Bill Cosby and Michael Eric Dyson; The Saga Continues
Bill Cosby Was Right!
Dr. Michael Eric Dyson, one of the ‘preeminent black thinkers’ (visa vis just a thinker), has written a book taking Bill Cosby to task for comments he made about the problems of black folk. Titled, "Was Bill Cosby Right," he is making the rounds, hawking this book. I hope he is just selling books, because if what he says is what he believes, "Houston, we have a problem."
Let me refresh the memories of the old, or educate the young and the oblivious. Bill Cosby, for the last year, has at times pointed out that black folk need to take some personal responsibility for themselves and their children. Granted, the 'Coz' is getting up there in age, and we know how cranky old folks can be, so he has been outspoken in a crotchety manner. But all in all, he has spoken the truth. And I am a Hip Hopper. Dr. Dyson on the otherhand, is a differnt story.
Dr. Dyson feels that, while all of what Dr. Cosby (hey, they’re both Dr.’s. How hard could it be to get a doctorate, anyway?) said was not wrong per say, he is far too harsh on poor black people.
Dr. Dyson, while being interviewed on the Tavis Smiley Show characterized Dr. Cosby’s comments as “elitist and classist.” He said that Cosby, “assaulted black language...mischaracterized people who are poor [and] he talked about them in naming their kids Sheniqua and Muhammad and ‘that crap.’”
Dr. Dyson feels that it is unfair that Cosby’s comments point out the failing of poor black people without paying attention to “the precipitating events that lead to destructive behavior.”
Bullshit.
Memo to Dr. Dyson... Your parents named you Michael. Not, Mikieaelle. They gave you a name that, when sitting on the top of your resume, would atleast get you a call back. They probably gave you a name similar to that of your dad and his dad before him. Don't know that many folks whose great grand-dad is named Typhisis, but I may be wrong. We live in a country of Peter, Paul and Mary's. I like those names. I can pronounce them. Oh, yeah, I'm a sell-out and my opinion doesn't matter. Anyhow...
In an interview that appeared in the March 27, 2005 NY Times (QUESTIONS FOR MICHAEL ERIC DYSON; Bill Cosby's Not Funny by DEBORAH SOLOMON), Dr. Dyson was asked why Dr. Cosby’s remarks were so well received by the black middle class. He answered, “Of course, taken in one sense, a lot of what he said we can agree with. None of us want our children to be murderers or thieves. But Cosby never acknowledges that most poor blacks don't have a choice about these things.”
Okay. There it is. From the mouth of a brother. We are poor, so as a result we murder and thieve. We have no choice.
In light of his response, Dr. Dyson was then asked if he felt individual will had any say in a person’s success or failure. To which he replied, “I don't believe in that kind of American John Wayne individualism where people pull themselves up by their bootstraps. Someone changed your diapers. And if that's the case, you ain't self-made... [M]y ambition didn't grow out of nowhere. It was planted in me by a community that nurtured me.”
Let’s analyze that for a moment, shall we. Bill Cosby said, “Mothers, stop naming your kid ‘insert.made.up.shit.here’, and buying them baby Jordan’s and saying ‘ain’t got no’ so that your kids will have a chance at success.” Dr. Dyson replies, “But they ain’t got no chance of success anyway ‘cause they live in the ghetto, and ‘Whitey’ is holding them down. So they have no choice but to murder and thieve and you should understand that.”
I said it before, and I’ll say it again. Bullshit.
Dr. Dyson really doesn’t want to hear about the true “precipitating events.” To Dr. Dyson, the precipitating events all lead to “The Man.” Dr. Dyson is displaying the same “Sixties” mentality that has black folk in this conundrum in the first place.
You know, the Sixties were an exciting time to be alive. I don’t know from experience mind you, but from the footage I’ve seen on PBS, all I can say is, WOW! I mean, you had protests, The Weather Men, The Black Panthers, and Dr. King marching all around. The Sixties were one big party with purpose. A social revolution. Alright! Right on, Blood! Oh, I think that came from the Seventies, but still.
The Sixties taught us that we are all the same. Black people are beautiful. White people are beautiful. Brown, yellow and red people are all beautiful, smart and capable people. The jury’s still out on all the blue people, but I digress. (Yes, I am an anti-smurfite. I admit it.)
And today, decades later, here we are. Women have equal rights. Black folk can sit at the front of the bus. Eighteen year olds can vote. We’ve come a long way baby. I am happy for the social change that the Sixties wrought. Except...
While the Sixties were a time for black revolution against external oppression, there was also a struggle within the black community, against what some perceived as “internal oppression.”
Prior to the Sixties, and contrary to what you’ve seen on TV, there was a small, albeit thriving, black middle and upper-class. It was comprised of a group of professionals, laborers and business owners who earned good livings, lived in nice homes, drove new cars, sent their children to boarding school and to colleges across the country.
For about 100 years, between 1870 and 1970, this group of well to do blacks strove for equality in the only way that mattered, economic equality. They understood that if society would not acknowledge their worth, then that was society’s loss. Not theirs. They succeeded despite the obvious challenges that were shared by all of their people. Dubois called them the “Talented Tenth.”
It was something to strive for. Mothers cleaned homes and did laundry and all sorts of things to send their children to college, any college, to better themselves. Some went to work as Pullman Porters, others in the Ford factory, but ideally their children wouldn’t have to ‘wait no tables’, nor ‘tote no barge.’ Dunbar High School, in Washington DC boasted the highest test scores in the country. It was all black.
That all changed in the Sixties. In the Sixties, equality became the buzz-word. Socialism became something to flirt with. Economics was a tool of oppression, brother. ‘The Man’ just wants to keep you down.
The ideal of a “Talented Tenth” was replaced with an armed revolutionary, trying to shake off the shackles of oppression. And it worked. We could sit at the lunch counter and have a sandwich. Yippee!
Then brothers looked around and said, “Who got a dollar? I’m hungry.”
Tomorrow, the rest of the story...
Dr. Michael Eric Dyson, one of the ‘preeminent black thinkers’ (visa vis just a thinker), has written a book taking Bill Cosby to task for comments he made about the problems of black folk. Titled, "Was Bill Cosby Right," he is making the rounds, hawking this book. I hope he is just selling books, because if what he says is what he believes, "Houston, we have a problem."
Let me refresh the memories of the old, or educate the young and the oblivious. Bill Cosby, for the last year, has at times pointed out that black folk need to take some personal responsibility for themselves and their children. Granted, the 'Coz' is getting up there in age, and we know how cranky old folks can be, so he has been outspoken in a crotchety manner. But all in all, he has spoken the truth. And I am a Hip Hopper. Dr. Dyson on the otherhand, is a differnt story.
Dr. Dyson feels that, while all of what Dr. Cosby (hey, they’re both Dr.’s. How hard could it be to get a doctorate, anyway?) said was not wrong per say, he is far too harsh on poor black people.
Dr. Dyson, while being interviewed on the Tavis Smiley Show characterized Dr. Cosby’s comments as “elitist and classist.” He said that Cosby, “assaulted black language...mischaracterized people who are poor [and] he talked about them in naming their kids Sheniqua and Muhammad and ‘that crap.’”
Dr. Dyson feels that it is unfair that Cosby’s comments point out the failing of poor black people without paying attention to “the precipitating events that lead to destructive behavior.”
Bullshit.
Memo to Dr. Dyson... Your parents named you Michael. Not, Mikieaelle. They gave you a name that, when sitting on the top of your resume, would atleast get you a call back. They probably gave you a name similar to that of your dad and his dad before him. Don't know that many folks whose great grand-dad is named Typhisis, but I may be wrong. We live in a country of Peter, Paul and Mary's. I like those names. I can pronounce them. Oh, yeah, I'm a sell-out and my opinion doesn't matter. Anyhow...
In an interview that appeared in the March 27, 2005 NY Times (QUESTIONS FOR MICHAEL ERIC DYSON; Bill Cosby's Not Funny by DEBORAH SOLOMON), Dr. Dyson was asked why Dr. Cosby’s remarks were so well received by the black middle class. He answered, “Of course, taken in one sense, a lot of what he said we can agree with. None of us want our children to be murderers or thieves. But Cosby never acknowledges that most poor blacks don't have a choice about these things.”
Okay. There it is. From the mouth of a brother. We are poor, so as a result we murder and thieve. We have no choice.
In light of his response, Dr. Dyson was then asked if he felt individual will had any say in a person’s success or failure. To which he replied, “I don't believe in that kind of American John Wayne individualism where people pull themselves up by their bootstraps. Someone changed your diapers. And if that's the case, you ain't self-made... [M]y ambition didn't grow out of nowhere. It was planted in me by a community that nurtured me.”
Let’s analyze that for a moment, shall we. Bill Cosby said, “Mothers, stop naming your kid ‘insert.made.up.shit.here’, and buying them baby Jordan’s and saying ‘ain’t got no’ so that your kids will have a chance at success.” Dr. Dyson replies, “But they ain’t got no chance of success anyway ‘cause they live in the ghetto, and ‘Whitey’ is holding them down. So they have no choice but to murder and thieve and you should understand that.”
I said it before, and I’ll say it again. Bullshit.
Dr. Dyson really doesn’t want to hear about the true “precipitating events.” To Dr. Dyson, the precipitating events all lead to “The Man.” Dr. Dyson is displaying the same “Sixties” mentality that has black folk in this conundrum in the first place.
You know, the Sixties were an exciting time to be alive. I don’t know from experience mind you, but from the footage I’ve seen on PBS, all I can say is, WOW! I mean, you had protests, The Weather Men, The Black Panthers, and Dr. King marching all around. The Sixties were one big party with purpose. A social revolution. Alright! Right on, Blood! Oh, I think that came from the Seventies, but still.
The Sixties taught us that we are all the same. Black people are beautiful. White people are beautiful. Brown, yellow and red people are all beautiful, smart and capable people. The jury’s still out on all the blue people, but I digress. (Yes, I am an anti-smurfite. I admit it.)
And today, decades later, here we are. Women have equal rights. Black folk can sit at the front of the bus. Eighteen year olds can vote. We’ve come a long way baby. I am happy for the social change that the Sixties wrought. Except...
While the Sixties were a time for black revolution against external oppression, there was also a struggle within the black community, against what some perceived as “internal oppression.”
Prior to the Sixties, and contrary to what you’ve seen on TV, there was a small, albeit thriving, black middle and upper-class. It was comprised of a group of professionals, laborers and business owners who earned good livings, lived in nice homes, drove new cars, sent their children to boarding school and to colleges across the country.
For about 100 years, between 1870 and 1970, this group of well to do blacks strove for equality in the only way that mattered, economic equality. They understood that if society would not acknowledge their worth, then that was society’s loss. Not theirs. They succeeded despite the obvious challenges that were shared by all of their people. Dubois called them the “Talented Tenth.”
It was something to strive for. Mothers cleaned homes and did laundry and all sorts of things to send their children to college, any college, to better themselves. Some went to work as Pullman Porters, others in the Ford factory, but ideally their children wouldn’t have to ‘wait no tables’, nor ‘tote no barge.’ Dunbar High School, in Washington DC boasted the highest test scores in the country. It was all black.
That all changed in the Sixties. In the Sixties, equality became the buzz-word. Socialism became something to flirt with. Economics was a tool of oppression, brother. ‘The Man’ just wants to keep you down.
The ideal of a “Talented Tenth” was replaced with an armed revolutionary, trying to shake off the shackles of oppression. And it worked. We could sit at the lunch counter and have a sandwich. Yippee!
Then brothers looked around and said, “Who got a dollar? I’m hungry.”
Tomorrow, the rest of the story...
posted by Sonnyredd at 11:47 AM
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