BLACKS
BEGIN DISCUSSING THE "M" WORD
May
27, 2004
By Michael J McManus
Ethics
& Religion - McManus May 27, 2004 Column #1,187 Blacks
Begin Discussing the "M" Word by Michael J.
McManus
WASHINGTON - Bill Cosby shocked the black establishment in a
speech on the 50th anniversary of the Brown vs. Board of
Education decision that sparked the desegregation of
America. The Presidents of the NAACP and of Howard
University undoubtedly expected Cosby, who has given
millions to such causes - to praise their
"leadership."
He did not. Rather, he praised the giants of the civil
rights era, and contrasted them with today's "lower
economic people who 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
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?"
He rejected the threadbare charges of discrimination:
"We cannot blame white people."
"People putting their clothes on backward. Isn't that
sign of something gone wrong? ...People with the 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? ...She has her dress all the way up to the...and got all
types of needles 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 damn thing about Africa.
"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.' ...and I blamed the kid until I
heard the mother talk and I heard the father talk. Everybody
knows it's important to speak English except these
knuckleheads."
Even a week later, Cosby's blistering comments about black
parenting were keeping the phone lines lit up into radio
show host Joe Madison. Hamil Harris of The Washington
Post, reported that Madison himself was conflicted about
Cosby's remarks.
While he thinks Cosby "touched on some truths about the
black community's failure to take responsibility for high
school dropout rates, unwed mothers and young men in
prison," Madison said, "Cosby went overboard when
he absolved white America and the government of any
responsibility for the ills of the poor black
community."
By contrast, Colbert King, a black Washington Post columnist
who won the Pulitzer Prize this year, recalled that when he
was growing up, black America was less violent and for
a reason. "Time was you could leave your doors
unlocked. Your mother could walk to church meetings at night
without a male escort. A child didn't have to fear
strangers. And no boy would think of robbing a helpless old
man.
"Time was we had something called families," King
wrote. "When men and women came together and stayed
together, whether out of love, for the sake of the kids, for
both, or none of the above. Maybe they kept at it just to
make each other miserable. But they stayed together, grew
old together and cried when one of them died."
King then uttered the "M" word: "Here's
another post-Brown truth: The lowest marriage rate of any
group belongs to African Americans. Nearly 70 percent
of our children have unmarried moms, and an equal percentage
- one source put it at 80 percent - will grow up without the
presence of their dads."
However, millions of black Americans have made it.
Their English is perfect. There are more African-Americans
in Washington's suburbs than in the city.
What's more stunning and is widely unknown is that married
blacks have achieved virtual economic parity with married
whites. In 1999, black couples with both spouses working,
earned $60,439. Compare that with similar white couples who
earned $61,878.
The problem, of course, is that black marriage rates have
plunged. As recently as 1970, two-thirds of African-American
adults were married, compared to only a third today.
"White discrimination has nothing to do with this
self-inflicted wound," I wrote on the 40th anniversary
of Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech at
the Lincoln Memorial.
"Here is a cause for the next generation of civil
rights activists and African-American religious
leaders."
Easy for me to say as a white guy. What's encouraging
is that black leaders like Bill Cosby and Colbert King are
speaking truth and beginning to mention the "M"
word.
Accurate diagnosis is the first step of creating the cure.
Copyright 2004 Michael J. McManus.
**************************
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