James Campbell on Bill Cosby
My friend James Campbell has an insightful column in today’s Houston Chronicle. Comedian, actor, producer, investor, and social critic Bill Cosby is Campbell’s subject– and timely since Cosby will be making an appearance in Houston this evening (Monday May 9). Cosby was in Austin over the weekend, but the Bays weren’t. Otherwise my wife and I would have seen Cosby. My wife is a huge fan of his, and has been since his “Why is there air?” album. (The raison d’etre for air: to blow up volley balls. Just ask the phys ed majors.) “I Spy” with Cosby and Bob Culp now gets treated as a groundbreaking tv show because Cosby and Culp were co-stars. I remember “I Spy” was a fine tv thriller– two CIA agents under cover.
But back to James Campbell’s essay– it strikes me as fair and tough. Here’s the link.
Here’s the Campbell lede:
Bill Cosby wants to have a conversation with Houston. Not to make us laugh, but to force us to think. He wants us to consider the unconscionable “self-inflicted” pathos that thrives in lower economic communities ? low academic achievement, poor health habits, high crime, elderly living in fear, parents who refuse to parent ? you know the story.
Cosby describes his pending performance at Texas Southern University as a “call out.”
Campbell says Cosby is operating in the revivalist tradition, and James is dead right:
Since last year, Cosby has been traveling around the country on his own dime with the fire of a revival preacher holding what he terms “call-outs” that are free and open to the public. He mostly wants to talk to parents, particularly low-income and single parents, to show them examples of people like them who are overcoming their condition. He also wants to point out community-based organizations that are in the trenches trying to make a difference.
I won’t post the entire essay, though as I re-read I have that urge. Campbell interviewed Cosby and here’s what Cosby says he’s up to:
The strength of the call out is not Bill Cosby’s speech,” he told me last week. “The strength of the call-out is listening to the people who live in Houston talking about where they live, what they were, what made them change and how they went about changing. If all you hear is Bill Cosby then you don’t get answers to some of the questions. I am not the answer man.”
But here’s the rub:
In becoming the catalyst for a discussion about the underclass that was long overdue, Cosby also has become a whipping post. To hear some, Cosby is a man gone wild, wildly delusional, particularly after his comments last year during a tribute to the U.S. Supreme Court’s Brown v. Board of Education decision.
Cosby says he’s fed up with the “yeah, but” response to individual and social problems.
Campbell does a tight job of portraying generic liberal and conservative reactions to Cosby’s call-out campaign:
Suffice to say, most did not know what to make of Cosby’s headlong drive into a social debate that long had been driven by what Cosby calls “poverty pimps.”
While some blacks welcomed Cosby’s message, others, white liberals included, thought it fanciful and simplistic.
Conversely, conservatives co-opted Cosby’s message and used it to further incriminate those in the underclass for not pulling themselves up by the strings on their $500 Nike sneakers. They’ve all missed the point, according to Cosby.
“These people are the first ones to start screaming because they knew when they heard what I was saying that there was a chance they would lose their gig,” Cosby said. “People in the neighborhood have to teach people where they’re self-inflicting, and you do this through word of mouth and through example.
James promises a follow-up column next week and I’ll look for it. The subject of that column will be what it takes “to sustain positive change in poor neighborhoods.” Security, opportunity, the just rule of law, and hope come to mind. But that sounds like me, writing about Iraq, Uganda, Guatemala, or Indonesia. Compared to that troubled list of hard corners –frankly, compared to any place else on the planet, including Sweden and Canada– Houston has those requisite characteristics in trumps. Bill Cosby is trying to address the dimension of individual initiative and responsibility, which is always necessary but always tricky. Invoking “responsibility” inevitably ticks someone off because it entails finger-wagging. The most effective finger-waggers are funny and can laugh at themselves– and that’s why Cosby is so dangerous to the jerks who’ll “lose their gig” when citizens respond to his call for renewal and revival.
UPDATE: Great discussion in the comments. Pingback does seem to be working– I just tried it. I know the server genies are working on the server today (this evening?) so perhaps that’s an issue.
I would love to see Bill Cosby join up with Walter Williams and Thomas Sowell.
Comment by _Jon — 5/9/2005 @ 11:37 am
Jon, That’s highly unlikely, as their politics are somewhat different. But I think that having Cosby out trying to point out to people that you can affect your own destiny has to be a good thing regardless of where he stands on the political curve.
Comment by Andrew — 5/9/2005 @ 12:44 pm
A man who has overcome much, lost a son and speaks the truth should be heeded. I hope more folks will hear and read his full message rather than the sanitized, spun version.
Comment by Jonathan — 5/9/2005 @ 12:48 pm
Cos is not above criticism. For example, he fathered a child out of wedlock, one of the biggest problems in the black community. But the solutions pushed by the ‘povery pimps’ have not worked. Address the argument, not the man, and give it a shot, I say.
Comment by Half Canadian — 5/9/2005 @ 1:55 pm
Good for, Bill Cosby. However, his critics, pimps like Al sharpton and Jesse Jackson (and of course elite white liberals) Will use his personal shortcomings to undermine his important message. I wonder if the women who have accused him of inappropriate touching are doing so at the behest of the pimps and white liberals who have much to lose, in money, power and influence, if minorities improve their socioeconomic condition through discipline and hard work. Sharpton and Jackson won’t be able to extort money from corporate America to line their pockets and the pockets of their mistresses and families and white liberals won’t be able to play the race card to ensure that they continue to get 90% of the black vote. Good luck to Bill Cosby and God bless him.
Comment by Big Daddy T — 5/9/2005 @ 2:39 pm
Cosby long ago transcended the bounds of mere entertainment. He’s a national treasure, and I am glad I thought so long before he began his “call-outs.” I know too many of my fellow conservatives who didn’t care a bit about what Cosby has contributed to American culture until he began speaking out recently.
Comment by Lowell Brown — 5/9/2005 @ 2:48 pm
I know too many of my fellow conservatives who didn’t care a bit about what Cosby has contributed to American culture until he began speaking out recently. I am not sure what this means. I was a fan as an adolescent, have seen him live several times, and still have great affection for him. I applauded his achievement of a PhD in education, and grieved for the loss of his son. I thank God that Bill is making such a noble effort to restore values he sees as important. Why the dig at conservatives?
Comment by gogipper — 5/9/2005 @ 4:01 pm
Cos is too old and ornery to tie up with the economists, but that’s okay. He has plenty to say on his own and doesn’t need to coordinate with anyone. Now would also be a good time to teach some elementary logic to the folks, i.e. the fallacy of the ad hominem argument.
Comment by cassandra — 5/9/2005 @ 4:12 pm
Good on Cos. Standing room only crowds of his target audience, poor blacks, is some kind of validation, I’d say. But I’m afraid I have to Fisk this column. I betch big that his album was not titled, “Why is Their Air?” Whose air? Try “Why is There Air?”. Please. ED: Thanks for the catch–writing fast does that. Yes, I grade my students down when they do it in a paper. Correcting a typo or grammatical error doesn’t quite count as a “fisk.” For a fisk, (or Fisk, capitalized, as Glenn Reynolds seems to prefer) read Marc Danziger (the Armed Liberal) as he peels Niall Ferguson. That’s a fisk/Fisk.
Comment by Brian H — 5/9/2005 @ 4:25 pm
Austin: Your Trackback URI doesn’t work. Gogipper: I’m a conservative, no dig was intended. I think we all need to be careful about being vocal Cosby fans only when he makes statements that are politically pleasing to us, that’s all.
Comment by Lowell Brown — 5/9/2005 @ 4:34 pm
The “being careful about being vocal fans when he makes pleasing statements” is true, but hey, why not support the efforts if not the man? And I also support the man, by the way, even though I don’t always agree with him - but then, I don’t always agree with my wife either.
Comment by John — 5/9/2005 @ 5:00 pm
The pathologies of the (seemingly) permanent underclass are not restricted to any paticular racial group. There are segments of the white, native American and hispanic community who have also adopted the anti-intellectual and “victim” rhetoric of the black underclass, and they exhibit all of the same problems. Cosby is making this critique public, but it didn’t originate with him, and his personal problems don’t diminish the significance of the points he is making nor the necessity of dealing with these issues in a rational and realistic way. In a nation of immigrants, some of whom have survived utterly devastating conditions, including slavery and genocide, but been successful once they got here, it is imperative that the common traits of achievers be communicated to those who have adopted a defeatist approach to life. Offering ideas for self-help to those most critically in need of a boost is no different, and certainly every bit as laudable, than offering time management tips to busy professionals, or money management stategies to middle class families.
Comment by veryretired — 5/9/2005 @ 5:31 pm
gogipper: “I applauded his achievement of a PhD in education” Ummmm, I believe it was an “honorary” degree (i.e. he did no course work, the University just gave it to him for showing up). I generally like Cos, but have always felt his use of the Dr. was a bit disengenuous. That said, he has always been about projecting positive values in the face of adverse situations. As silly as it sometimes was, the old Fat Albert cartoon showed a “gang” of young, poor black kids who solved problems with their minds and helped take care of each other and their community.
Comment by submandave — 5/9/2005 @ 5:35 pm
Since Mr. Cosby has been critical of assumptions made on the left he has become a target. It is unlikely to be coincidental that liberal women are attempting to undermine his credability by fabricating charges of groping. It is a tactic they have used before (Anita Hill Vs. Clarence Thomas). I hope they fail. I hope people see how politically motivated their timing of these “revelations” are. I for one am not fooled by these. The trouble is, the more accusations that are thrown at him, the more the impression of guilt becomes. Remember it is only a political strategy to shut him up.
Comment by MontanaMan0 — 5/9/2005 @ 5:37 pm
Mr. Cosby appears to be raising some hackles amongst more traditional theorists about the nature and causes of poverty. For example: I noticed this at a local bookstore last weekend: Is Bill Cosby Right?: Or Has the Black Middle Class Lost its Mind? by Michael Eric Dyson The Amazon blurb reads: The acclaimed “hip-hop intellectual” exposes the raw nerve of class and generational warfare in black America with this provocative defense of impoverished African Americans Nothing exposed the class and generational divide in black America more starkly than Bill Cosby’s now-infamous assault on the black poor when he received an NAACP award in the spring of 2004. The comedian-cum-social critic lamented the lack of parenting, poor academic performance, sexual promiscuity, and criminal behavior among what he called the “knuckleheads” of the African-American community. Even more surprising than his comments, however, was the fact that his audience laughed and applauded. Best-selling writer, preacher, and scholar Michael Eric Dyson uses the Cosby brouhaha as a window on a growing cultural divide within the African-American community. According to Dyson, the “Afristocracy” -lawyers, physicians, intellectuals, bankers, civil rights leaders, entertainers, and other professionals-looks with disdain upon the black poor who make up the “Ghettocracy” -single mothers on welfare, the married, single, and working poor, the incarcerated, and a battalion of impoverished children. Dyson explains why the black middle class has joined mainstream America to blame the poor for their troubles, rather than tackling the systemic injustices that shape their lives. He exposes the flawed logic of Cosby’s diatribe and offers a principled defense of the wrongly maligned black citizens at the bottom of the social totem pole. Displaying the critical prowess that has made him the nation’s preeminent spokesman for the hip-hop generation, Dyson challenges us all-black and white-to confront the social problems that the civil rights movement failed to solve. I don’t want to get too critical of a book I’ve never read, but the phrase ‘hip-hop intellectual’ suggests that I should save my money.
Comment by Patrick Phillips — 5/9/2005 @ 6:35 pm
Patrick, If anyone ever tried to characterize a philosophy which asserts that my mind and will are insufficient for success as “defending” me, as the Amazon blurb does for Mr. Dyson, I’d kick ‘em in the nads.
Comment by Tim Higgins — 5/9/2005 @ 6:48 pm
Subman: Cosby earned his PHD. It is not honorary. “During Cosby’s career as an entertainer, he was also able to continue with his education. He earned his B.A. from Temple University, and an M.A. (1972) and PhD (1977) in education from the University of Massachusetts”.http://afroamhistory.about.com/library/blbio_cosby_bill.htm, and countless other references found when googling “Bill Cosby” & PHD. Check it out yourself.
Comment by Jim Rhoads — 5/9/2005 @ 7:33 pm
On the other hand, I still think Cosby owes me the five bucks I paid to see “Leonard, Part 6.”
Comment by Alex Bensky — 5/9/2005 @ 8:34 pm
I wrote a piece a bit ago about Cosby and education culture.
Comment by M. Simon — 5/9/2005 @ 8:50 pm
Why NCLB can’t work Why NCLB can’t work: http://powerandcontrol.blogspot.com/2005/04/why-nclb-cant-work.html
Comment by M. Simon — 5/9/2005 @ 8:52 pm
I find some of the reactions to this new facet of Cosby to be fascinating — there are certain people who are very critical of him based on unsubstantiated charges of groping by a couple of women — these are the same people who dismissed the Clinton & Monica entanglement as being merely the lies of a vast right-wing conspiracy. Hmmmm. (Go Cos!)
Comment by Jim — 5/9/2005 @ 8:53 pm
BTW the in the url I posted there is research about the fact that the problem is cultural. Specifically child rearing practices from age 0 to age 4. Here it is again: http://powerandcontrol.blogspot.com/2005/04/why-nclb-cant-work.html *
Comment by M. Simon — 5/9/2005 @ 9:03 pm
BTW any serious prohibition is going to attract and make a niche for the most unsocial and violent individuals. Prohibitiion + drugs are doing us more harm than drugs alone. Just like alcohol prohibition. We have enlarged the environmental niche for the most thuggish among us. Such smart policy.
Comment by M. Simon — 5/9/2005 @ 9:13 pm
Bill Cosby has an Ed.D. earned the way all such degrees are earned.
Comment by Lowell Brown — 5/9/2005 @ 10:15 pm
I agree with the Montana man: I think the ‘assault’ charges were cooked up by the left to shut Cos up. But it’s not working, fortunately. I think the Doc’s latest campaign will be his epitaph. Five generations from know they won’t even know that the dead Cosby guy made his living as a comedian: he’ll be famous as the man who finally told the truth about America’s inner cities — and ended the excuse-making. I’m not much of a believer, but I think it is quite saintly of old Bill to gamble his reputation in this way. Keep at ‘er, Mr. Cosby.
Comment by owl — 5/9/2005 @ 11:13 pm
Bill Cosby should be commended for taking the initiative on this vitally important issue. I have not been following the reaction of liberal America to Cosby, but I have to imagine that it isn’t pretty. He deserves our support for advocating individual initiative, versus defenselessness, at a time when such statements earn you nothing but grief from the delusional left. We don’t live in the 40’s 50’s 60’s and 70’s anymore. America is not, and should not be, a nanny state- we all must persevere and succeed from the community on up. Best of luck to Mr. Cosby in his endeavor.
Comment by A.P. — 5/10/2005 @ 1:04 am
It’s genetic wiring. He’s a grandpa. He is doing the grandpa gig. Very well.
Comment by huggy — 5/10/2005 @ 8:06 am
I hold that the validity of Cosby’s comments is in direct proportion to the degree of opposition the poverty pimps at the NAACP have been giving him. The current leadersip of the NAACP sees Cosby as a threat to the ongoing leftward tilt of that org. The attacks on him… (suddenly, how many years after the supposed events, these women come out of the woodwork) seem proof enough of this.
Comment by Bithead — 5/10/2005 @ 11:25 am
Bill Cosby puts his money where his mouth is. He has a long tradition of donating large sums of money to education, urban renewal, etc. He’s trying to providing funding for opportunities and asking for effort from the people he’s trying to help.
Comment by james — 5/10/2005 @ 1:35 pm
If you believe the poverty pimps, people of color in this country are children who cannot be held responsible for their own condition. Just don’t dare call a black man “boy”.
Comment by Katie Krew — 5/11/2005 @ 1:51 pm
thanks! this really helped me with the college callenge! this question was number four
Comment by bob — 6/15/2006 @ 2:53 pm
I don’t get it. Why is everybody applauding Bill Cosby for this tour. He can’t tell me anything about raising, nor educating my african- american children. Just ask his confused, illegitimate daughter, and other his other kids who were strung out on drugs. Thats like an atheist writing a book in the Bible. Has he ever taught in a classroom? Earning a doctorate in education (actual work, or honorary)doesn’t qualify one as an expert. You have to work in the trenches to have an informed opinion. Stick to acting Bill.
Comment by Tracey — 6/15/2006 @ 5:10 pm