Well, what's everyone to do now? In 2004, Cosby set off a national debate in a speech to the NAACP where he criticized poor blacks in sometimes harsh language:
…You young men and old men, you've got to stop beating up your women because you can't find a job, because you didn't want to get an education.
…When you put on a record and that record is yelling - (bleep) this- and (bleep) that, and you've got your six- or seven- year-old sitting in the backseat of the car, those children hear that.
…It is almost analgesic to talk about what the white man is doing against us. And it keeps a person frozen in their seat.
It was a message that dealt with large concepts: responsibility, accountability, blame games and excuse making.
It was the same sort of message Barack Obama delivered last week when he was busy indoctrinating kids on the values of socialism, or earlier this summer when he spoke to the NAACP about his plot to overthrow the White Christian Male Power Structure.
Reaction to Cosby in 2004 was predictable. He became a darling of the right, while some on the left and in the black community took umbrage.
Reaction today will be interesting. On his Facebook page, the comedian had this to say about former President Carter's allegation that racism is behind much of the animosity towards Obama, and about Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C.:
I agree with President Carter that racism is playing a role in recent outbursts against President Obama. During President Obama's speech on the status of health care reform, some members of congress engaged in a public display of disrespect. While one Representative hurled the now infamous "you lie" insult at the President, others made their lack of interest known by exhibiting rude behavior such as deliberately yawning and sending text messages ....Various polls prior to the election indicated that between five and ten percent of Americans would never vote for an African American president. That number, of course, only includes those who actually admitted to their prejudice. How many others harbored such feelings but did not respond honestly when asked the question? And how many people oppose Obama's plan because the President is African American?In "Birth of a Nation," D.W. Griffith used white actors in black face to portray black legislators as having low intelligence and acting like fools. Today, we have a band of real life congressional fools seemingly bent on blocking any meaningful reform of the health care system. But if we allow even one American to die simply because he or she cannot afford treatment, we are creating a shameful scenario that could aptly be called "Death of a Nation."
Since the conservative movement made Bill Cosby a go-to-guy for determining whether the racism is at play or not, and whether the black community doesn't take responsibility for its own actions, will the conservative movement have him back repeatedly to share his views with their 
audience on his consonance with Jimmy Carter?
audience on his consonance with Jimmy Carter? The fans of what's truly fair and balanced will be waiting.
And in case you're wondering, if the black community or his old critics on the left suddenly adopt them as their favorite son in their angst over 9/12 marchers and town hall mobs, I'll not be surprised.
But honestly, none of that was my first thought.
My first thought: Bill Cosby has a Facebook page?
Racism... it's subtle
Comments
As an African American who have lived through the turbulent 60's the fiscally woeful 70's and now the rennaisance of the 21st century, I'm deeply disturbed by the push back in the form of hate mongering and fear baiting by the Banking, Medical, Insurance and War Industries. Are we Americans so naive that we don't see that these major corporate entities have in the past pretty much controled American policy ? When White unemployment is high in America and it appears that Blacks and Browns and Asians are advancing in search of the "American Dream" more rapdily than poor / middle clas White America, then those same corporate entities who see that their control of American policy is diminishing, know exactly what buttons to push in order to create chaos and hate in those who believe that the American Dream is slipping away. Your piece started off well, but to end it with a joke about Bill Cosby and Facebook demeans the importance of the issue.
Racism is far more prevalent in the minority communities, interesting enough the two most vocal about racism the African-American & Jewish communities appear to be the most racist. In regards to black racism I urge anyone out there to google up black on white crime stats from the Dept. Of Justice and see for your own self the incredible number of black on white murders, rapes, assaults, robberies, every day here in the US that mostly get scant coverage if any. Take in mind that the black population of the US is only 13%, now take a look at white on black crimes....????? I rest my case.
Funny you would use the screen name "Black & White" because that's what you get with oversimplistic generalizations. You might as well be saying conservatives are the most racist based on the raucous behavior and/or signage at tea parties and town halls. Life is grey. You ignore black-on-black crimes, white collar crime (which has a much broader impact, as Wall Street investors can tell you), it ignores sexual predators, nearly all of whom are white, it ignores conditions of poverty, prejudice and education. If you really want to rest your case, look up what D'Israeli said about statistics. And I don't think I've ever heard anyone say Jewish communities are the most racist. How so?
Theodore W. -- Point taken. Race is a serious issue to me, but this isn't an article so much about that as my bemusement over how we use information to support our arguments. We're selective, and we're ignorant because of it. I'll be interested to see if Bill Cosby today gets the same 50-plus mentions in 24 hours on Fox News as he did in 2004 after his NAACP speech. We'll see if he's a guest on their talk shows now that he's saying something that, to them, is diametrically opposed to what he said in '04. Even worse, he agrees with Mr. Carter, a hated target of the right. My guess is, he won't get the same attention. I disagree; we're not a rennaisance society. We won't be until we truly become an informational one; right now, we're just an affirmational one. Big difference.
See the previous recent entries about race. Some of the comments, which I had to delete, got pretty ugly.
Cosby pretty much tells it like it is. He was right in 2004, and he's right now, racism plays some part, but how much. As always, some will politicize this. The first manner of politicing will be to now completely marginalize the protests as a bunch of racists; see, we don't have to listen to them, they are not representative of the people. Phewy. Some are racist ... on both sides. Cosby correctly points out that many would never vote for a black man. I wonder if anybody voted for Obama because he was a black man? I'm fine if they did, but isn't that just another form of racism? Affirmative Action in elections? Whatever the case, there are a multitude of people screaming because of outrage over decades of bipartisan waste, fraud, and corruption. Now we can be sure that the powers that be don't have to listen ... we're just racists anyway. You know how to defeat a people? Divide and conquer; quite an effective domestic strategy.
Murph
Oh, forgot to answer your question:
The right will condemn him or ignore him.
The left will embrace him.
I will continue to respect him and laugh at his stand ups and reruns.
Murph
Murph - "I wonder if anybody voted for Obama because he was a black man?"
That's a better question to ask when the choices aren't as ideologically stark as they were in '08. Personally, I was hoping Condi would run for the GOP. Now THAT wouldn't been fun!
And I'm with you on Cosby. We had all his albums. He was/is a great story teller. "Chicken Heart" routine... priceless.
Murph asks "I wonder if anybody voted for Obama because he was a black man?" Colin Powel did for one, along with nearly other African-American(Just ask Hillary), a bunch of brainwashed guilt-ridden politically correct white folks, Hollweird phonies, Oprah Winfrey etc.
Murph - "I wonder if anybody voted for Obama because he was a black man?"
That's a better question to ask when the choices aren't as ideologically stark as they were in '08. Personally, I was hoping Condi would run for the GOP. Now THAT wouldn't been fun!
And I'm with you on Cosby. We had all his albums. He was/is a great story teller. "Chicken Heart" routine... priceless.
Blackboard - Murph asks "I wonder if anybody voted for Obama because he was a black man?" Colin Powel did for one, along with nearly other African-American(Just ask Hillary), a bunch of brainwashed guilt-ridden politically correct white folks, Hollweird phonies, Oprah Winfrey etc.
That's a pretty narrow-minded thing to say, but that can happen when people act as if voting is the same as being a fan of their favorite sports team. Maybe you wrote this because you're angry or resentful; you were certainly outnumbered last fall, including in traditionally red states like Florida, North Carolina and Ohio, and it was way closer than anyone would've guessed in North Dakota and Montana. I'm guessing you're smarter than this comment suggests.
Real classy video in your article Bruce.
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