People Sadden Me Sometimes

They're standing on the corner and they can't speak English. I can't even talk the way these people talk: Why you ain't, Where you is, What he drive, Where he stay, Where he work, Who you be... And I blamed the kid until I heard the mother talk. And then I heard the father talk.

Everybody knows it's important to speak English except these knuckleheads. You can't be a doctor with that kind of crap coming out of your mouth. In fact you will never get any kind of job making a decent living.

People marched and were hit in the face with rocks to get an education, and now we've got these knuckleheads walking around. The lower economic people are not holding up their end in this deal. These people are not parenting. They are buying things for kids. $500 sneakers for what? And they won't spend $200 for Hooked on Phonics.

I am talking about these people who cry when their son is standing there in an orange suit. Where were you when he was 2? Where were you when he was 12? Where were you when he was 18 and how come you didn't know that he had a pistol? And where is the father? Or who is his father?

People putting their clothes on backward: Isn't that a sign of something gone wrong? People with their hats on backward, pants down around the crack, isn't that a sign of something? Or are you waiting for Jesus to pull his pants up? Isn't it a sign of something when she has her dress all the way up and got all type of needles [piercing] going through her body?

What part of Africa did this come from? We are not Africans. Those people are not Africans; they don't know a thing about Africa. With names like Shaniqua, Taliqua and Mohammed and all of that crap, and all of them are in jail.

Brown or black versus the Board of Education is no longer the white person's problem. We have got to take the neighborhood back. People used to be ashamed. Today a woman has eight children with eight different 'husbands' — or men or whatever you call them now. We have millionaire football players who cannot read. We have million-dollar basketball players who can't write two paragraphs. We as black folks have to do a better job. Someone working at Wal-Mart with seven kids, you are hurting us. We have to start holding each other to a higher standard.

We cannot blame the white people any longer. 

---attributed to Bill Cosby

 

( Read more at http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/cosby.asp#8U31sTgUarg2GLiW.99 )

The above quote has circulated the net for a good while, years in fact, posted and shared celebrated and lauded as wise words. I the the link to snopes so that anyone interested can look further into the origin of said quote but it's origin is not my focus today. Today I am looking at the attitude being conveyed in it. 

Throughout the quoted comment is an underlining air of paternalism, it's expressed quite clearly in his talking about how the kids and then their parents are supposed to speak, how the young women are supposed to dress, his disdain over the number of children and their assumed paternity. He even belittles people's very names. He questions poor people's desire to have nice things and their ability to parent their children b/c they are obviously doing it wrong, being poor and all, all these things make them expendable to him. 

They aren't people worthy of respect, worthy of jobs, worthy of protection. They are to be mocked, no beauty found in the intricacies of their home-speech. Isn't it ironic that the English he holds so dear would itself be denigrated by the British?  In his mind they bring it all upon themselves and it's on them to do better. Better according to his standards mind you. And better without help. Never mind that the people he's talking about are starting the race further back and from the outermost lane while those he wants them to race against are in the innermost lanes and their starting blocks are considerably further up.  Their criminality is written upon their very names, everyone knows no named Al, Charles, Tom, Adam, Tedd, John, Timothy,  or Jim * would ever do wrong that's reserved for the Shaniquas, Taliquas and Mohammeds of the world.

Education is important on that Mr Cosby and I do agree but if a college athlete graduates and can't read who is to blame? The nation that rewards sports to the point that a student's education is ignored as long as he can throw or bounce a ball to their liking? The alumni who would rather donate to a stadium or gymnasium than a library or chemistry chair? The general public who defame teachers to a point that salaries are kept so low few can afford to live on them and the best are lost in higher numbers year after year? The governments whose attempts at raising test scores only succeed at lowering learning? The rules of wealth distribution that insure the poorest neighborhoods have the worst schools? 

The wal-mart worker with 7 children is not hurting us,  our refusal to acknowledge their humanity, the feeling that we are better than they and entitled to more than they, that is what is hurting us.

* Al Capone - gangster

   Charles Manson - murderer

   Tom Horn - murderer

   Adam Lanza - mass murderer

   John Wayn Gacy -  serial murderer 

   Timothy McVeigh - domestic terrorist

   Jim Jones - mass murderer