May 22, 2004
Hey Hey Hey
Bill Cosby's got something to say...
The man behind Fat Albert took an opportunity at a Brown v. Board commemoration to decry failing language and cultural mores in the black community.
Cosby's remarks are right on the money - though certainly not tactful. But tactfulness has given way to correctness, and Cosby used his humor and stature to cut through to the heart of the issues.
Playing Dr. Huxtable on The Cosby Show, Bill managed to bring the middle/upper class black family into the popular culture's mainstream. Prior, most black cultural television figures were somewhat single track - from shows The Jeffersons, Good Times, Diff'rent Strokes etc. Cosby presented a black family at the height of success that didn't rely on a histrionic black jive-talking character with wild mannerisms to be successful. The Huxtables were a family like any other, and were a black American family, but in a manner that never excluded one for the other.
Part of Cosby's complaint about language in the modern black community is in stark contrast to the Huxtables - who were erudite, articulate, and cosmopolitan. But he's correct - as apologists for illiteracy in functional English define illiteracy as an inner-city 'language', the result is a Balkanization of not only the black community but society at large. Those unable to communcate effectively with the rest of society will find very limited opportunities.
Cosby's started a dialogue that is overdue in the black community - on crime, on race politics, on Ebonics, on what it is to be a black American in the 21st century. You could do worse than emulate Bill Cosby - black or white.
Posted by MEC2 at May 22, 2004 12:05 PM