Essay 4445

From The Plain Dealer in Cleveland…

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Bill Cosby’s take on the problems in Cleveland, other cities

By Stan Donaldson, Plain Dealer Reporter

Bill Cosby has been imparting laughs and life lessons for decades, most notably as the voice of Fat Albert and as loving husband and father Dr. Cliff Huxtable on “The Cosby Show.” In recent years, the 70-year-old comedian has been making headlines for his controversial stances on parenting and poverty, particularly as they affect African Americans.

Plain Dealer reporter Stan Donaldson spoke with Cosby in July while reporting for the newspaper’s “Inequality of Life” series.

SD: What do you think about today’s young people?

BC: I liken the situation of today’s kids to a closet that has too much stuff inside of it. For some time, you have known the closet to be problematic because stuff is falling out. But instead of going in and cleaning it up, you keep trying to close it.

Well, today, I think we’ve come to a point where the door of the closet can’t be closed anymore. Pretty soon if you keep up the pattern of behavior, the door gets wider and wider and other things begin to come inside of the room … the violence, the love for things that shouldn’t be loved.

What I see from today’s kids is no love. No teaching. No respect. We are allowing CDs, BET, MTV and all of the rest of them to make our children feel good about animalistic behavior. That is insane.

SD: Please explain the behavior you are referring to.

BC: I think these children are being given misrepresentations of love due to a lack of parenting. That is why in lower-economic neighborhoods you often see children and young adults fall into a world of murder, drug dealing and anger. And I’m not just talking about blacks or kids in urban cities like [others] would have you believe. I am talking about all colors.

SD: How are the generations different?

BC: There was a day [when] people in this country didn’t have much, but they still had their pride. They had some fatback, some lima beans and it wasn’t much, but they were happy to eat. They respected women. They respected other people’s property. They wanted to work and knew if they kept at it, things would improve.

Now with the drugs, and with the way things are set up, it is a lot different.

SD: How do we fix the problems you mentioned?

BC: For me, it is education and a loving environment. But young people also need to know about responsibility. We need to ask parents what they think success is. We also need to teach children that education is the way to get out of whatever circumstances they come from.

When you talk about systemic problems, and systemic racism, I want people to know that if they strengthen themselves, they can fight systemic problems. Because of my color, I focus on areas where I grew up, and I am saying we beat racist people in Topeka, Kan., because we had people who were educated who were able to fight the legal system and the problems that affected them. You can’t beat systemic problems with street. It doesn’t work.

SD: In Cleveland, we’ve had a lot of problems with youth gangs and crime in the inner city. Are these problems unique to what you have seen in other cities in the U.S., where you have worked?

BC: In cities like Cleveland, Milwaukee, Philadelphia … places where the local government has no more slack to give, a lot of young geniuses are being lost. Young men and women are dying. People who could help strengthen the world so it could be a better place are being taken away because of senseless acts of violence.

Someone needs to wonder and be upset when a bullet whizzes through the air and hits a young girl who is just standing in front of her home to close the front door. Where is the outrage?

Most people in the United States take it upon themselves that they are Christians. They say Christ is in them and they are highly favored. Well, if Christ is in you, why is it lying dormant? Why are you not out here helping to reach these families and folks who need help?

If we focus on being strong-character people, we won’t have a generation that is afraid to be smart, afraid to be different, afraid to stand.