From The Plain Dealer…
Bill Cosby and the black community: How his message is being received
By Margaret Bernstein
Bill Cosby has been on a tear since 2004, lambasting black people for tolerating teen pregnancies, gang violence and an overall breakdown of values in their communities.
He spurred much controversy when he first expressed exasperation with the behavior of “lower economic” blacks, as he called them. He still has critics. But four years later, there are a lot more believers. And some of those believers say that Cosby is relentlessly doing the job that black leaders have failed to do.
Cosby is bringing to light what some “churches, social organizations and community leaders have long run from,” said Michael L. Nelson of 100 Black Men of Greater Cleveland, one of the groups that sponsored a Cleveland visit from Cosby last Wednesday.
Part of the public outcry initially voiced against Cosby is that he focuses on the worst in black behavior. That’s still a big part of his road show. “Ouch,” an audience member responded Wednesday when Cosby complained that black churches haven’t done much to stop immoral behavior like drug use.
But Cosby said that he’s too fed up with the mounting murder rate in the black community to worry about how his crusade looks. He challenged his audience to not waste time worrying about airing dirty laundry in front of whites. “Why are you worried about them? Worry about your own.”
[Read the full story here.]
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