Thread: Cosby's comments on Black kids.

Bill Cosby need to crawl back into the “not so squeaky clean life” he live in because he made a fortune making fun of black children with names like “Fat Albert,” etc. and he says black parents should not give their children names like “Shanana.” Bill do not speak for black America. A rose by any other name still smell the same.
I don’t know why white people think black kids need role models and white kids don’t. Bill is not qualified to tell black parents how to parent their kids. Bill has had more suits file against him for harassment and sexual assault then most average black men.
Black kids don’t need role models or parenting, some has the role of parenting their siblings while the parents are working.
Most single moms with children do not have the time to parent because most of going to school and working and their children are fine. They do fine because they want to. Those who don’t want to don’t and it has nothing to do with role Models or parenting. Bill and Rush can go to hell because no one it listening to them.
Cosby, Jackson or Rev. Whats his name” is no ones role models.

"Let me tell you something," Cosby, one of America's most admired men, told the group. "Your dirty laundry gets out of school at 2:30 every day, it's cursing and calling each other [the N-word] as they're walking up and down the street. They think they're hip. They can't read. They can't write. They're laughing and giggling, and they're going nowhere."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/ar ... 4Jul2.html

It is people like Cosby that hurts black kids the most and not white people.

Just my own personal obversation, Black kids do need heros and role leaders just as white and all colored kids need, we are in a very severe shortage of heroes lately, Bill has his faults, no one is perfect, I do feel though he is trying to be a role model for black kids and many things he says is right on the money, get rid of the gansta rap or whatever they call it, learn to speack english, stay away from gangs, do well in school, this is good sound advice for all of America's kids.

Bill Cosby is no role model and neither are the rappers out there. They are even worse as many of them got where they are by either killing or having other rappers killed. They definitely are not squeaky clean. In Miami Dade County we have had a large number of young people especially teenagers killed. Some were in the wrong place in at the worng time but many of the young males were up and coming rap or hip hop performers or producers. The police departments won't say it as the City of Miami got into trouble for being racist when they kept tabs on some rappers and hip hop artists and producers. They stopped it and guess what; during one of the numerous music awards one of those people were killed in the streets of the City of Miami by another rap or hip hop person.

You make some good points dyehard, but I too think all kids regardless of color desperately need positive role models.

We are also now beggining to see the effects of no disipline in our schools or at home. And to make it worse yet is way too many kids today are raised by their x-playstation-box since it takes 4.3 adults working fulltime today to equal a one mans salary in the past.

I think Mr. Cosby is wrong suggesting blacks shouldn't name their children howere they want. There are a lot of white people that are pretty goofy in their naming too like Nicolas Cage saddeling his child with Supermans fathers name Khalel or something like that, or Moon Unit Zappa.

But if it takes giving those kids some connection to the African heritage if in name only to feel pride in something, then so be it. I personally think some of the names are odd, but so is just about everything else today.

Its a whole new world and none of us are sure what to expect next.

When I was a kid almost everyone I knew had a Father and a Mother.
Dad worked, mom was mom. We went on yearly vacations and were firmly in the middle class with every expectation that us kids would do at least as well as our parents.
We played sports and some played in the school band.
Today the HS I went to that use to have a Marching band almost as large as OSU now has about 12-15 members. The fields where we played baseball and football are over grown and desolate.

I guess my point is we had role models right in front of us. Our parents, coachs, and teachers. Today the teachers, if they don't, should wear body armor. Most homes are single parent and that one has to work 2 jobs.
The coachs are gone because Madden 06 needs no coach.

I also don't think it is said enough here and any place dealing with the issue we are dealing with. Americans of African decent are our brothers in this struggle. It IS NOT a white VS brown issue. It is about ALL Americans standing up together to fight this wanton destruction of our way of life.

Not that I am not against gangters, but to illustrate my point in LA the bloods and crips have band togther to fight the treacherous ms-13.
We as non-gangsters also need to stick togther.

You are correct that all children and teens need role models. I have seen kids from both single parent and homes with two parents and even a lesbian couple raising the one woman's son. A lot of times its not the parent(s) but how they raise their children and who the children have as role models. There are the rich kids whose parents give them everything and spend little time with and don't know what their kids are doing. I think a sinlge mom can do a good job if she is on top of what her kids are doing if she is not home or has help from her family. I volunteer with the police athletic league and see many single moms doing the best they can to keep their children out of trouble and provide positive role models.
Then you need to look at the kids as there are some that no matter what you do they get into trouble and can't stay out of it. They get into the wrong crowd and sometimes thats all it takes. I took an 11 year old to the juvenile facility last summer and this case broke my heart so I had a good talk with the boy and I can only hope it makes a difference. He would go and throw rocks at passing cars with the older boys. He hit a car and the male passenger chased the boy home, called the police and took officers to the boys house. The boy actually changed his clothes thinking he may get away with it. The witness stood his ground and the boy had been warned previously by other officers about rock throwing, they asked his grandmother who was raising him if she had the money to replace the broken windshield. The poor woman was elderly and on a fixed pension so she could not pay and it was decided that the boy would go to the juvenile facility. His grandfather told us how he tried to keep him away from the older boys and his aunt and uncle let him know how disappointed they were as they tried to keep him away from them as well. Once at the facility they make them take their shoes off and remove the laces. He didn't remove his laces and when the person who told him to do so again in an extremely authorative voice and being a lot bigger than his small grandfather, he was frightened. I hope he learned his lesson.

I do not believe that Black children need Black role models. Their role models could be parents, siblings, teachers, counselors, pastors,etc of any race.
My role models were the parents that raised me, some of the other children they raised, my teacher, my scout leader, piano teacher and a lot of other people of different races and some I did not know but read about.
What Bill was saying is that Black children need Black role models and he is wrong.

I think that everyone needs someone to teach them right from wrong and discipline children when necessary. This is what kids really need. Too many are allowed by parents to do what they want because they couldn't be bothered to deal with them or they are never home to do so. It doesn't matter whether there are 2 parents in a home or not.
They used to say that it takes a village to raise a child. In this day and age unfortunately you can no longer do so without parents telling you to mind your own #@*!@#!. When I was growing up if a neighbor saw you doing something wrong they would tell and you would smarten up quick as you were afraid your parents would find out. Those days are long gone and that is why we have ADD, kids bullying, gangs and teens killing teens. I strongly believe that there is a difference between discipline and abuse and parents should be made aware of it.
At the Police Athletic League there is a former Army Special Ops man who works there as well as does the ROTC program in a high school. He is a muscular African American man and he is a strong believer in discipline. Most Kids that go there will not push their luck with him and play by the rules. When he calls someone over they know that they are in trouble and you can actually see fear in their faces but yet they keep coming back. I was involved with a PAL camp where once again there was a former military man who was African American who belived in discipline. If kids didn't listen he would drop them for push ups. If they complained, they would have to do more of them. What was amazing is that when the kids returned the next year many wanted to be in his group. He was one of the most popular police officers there.

[quote="swatchick"] They used to say that it takes a village to raise a child. In this day and age unfortunately you can no longer do so without parents telling you to mind your own #@*!@#!. When I was growing up if a neighbor saw you doing something wrong they would tell and you would smarten up quick as you were afraid your parents would find out.


I grew in a small town where if a neighbor caught you doing something wrong, I would get a spanking and a tongue lashing from them and when I got home I would get another spanking and tongue lashing. Kids in that small city did big things with their lives and it is because the town cared and we kids knew it. I lot of people in that town were my heroes and my role models. I was also spanked by my teacher and it was not abusive at all.

]

Originally Posted by swatchick

They used to say that it takes a village to raise a child. In this day and age unfortunately you can no longer do so without parents telling you to mind your own #@*!@#!. When I was growing up if a neighbor saw you doing something wrong they would tell and you would smarten up quick as you were afraid your parents would find out.

I grew in a small town where if a neighbor caught you doing something wrong, I would get a spanking and a tongue lashing from them and when I got home I would get another spanking and tongue lashing. Kids in that small city did big things with their lives and it is because the town cared and we kids knew it. I lot of people in that town were my heroes and my role models. I was also spanked by my teacher and it was not abusive at all.

I agree with you dyehard but unfortunately those days are long gone.