Cosby and Williams Offer Insight
Walter E. Williams has an insightful overview of some recent comments by Bill Cosby. This time Cosby spoke at Jesse Jackson’s 33rd Annual Rainbow/PUSH Coalition conference in Chicago.
Cosby suggests taking responsibility for the future of blacks, and urges blacks to stop blaming whites for their problems. Addressing the conference, Cosby said, “This is a time, ladies and gentlemen, when we have to turn the mirror around.”
Williams agrees with Cosby stating, “Nobody can sensibly argue that racial discrimination has altogether disappeared. The relevant question is: How much of what we see can be explained by racial discrimination?”
I think this is a good question. I agree that people still deal with racial discrimination, but can that discrimination be blamed for some of the worst of black society’s problems? Williams lists some of those problems, and questions whether discrimination is the cause, “The 70 percent illegitimacy rate among blacks is devastating, not to mention unprecedented, but can it be blamed on discrimination? Is the white man responsible for today's all-time high number of black single-parent families? What about the crime rate that has turned many black neighborhoods, once stable and civilized, into battlegrounds and economic wastelands?”
Williams also addresses the issue of education and black students. He calls for teachers to crack down on poor speaking and writing skills, and asks them to refuse to accept “I be,” “Why you ain’t?” and “Where you is?” He suggests that these teachers “might ask students who use such language whether they know anyone who’s successful and speaks that way, except Snoop Doggy Dog.”
He also asks for some honesty in grading. This is a subject that is dear to my heart as a former teacher. I believe very strongly that students should earn their grades, but today I see many teachers that are forced to award grades to children of all backgrounds that they just do not deserve.
Williams points out one serious potential problem with this when he says, “When a black kid has all A's and B's and makes the dean's list, what will he and his parents blame for his failure to get a decent SAT score, get into college or get a job? They're going to blame it on racial discrimination. All they'll see is that white kids with A's and B's do well and their kids with the same grades do not.”
I think that the black community needs to give an ear to people like Bill Cosby and Walter Williams if they are going to eliminate, or at least reduce, some of the plagues that young blacks face today.