Bill Cosby About Low Income

¶ … Bill Cosby about low income African-Americans. The writer explores the opinions of several respondents to Cosby's speech and sides with Cosby. America has wrestled with racism and oppression since the days of slavery, however the past four decades have seen significant changes in the protections and rights that level the playing field for African-Americans. Many supporters of affirmative action and other programs believe that wrongs must still be righted from the past before African-Americans will truly be afforded equality.

While public education and civil rights are equal in a theoretical sense, supporters of programs believe that there is still an underlying inequality due to past actions and mandates that placed white America on a superior playing field. Bill Cosby received a significant backlash when he recently gave a speech in which it appeared that he "blamed the victim" for the high illiteracy, drop out, pregnancy and crime rate in the African-American community.

His remarks brought heated denial from many groups and spokespersons from those groups made the rounds on talk and radio shows to dispute his statements. When all is said and done however, once the hype is removed and the fingers stop pointing there is a strong undercurrent of truth to the statements Cosby made. Everyone in America has the same civil rights, the same public education abilities and the same constitution by which they are protected with from undue persecution.

While no one can deny that racism exists within the U.S. Cosby believes it is time to stop blaming the white man for what is being done to the African-American and look in the mirror to understand what African-Americans are not doing for themselves when they live in substandard conditions. Racism is a fact. There is no denying its existence. Whether one is African-American, Asian, Mexican or gay there are going to be instances in which that person is going to encounter racism and bigotry.

It is in how that person handles their everyday life, their goals and ambitions that will define their life and happiness more so than the things that are said to him by racists that will determine his life outcome. Cosby was simply stating the obvious. If one wants to do better one looks for pathways to do so and follows those paths. He and those who support his statements bring up the point that children are not born speaking Ebonics.

They are not born with the mindset that they will go to prison or get pregnant at a young age. Children are born with a blank slate and it is their upbringing and parents who are charged with their development. Critics of Cosby and his statements point to the plight of inner city children when it comes to substandard public schools, exposure to violence drugs and crime, and attitudes by generations before them as precursors to failure of African-Americans who end up meeting the statistical probabilities.

According to those critics the children who are born into the situation are not able to rise above it because they are surrounded from the beginning with low expectations and seemingly impossible obstacles to overcome if they want to make a success out of their life. According to the critics, the elite blacks who have been born outside of the low income areas have been given the opportunities to succeed and they don't have a clue about what most African-Americans are subjected to. Cosby disagrees with this mindset.

He points out the term "acting white" and trying to be white as evidence of the underlying desire to sabotage the efforts to better their lives. When African-Americans strive for success by study, hard work, refusal to use Ebonics and other methods they are often accused of "acting white." Cosby asks, what acting white means. In his opinion striving for success, not using Ebonics, and other methods employed by successful African-Americans are no different than what are being used by successful people of many races in America today.

In the same way that people educate their children not to say "aint" or "don't gotta" in their speech so that they will appear to be educated and intelligence, it is time for African-Americans to stop demanding favors and begin reaching for success. If people use the word ain't in their everyday speech they will not find themselves working in the boardroom of large companies. The use of such poor grammar conjures an image of substandard intellect and ability.

The world at large accepts this mindset and therefore people who want to be financially successful pride themselves on speaking standard English. It is no different than African-Americans and Ebonics. It is not fair for African-Americans to insist that America suddenly make exception for members of its population who want to use Ebonics in everyday speech and teach it in schools.

African-American parents who want their children to succeed need to spend less time pointing fingers at racists and more time encouraging their children to do their homework, go to college and have productive lives. It is not that racism is not alive and active in America, it is about refusing to participate in its negativity and instead turning attention to success. African-Americans who want the world to make exception because they are Black are asking for something that implies they are not capable of success without it.

Parents of all races encourage their children to do well in school, accept consequences for their actions and to reach for success in their lives. Statistically if one looks at African-Americans one will note that successful African-Americans did what every other successful person in America does. He works hard, studies hard, stays out of trouble, and becomes successful. Cosby grew up in an era where racism was extremely accepted without shame. He is old enough to remember being shunned simply because of his color.

He has always been an advocate of African-Americans. He provides funds to causes to better the plight of his race, but at the same.