Comedian Bill Cosby’s Courageous Crusade
Not Politically Correct – But Right On

By Sara Pentz

Most people know actor Bill Cosby as a comedian. His humor has captivated TV and film audiences. He has written books and is known for his humorous Jell-O television commercials. He has even recorded jazz albums and dubbed cartoon voices.

The man has simply resonated throughout the culture for the past 50 years because of his talent. And while he is very funny, he seems always to be deeply concerned with projecting positive images of African Americans. It is a noble cause.

For the most part Cosby’s comedy centers on giving insight into parenting. Life Magazine once described his famous sitcom “The Bill Cosby Show” in the following way: “What Cosby offered…was a gentle, whimsical, warm-hearted sitcom about family life that found humor in the little things that happen in every home and everlasting value in the love and trust that exist between parents and children.”

Most people don’t know that Cosby had to repeat the tenth grade because his study habits gave way to his love of athletics. He dropped out shortly thereafter and joined the Navy. He finished high school via a correspondence course while still in the service. When he was discharged, he enrolled at Temple University as the result of an athletic scholarship, where he earned academic honors. In addition, Cosby completed his Masters Degree and his Doctorate in Education.

Imagine the pride of this man whose son, Ennis William Cosby, overcame learning disabilities to earn a master's degree in special education at Columbia University's Teachers College. He was studying for his doctorate when in l997 he was shot to death. He was changing a tire on his car in the remote area of the San Diego Freeway—about 15 miles from downtown Los Angeles—when he was murdered. He was Bill Cosby’s only son. “He was my hero,” the comedian said.

Ennis Cosby had spent his last day tutoring a young boy who had learning disabilities. Tragic as the death was, Cosby returned immediately to work and to carry on his passion for education, self-improvement and teaching young black men how to be independent and productive members of society.

In a way it should not have come as a shock when in the late spring of 2004, Cosby took aim at blacks who don't take responsibility for their economic status, blame police for incarcerations and teach their kids poor speaking habits. What was shocking was how and where this comedian chose to make his very serious comments—at a NAACP event in Washington D.C. commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Brown vs. Board of Education decision which paved the way for integrating schools.

"Ladies and gentlemen, 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 won't spend $200 for 'Hooked on Phonics.'

"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 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!"

"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?"

Criticizing African-Americans for wearing saggy pants, speaking improper English and giving children names like "…Shaniqua, Shaligua, Mohammed and all that crap," Cosby said,

"I am talking about these people who cry when their son is standing there in an orange [prison] 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?

NAACP President Kweisi Mfume, Howard University President H. Patrick Swygert, NAACP legal defense fund head Theodore Shaw and other national African-American leaders sat stone-faced throughout Cosby’s remarks. The audience rang out with laughter and applause.

Perhaps Mr. Cosby had read a book called "Scam: How the Black Leadership Exploits Black America," by Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson. In it Peterson reports that “…increasing numbers of Americans have come to regard Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton and other establishment "black leaders" as con artists, gaining money and power by promoting racial tension and class warfare.” It is a bold book written by a successful entrepreneur, motivational speaker, author, and founder/president of a nonprofit organization, the Los Angeles-based Brotherhood Organization of a New Destiny or B.O.N.D.–whose purpose is "rebuilding the family by rebuilding the man."

In the book Peterson shows “…how the civil-rights establishment has made a lucrative career out of keeping racial strife alive in America.” He reveals how “…establishment black leaders endlessly promise solutions to the problems of America's inner cities, but deliver only ineffective Band-Aids…from the dismal failure of the welfare system, to the farce of the slavery-reparations movement, to the problems within black churches and the hypocrisy and corruption of current black leaders…”

Whether or not Cosby read the book, he continued his crusade throughout 2004 telling parents they must work to educate their children before they wind up teenage moms, jail inmates, drug dealers—or dead. Cosby stressed that it is the parents—not just the schools themselves—who need to step up. "Parents are 99 percent," he told the San Francisco Chronicle. "School districts don't parent. They teach… It's time for people to just stop seeing themselves so much as victims, so much in poverty, and realize what education does and fight for it like you're fighting for your life..."

Bill Cosby is himself fighting for his own life metaphorically by taking on this courageous crusade. The roots of it seem to be deeply embedded in his soul going back to his childhood. Remarkably, he appears not to care one whit what his black compatriots say about him. It is utterly refreshing to hear this black man speak out without concern for being politically correct.

Bill Cosby, MA, PhD, may always be remembered for his humor, but that alone is not the mark of the man. He is insightful and heroic—and every American should be indebted to him for his new crusade to raise black children up to be educated, to be free and to take responsibility for their actions. And maybe some of that will rub off on all the other children in the world who believe they are owed something by someone else.