a problem with him saying that the African American population is not African. Who is he to say what makes an African and African. We may not be continental Africans but we are diasporal Africans. We have that connection to the mother land, to the craddle of all civilisation.
I do think that we have to stop depending on the government and stop feeling that the white man owes us and try to make something of ourselves.
Stop putting non ciricular activities infront of academics. So what if your son is the next michael jordan waiting to happen make sure that he is also on the road to becoming an eisteen in the field that he chooses.
He has to have something to fall back on.
What else is there to say. Nothing. Thats the way i feel.

Answer 4

although what he said was for the most part true these are just the results of an even bigger problem which is poverty, remember the slaves were thrown off the plantations with absolutely nothing and it hasnt been very long since slavery was discontinued...i believe that the whites negatively involved in slavery should be blamed to a degree because until the blacks are compensated in some way it would be difficult if not impossible to develop the infrastructure their communities need for drastic change to occur.

Answer 5

I understand where he is coming from.
But talk is cheap, I want to know if he is doing anything to help better these types of situations. You cant point out a problem and expect it to get any better without also offering a solution.

Answer 6

As sad as it is, Mr. Cosby is right....But its not just affecting blacks....Nearly every ethnic group is guilty of demolishing some of its own. Case in point...the Middle East, and the detriment of Hispanics, here in the USA and abroad. Whites are NO exception....many so-called "white collar" peoples are committing absolutely heinous crimes against their own...It's just sickening, and I say, finally, someone who speaks the truth, loud and clear!

Answer 7

In essence, Mr. Cosby is saying that Black Americans are their own worst enemy and he IS right!

Yep, he's right and he's black and I'm as black as he is and proud of it!

Answer 8

Man, I've always loved Bill Cosby...

Answer 9

Amen. Afraid this question won't last long. Good job.

Answer 10

HMMM... WOW!...Well all I can say is AMEN To that! I honestly agree 100% He has alot of good points! it may sound mean but guess what....SOMETIMES THE TRUTH HURTS! :)