Bill Cosby lays the smack down

[edotherocket 0]

Comedian Bill Cosby embarrassed the National Association For Advancement Of Colored People (NAACP) at a gala on Monday - by attacking lower class African-Americans. The legendary star was speaking in Washington DC to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Brown vs. Board of Education ruling - which eradicated segregated schooling in America - but shocked organizers by using the platform to unfavorably compare sixties civil rights activists with today's youth. He said, "These 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? I can't even talk the way these people talk, 'Why you ain't,' 'Where you is' ... You can't be a doctor with that kind of crap coming out of your mouth!" Cosby then added his thoughts that petty criminals who are shot dead should not be a source of sorrow. He explained, "These are not political criminals. These are people going around stealing Coca-Cola. People getting shot in the back of the head over a piece of pound cake and then we run out and we are outraged, saying, 'The cops shouldn't have shot him.' What the hell was he doing with the pound cake in his hand?"

 

Source: IMDB.com

 

Who would've though such a sweet old man would have such rage in him?

 

I agree with him mostly. Maybe shooting a dude for stealing a pound of cake is a bit harsh though.

[kkktookmybabyaway 0]

What a racist. I hope Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton shame him into a cave or something. Doesn't Bill know that it's society's fault (and the No Child Left Behind Act) for these children not getting ahead?

 

"These are not political criminals. These are people going around stealing Coca-Cola.

 

Not to mention Jell-O Pudding Pops...

[Jobber of the Week 0]

I find Cosby to be funny onstage, but come on.

 

I can't even talk the way these people talk, 'Why you ain't,' 'Where you is' ... You can't be a doctor with that kind of crap coming out of your mouth!

 

I can't speak the way Cosby does either, so why's he care?

 

If I could, it would probably sound like "Iiiiiiiiiii.. wouldliketotalkto youuuu...about the things..... that you saaaid.... ATTHEPODIUM."

 

Cosby doesn't talk like a gangster, but he's no Nat King Cole when it comes to black people and eloquent speaking.

[kkktookmybabyaway 0]

About 10 years ago I read this local article (North Hills News Record, for those that care) and it was a piece about how city residents are having trouble getting jobs in the suburbs. Every person they interviewed had such HORRID grammar. When I read quotes like "I can't get no job and I ain't got no money." I thought to myself, "Well no kidding -- I wouldn't want to hire you either..."

[Guest MikeSC]

Well, for what it's worth, he seemed to become exponentially more angry and bitter following the death of his son --- but I don't have a problem with what the man said.

-=Mike

[Ripper 0]

Bill hasn't seen the inner city since the 60's.

 

Blah blah, inner city kids don't go to college because they are lazy or what ever, blah blah freaking blah.

 

Heard it all before, doesn't make it more true.

[Dobbs 3K 0]

Everything he said was true. A lot of people think the same things he said, but most people don't have the guts to say it in public.

 

Black people scream about how horrible racism is and how they are oppressed, but many blacks in the US don't do anything to better themselves. They make no effort at all. When you act like a thug and you speak like you're from the gutter, then people will treat you like trash.

 

And I have no problem with criminals getting shot and killed. This country needs to be tougher on criminals, not more compassionate.

[Ripper 0]

Everything he said was true. A lot of people think the same things he said, but most people don't have the guts to say it in public.

 

Black people scream about how horrible racism is and how they are oppressed, but many blacks in the US don't do anything to better themselves. They make no effort at all. When you act like a thug and you speak like you're from the gutter, then people will treat you like trash.

 

And I have no problem with criminals getting shot and killed. This country needs to be tougher on criminals, not more compassionate.

Shut the hell up.

 

This thread is going to turn to another one full of people spouting off dumbass theories about what they heard and stereotypes without anything to back it. Black people aren't always screaming racism. The percentage of blacks in higher education has been on a gradual yet constant rise since de segregation, black enrolement in the military is astronomical when compared to their percentage of the population. Blacks seeking careers in the military has been on a constant and gradual rise.

 

You mean to tell me that *GASP* some people of the black race aren't doing the best they could with their lives. GET THE FUCK OUT~!. If only they could be like white people, a race in which every single person is living up their full potential and never commit crimes and are alway working to better themselves.

 

EVERY group of people is split between those that will work to do better and those that will take the easy way out. It has shit to do with race, so take that "blacks cry rasicm" shit somewhere else.

[nl5xsk1 0]

About 10 years ago I read this local article (North Hills News Record, for those that care) and it was a piece about how city residents are having trouble getting jobs in the suburbs. Every person they interviewed had such HORRID grammar. When I read quotes like "I can't get no job and I ain't got no money." I thought to myself, "Well no kidding -- I wouldn't want to hire you either..."

Regardless of the person's race or ethnic background, if you can't speak coherently, you won't get far in this world. Now, I'm not talking about dangling modifiers or anything like that, I'm talking about "ain't" and "nobody told me nothing" and basic grammar.

[2GOLD 0]

Well, sorta agree. Sure, some folks aren't getting in done and aren't exactly showing reasons why they should be employed or why we should care. But that's a problem with both races, not just one.

 

Some of the lower class families and kids ARE trying their asses off and stuff like this, tossing the ones who are busting their ass in with the ones who believe they are entitled to things just because isn't helping.

 

I agree in parts, but I don't agree claiming it's a whole section. That would be like saying "All White people in the South are racist" which just isn't true. I get where he was going, but insulting all because of the actions of some is really over the top and you come off more as stupid than anything else.

[kkktookmybabyaway 0]

If only they could be like white people, a race in which every single person is living up their full potential and never commit crimes and are alway working to better themselves.

This is as good as it gets for me?

 

Where's my gun?...

[Ripper 0]

Bill actually pissed me off with his "We spoke english" line at Wanda Sykes.

 

Wanda Sykes show wasn't funny...it wasn't even slightly entertaining. Hell it wasn't even...wait...where was I going with this...

 

Oh yeah, it might have been a bad show, but to suggest that they "didn't speak english" is to pigieon toe all black shows in the "ebonics speaking" crap like the Parkers. Especially when it wasn't that case as in Sykes show.

[Guest MikeSC]

Bill actually pissed me off with his "We spoke english" line at Wanda Sykes.

 

Wanda Sykes show wasn't funny...it wasn't even slightly entertaining. Hell it wasn't even...wait...where was I going with this...

 

Oh yeah, it might have been a bad show, but to suggest that they "didn't speak english" is to pigieon toe all black shows in the "ebonics speaking" crap like the Parkers. Especially when it wasn't that case as in Sykes show.

Thing is, it's the case in A LOT of "black shows" (as well written as Chapelle's Show may be, crap grammar abounds) and Cosby, to me, always seemed like a stickler for proper grammar.

 

Do ALL "black shows" use horrendous grammar? No. I never saw Sykes' show (never found her funny in her various Comedy Central shows), but they're not ALL UPN-level shows.

 

But A LOT of them do --- and I guess that just irritates the heck outta the guy.

-=Mike

[Ripper 0]

I wouldn't even say alot really. They are the minority now. I can name the Parkers off the top of my head, and that is gone. The Hugleys was, but now its gone. I guess you could go with Tracy Morgan...but I think thats gone too. And thats about it. Oh, and that show about Dwanyne Martin and his ex and his new girl. Lisa Raye really talks like that so I can't blame the show.

 

From Eve, Girlfriends, Half and Half...basically all the black sitcoms are full of articulate, successful business minded young adults with wacky things happening to them. You could honestly give the same scripts to white actors on most of the shows and it wouldn't miss a beat.

 

Of course the beat sucks. Thats the problem. The shows aren't funny, the acting is bad and they suck.

 

But the shows of "Yo, you wats up homie?????" are long gone.

 

He just strikes me as someone who hasn't watched the shows, but is going off assumptions, because it truely isn't the case anymore.

[Guest Vitamin X]

It does give black people a bad image when you can't speak correctly, and it's partly to blame on the youth for coming up with the slang and lingo and what have you.

 

Just sayin'

[Ripper 0]

It does give black people a bad image when you can't speak correctly, and it's partly to blame on the youth for coming up with the slang and lingo and what have you.

 

Just sayin'

It only gives black people a bad name to really stupid people.

 

normal people don't see one person doing something and say, wow, look at how bad that Black guy is speaking...he represents all of them.

 

Would we like to name a race, in any era when they youth didn't come up with slang words?

 

Ripper - wondering when did saying "like", "man", or "dude" every other word become correct english since 1994.

[Guest Vitamin X]

You are way too defensive about this, albeit for fairly obvious reasons.

 

It's stupid to see one person doing something and make that judgment, yes.

 

But when you see MANY people of their race being written to sound like that, from the days of Fat Albert and Mushmouth to Chapelle's Show, people are going to have a negative impression. And the writers aren't necessarily white either, I don't believe so.

 

And what is it with attempting to insult white people's slang of "like", "man", or "dude" everytime black slang comes into question? I'm not saying it's just you, because when I mock "ghetto" talk around here, I get the same shit yet I'm not indicative of my whole race since I'm Cuban (albeit I look white). I haven't seen a lot of people use the aforementioned "white" slang other than I guess younger Southern Californians, whereas the "black slang" is practically universal among black youth and many adults.

 

Vitamin X- Hey at least like, man, and dude are in the dictionary! Err maybe not dude. But 2 out of 3 ain't bad! Or should I say isn't? Ah fuck this..

[kkktookmybabyaway 0]

OK, what exactly are we talking about now:

 

Shows that present a negative image of specific races?

 

or

 

Poor folk wit' not good grammer who ain't able to get no job?...

[Guest Cerebus]

For what its worth, white trash usually speak with grammar that is almost, if not as, bad as the stuff Cosby is talking about.

[Guest Anglesault]

I can't speak the way Cosby does either, so why's he care?

 

If I could, it would probably sound like "Iiiiiiiiiii.. wouldliketotalkto youuuu...about the things..... that you saaaid.... ATTHEPODIUM."

Cosby speak is HILARIOUS. Honestly, it made that show of his, as he and Phylicia Rashad had to carry it on their backs with their facials and speech patterns, becase, you know, no one else on that show was any good.

[Lord of The Curry 0]

He should've went off a rant claiming that kids today don't know what the jazz is all about.

[Guest MikeSC]

For what its worth, white trash usually speak with grammar that is almost, if not as, bad as the stuff Cosby is talking about.

And white trash's level of impact on the overall culture is virtually nil...

-=Mike

[Guest nikowwf]

"These are not political criminals. These are people going around stealing Coca-Cola. People getting shot in the back of the head over a piece of pound cake and then we run out and we are outraged, saying, 'The cops shouldn't have shot him.' What the hell was he doing with the pound cake in his hand?" .

God, this is so true. Where I grew up was kind of bad, and the cops would come and arrest someone for smashing car windows with a pipe or something like that, and throw the person down to the ground. Then everyone would complain about the cops - THE COPS ARE SO TERRIBLE, THEY ARE SO ROUGH ON US, THEY HATE OUR PEOPLE, etc. No one ever said "Why the heck was that guy smashing car windows with a pipe?" What always struck me as even MORE ironic would be when one person would beat another senseless, and people would complain about the person getting mistreated as he was arrested. For apparently it is ok for one of us to beat another one to death (I'm puerto rican btw) but its not ok for the cops to handcuff us too tightly.

 

BTW, i know there are problems with police bias (rather bias by police), I've been handcuffed against a police car twice in my life for being spanish and there at the time, but the reaction to the police for "doing their job" in a neighborhood that seriously needed them there seemed counterproductive to me.

 

niko

[Ripper 0]

*edit* this would have come right after Vit-X's post but I went to lunch and didn't hit send first.

 

That why I get upset about it. That part about black slang being a univeral thing.

 

Its bullshit. Black people in the Mid-West don't talk like people in the South. Black people from New York don't talk like black people California. It is a regional thing. But the black people that are 30+ don't talk like the ones that are mid twenties down. JUST like EVERY OTHER GODDAMN RACE IN THE WORLD.

 

I get tired of people attributing things to blacks like we are some other worldly creatures and don't do the same thing every other race does. a 18 year old white kid from New York talks in a completely different way than a 40 year old white guy from Baton Rouge.

 

Once again it all goes back to stupid people thinking Blacks= one whole Whites = individuals. White guy moves into a neighborhood and parties late with music blasting, "that new guy is a asshole" black guy does it "thats how black people are". White guy uses dumb slang "I don't know what he is saying...what a dumbass" Black guy : Oh he is talking "black".

 

And seeing as I am in Atlanta, I am thinking the slang that I am hearing from other races isn't because they are from Southern Cali. I am not attacking any slang, I am saying slang is slang, no one is more "right" than the other.

[nl5xsk1 0]

Comedian: Yo, check this out: black guys drive a car like this.

[Leans back, as though his elbow were on the windowsill]

Do, do, ch. Do-be-do, do-be-do-be-do.

 

Yeah, but white guys, see, they drive a car like this.

[Hunches forward, talks nasally]

Dee-da-dee, a-dee-da-dee-da-dee-da-dee.

 

[Audience howls with laughter]

 

Homer: Ah ha ha, it's true, it's true! We're so lame!

-- Homer's humility, "Homer and Apu"

[Guest SideFXs]

Cosby is preaching self reliance. What he said needed to be said. Only he could have said it too. Imagine if Rush Limbaugh spoke the same.

 

Cosby wants poor blacks to quit blaming others, for the reason they can’t get a job. Cosby has a Doctorate of Education. He knows education is THE MOST VALUABLE TOOL A PERSON CAN HAVE. He preached it in, ’The Cosby Show,” almost every episode. BTW it was my most favorite show of all time, as was “All in the Family.” Don’t laugh too hard liberals. LOL

 

Although it sounds like Cosby is hurting the ‘advancement of colored people,’ because his speech was not politically correct. He really wants to advance blacks, in this country. He has always done this! He is saying, “ Stop depending on the government to get a job. Stop committing crimes, even petty ones, for they get you a record or killed, and are guaranteed way NOT to get a job. AND GET EDUCATED. Buy hooked on phonics, for yourself or your child, if that’s what it takes, instead of the 500 dollar sneakers!” God knows the resources are there, for blacks, in this country.

 

Listen, have you heard a black person, born in England, speak? They have command of the language. They have an elegant command of vocabulary, too.

[Ripper 0]

Cause lord knows Colin Powell can't go 5 minutes without saying "dawg".

 

 

Ripper - Realizing that there are just as many blacks with a grasp of English as there are whites.

[Guest Anglesault]

Buy hooked on phonics, for yourself or your child,

You know they changed the phone number?

 

. a 18 year old white kid from New York talks in a completely different way than a 40 year old white guy from Baton Rouge.

 

I can vouch for that. When I lived down there, I stuck out like a sore thumb.

[OldSchoolWrestling 0]

Eddie Murphy (as Richard Pryor): Well then tell Bill I said have a Coke and a smile and shut the fuck up!

[Guest SideFXs]

Ripper - Realizing that there are just as many blacks with a grasp of English as there are whites.

 

Of course that is true, but that is not the topic. This is:

 

“Comedian Bill Cosby embarrassed the National Association For Advancement Of Colored People (NAACP) at a gala on Monday - by attacking lower class African-Americans. The legendary star was speaking in Washington DC to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Brown vs. Board of Education ruling.”

 

The discussion for this thread refers to lower class African-Americans.