Blogging with a little help from friends
Blogging offers so many possibilities, and takes so much time, that I am launching a panel of bloggers to help me discuss the press. This idea came to me as I was reading about the need to explore participatory forms of journalism. Around this time, one of my siblings, the first of the guest bloggers to participate, was sending me a lot of links about coverage of the "Bill Cosby criticizes blacks" issue. Actually, she was inundating me with links, more than I had time to read. Waking up one morning to a Today show report on --what else-- Cosby criticing blacks, I thought, "Geez, the media are obsessed with this story." I know someone who has become an expert on this issue, I thought. Many people get plugged into articles and can quote websites and newcasts to make their points. So, I thought, let them rip. So here goes MaxSeaching, the first member of the blogging panel.
Both Sides And In Between
As skeptical and critical as I’ve been with the news in the past, I never thought there would come a day when I would say that I’m very grateful for it. I say this now after referring to many news sources while looking into Bill Cosby’s much talked about speech in which he criticizes “the lower economic people” in the black community for “not holding up their end in this deal,” as he put it. Cosby’s speech was given at the Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C. for the 50th anniversary of the Brown V. Board of Education decision, and Richard Leiby of the Washington Post first reported it. Of course, Bill Cosby said a lot more about black irresponsibility that he blamed on bad parenting, poor use of the English language, a lack of interest in education, etc., which are quoted here in Felicia R. Lee’s New York Times article.
This topic interested me deeply because I’m an African American woman who, along with my work as a musician, has been teaching music part-time in the New York Public Schools for nearly twenty years. When I first heard that Bill Cosby said that blacks needed to take more responsibility and therefore take education more seriously, I thought, “Well, good for him!” Then I actually read some of his comments and thought, “Oh, I could see why some blacks would be offended. It sounds a little classist.” The words seemed harsh, a sting to the poor, and didn’t at all sound like they came from the kind, loving, fatherly figure who was the creator of such warm, down-to-earth shows like the Cosby show with the Huxtable family, “Fat Albert," his funny sit-com in the 70’s, and even his stand-up comedy on fatherhood. I had to admit, though, many times I would come home from working in the schools and voice the same frustrations that Cosby mentioned to my sister, who is also my roommate. I, too, have witnessed the lack of interest in education by many students, and the overwhelming discipline problems as a result of poor parenting. So, I definitely saw both sides of the issue. And the more I heard both sides of the issue, the more interested I became in the subject, particularly, when I heard the scholar Rev. Dr. Michael Eric Dyson preach as a guest speaker at a church I attend.
The sentiments that Dyson expressed at church were the same as his words found in Ms. Lee’s New York Times article, in which he states that Cosby’s comments “betray classist, elitist viewpoints that are rooted in generational warfare.” Dyson is definitely representative of the group in the black community who feel that Cosby was very wrong to talk about the black poor in that manner. I can understand and even agree with a lot that Dyson is saying, but another part of me just can’t be satisfied with Bill Cosby being wrong. I just don’t believe it. After all, here is a man who has given lots of money to black scholarships and colleges. He’s done a lot for education and schools. He couldn’t have said what he said out of malice. So, I felt that I had to explore this topic even more.
After searching the Internet, I finally came across the transcript of Tavis Smiley’s interview with Bill Cosby on PBS. At last! I could see an explanation of Cosby’s comments from the man, himself! And when I read the words, they confirmed what I felt in my heart. He explained that he wasn’t talking about all of the black community and felt that the Washington Post left out the very beginning of his speech when he was referring to the 50 % of black students who were high school dropouts. Recently, something even better happened after reading that transcript. A couple of days ago, I actually saw a rerun of that Tavis Smiley Show. There was the kindly, loving, fatherly figure, again, from the Cosby shows in the past. And, yes, he was talking out of love and concern for a much-needed topic that needed talking about.
It’s not enough to just look at both sides of an issue. One should also look at what’s in between. Maybe then we can truly get to the root of the problem to finally solve it.
Blog by MaxSearching
11:19:14 AM 
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