Why, Cosby, Why?
By gamecock Posted in Archived — Comments (14) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
Dutch Martin is an Advisory Board member of the African-American leadership network Project 21 and a regular book review writer at Townhall.com. His blog link is at the end of this column. Gamecock came to know Dutch while writing for The (Decatur, Ga.) Champion newspaper when we contacted him after reading his conservative column that greatly impressed me as it seemed to describe the liberal pathologies I had discovered in Atlanta. Dutch was instrumental in my conservative epiphany and we have maintained communication on issues since 2001.
I last contacted Dutch immediately after watching Bill Cosby on Meet the Press last week to express my dismay that he had used the term "institutional racism" when talking to Tim Russert. I had seen Bill speak in Atlanta a few years ago and he never used that term.
Dutch and I are both huge fans of Justice Clarence Thomas and have been huge fans of Cos and his self help message. But Cos has some blind spots. Dutch tries to open his eyes wider in his:
Friday, October 19, 2007 4:24 PM
The following is an e-mail I just sent to Bill Cosby regarding his interview last evening on "Larry King Live."
Dear Dr. Cosby,
I am a huge fan of yours, as an entertainer, philanthropist, dedicated family man, and personal example what can be accomplished with hard work, sacrifice and a love of learning. I have supported 100% your crusade over the past three years to encourage low-income blacks to stop being victims and to finally take responsibility for their own lives. Most importantly, given the problems of family breakdown and fatherlessness in the black community, your message emphasizing parental responsibility rings truer now than ever before.
Having said that, I cannot begin to tell you how disappointed I was in your remarks about U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas on “Larry King Live” last evening. Although I did not see the broadcast (though I did watch your interview with Tim Russert on “Meet the Press” last weekend), a friend of mine told me about it. After watching your MTP segment with Dr. Alvin Poussaint, I immediately rushed to the local bookstore and bought a copy of your new book. After having read the LKL transcript of your comments about Justice Thomas, however, I have begun to regret the purchase.
Here is the transcript of your words that really disturbed me:
KING: Judge Clarence Thomas, the conservative black judge on the United States Supreme Court, Bill, says that he went conservative because he thinks that the black responsibility is to himself. He doesn't need any help. He doesn't want any help. He doesn't need that pick me up.
COSBY: And he doesn't want to help anybody.
KING: He doesn't need affirmative action.
COSBY: And he doesn't want to help anybody.
POUSSAINT: But he got affirmative action.
KING: He got affirmative action.
COSBY: Plenty of -- he got a whole lot of help and now he doesn't want to help anybody.
KING: Do you think he's hypocritical?
COSBY: He doesn't want to help anybody.
KING: I know it.
Do you think he's...
COSBY: He doesn't want to help anybody.
KING: All right.
But he says blacks don't need help, they can do it themselves.
And that's partially what you're saying, isn't it?
COSBY: Well, that's not -- yes, see partially is where you get into trouble if you're trying to put me in the room with Clarence Thomas, the brother lite.
(LAUGHTER)
At that point, my friend told me that he turned the program off, because he was so "turned off" by your comments. I couldn't agree more.
In demeaning Justice Thomas, you were basically repeating the same ad hominem attacks that his critics have been throwing at him (without a shred of evidence to back them up) for years: That he benefited from affirmative action and, once he got to the top, "he yanked the ladder up with him" to prevent other blacks from benefiting. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Do you, Dr. Cosby, know anything - anything - about those whom Justice Thomas has helped over the years? What makes you and Dr. Poussaint think that Clarence Thomas got into Holy Cross College and Yale Law School based on his skin color as opposed to on his own merit? (Justice Thomas did graduate from Holy Cross with honors!) Furthermore, if you were to read Justice Thomas's just-published memoir, My Grandfather’s Son, you would realize that (1) The affect that affirmative action had on his career prospects after Yale Law School was anything but "beneficial," and (2) By insulting him, you, Dr. Cosby, are mimicking all the same old racist stereotypes (i.e. "black people can't compete unless they're give a 'leg up' based on their race"). These stereotypes are absolutely untrue, and the sooner we stop making such assumptions the better.
In addition, if you were to read Justice Thomas's book (as I am currently and encourage you to do as well), you would discover another fact about this fine man that his critics have always gotten wrong. While working at Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights in the U.S. Department of Education and subsequently Chairman of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), Justice Thomas did everything in his power to try and help blacks! More specifically, he realized and tried to convince others that the big-government policies (e.g. affirmative action, welfare, school busing) that blacks were relying so much upon were actually doing considerably more harm than good. Almost as soon as he spoke out, however, he was immediately accused of "blaming the victim" and attacked and shouted down as an "Uncle Tom," "sellout," etc. Blacks had ingested too much of the liberal Kool-Aid fed to them by the Democratic Party, their operatives within the black civil rights establishment, along with the help of the mainstream media. Justice Thomas was basically in a no-win situation, and he knew it.
By attacking Justice Thomas, you, Dr. Cosby, did basically the same thing that was done to you in the immediate aftermath of your speech commemorating the 50th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education in Washington, DC three years ago. It is particularly ironic given the fact that, given the problems plaguing low-income blacks and what must be done about them, you two basically see eye to eye.
For what it's worth, you have the right to disagree with Justice Thomas on the law, ideology, public policy or any other issue. However, your dismissive and demeaning comments about a fine American were completely unwarranted. In my humble opinion, you owe Justice Thomas an apology, and I do not plan on reading your book until you do so.
Respectfully,
Dutch Martin
http://dutchmeister.townhall.com/
Mike Gamecock DeVine @ The Charlotte Observer
"One man with courage makes a majority." - Andrew Jackson
The HinzSight Report
The Minority Report
Race 4 2008
http://www.win-the-war.com/
Given Cosby's laudable and courageous efforts in very recent years to get American blacks to see the light, it must have been hard for Martin to deliver this smack-down.
But it was warranted. Good Job, Dutch. Hope you get through to him, because Bill Cosby is a terrific advocate of positive change, and I wish him the very best.
It's war -- so when can we start shooting back at the enemy Democrats?
Cosby's audience is (mostly) the African-American community. I would think it's better for his message to avoid the association with a man who is (wrongly) disliked in that community. So long as the overall message is what it is, I will ignore the ad hominem bluster.
I love Cosby, but while it may be a little two-faced shuck-and-jive, it's spectacularly unjust and unfair to Thomas.
Uncool.
It's war -- so when can we start shooting back at the enemy Democrats?
Frederick Douglass society who says Cos has to maintain credibility in the black community with this stuff or wouldn't be able to get the positive message out, but I think Cos needs a bit of Andrew jackson.
Mike Gamecock DeVine @ The Charlotte Observer
www.race42008.com
www.hinzsightreport.com
www.theminorityreportblog.com
"One man with courage makes a majority" - Andrew Jackson
A judge's job is to understand, interpret, and apply the law. And, by necessity, this is actually going to *hurt* some people some times. I'll never understand why so many people seem to miss this.
After all, wasn't the plaintiff in the Michigan Affirmative Action cases harmed by the court's decisions there? Or was she helped? Or was her harm (and, ostensibly, others in her position) so that other people can be helped?
It's all so confusing if you try to think of the judiciary in such a manner. But if you think about it in the proper manner, it makes a great deal more sense.
That's what was so refreshing about CJ Roberts' testimony in his confirmation hearings. Questioned by Dick Durbin about siding with the little guy, Roberts made it clear that he'd side with anybody who had the law on their side.
And that's precisely the right answer. A judge's responsibility isn't to "people" -- it's to the law.
We've done a great job of thoroughly confusing our legislative and our judicial branches. And Cosby's comments are emblematic of that.
Thanks for posting this letter, Gamecock. As much as I admire Cos, I was appalled and very disappointed in his cheapshot against Justice Thomas, a man whom I also admire. I hope Cos does the right thing and apologizes. They're both great Americans who want the same things. Cos should've known better.
Always has been! Id love to see him and his Harvard buddy debate "the black community" amd "civil rights" with Thomas Sowell and Shelby Steele! Even Michael Steele!
Cosby is Jesse Jackson with a Phd!
While I think it is obvious that Jesse Jackson is a racist, I would not call Cosby a racist. There is much that he says that is right -- and some that is all wrong.
Every comment that he and his Harvard pal made were led right back to "whitey" holding his culture down.
He brought up the penalty being different for whites and black by saying that the time given for coke and crack are different.
He blamed rap music on rich white producers
I mean; really, not a race peddler in the likes of Jackson? He is just much more articulate than Jackson and he tells great stories he sucks you in and wham, whites are the root of the problem.
When it all boild down; yes, he claims the undeniable problems in the black community; he has to. But he injects racism into every single issue. Listen again to his MTP interview.
That's for sure. I can just imagine an exhibit on Clarence Thomas in Cosby's museum now if that's the kind of thing he's saying about him on Larry King Live.
"The Brother Lite...The Supreme Court Justice Who Doesn't Want To Help Anyone."
Cosby, you can take my money and stick it where the sun doesn't shine, my man. And the copies of your early records that my parents gave me are going in the dumpster. As for your honorary degrees, your comments about Justice Thomas are prima facie evidence that you didn't deserve them, and the next time Johns Hopkins offers you one for anything, I'm going to start an alumni campaign against it.
In fact, I may organize a campaign to press them to take it back.
And yes, I donated in good faith and good will to his museum when it was advertised here on RedState.
So up yours, Bill. You just aren't that funny any more.
mikeleader
first..thanks gc..you always bring much more than your share to the table...
what Cosby did, maligning a good and righteous man like CT is right out of the Harry Beleafonte playbook..and I was just about getting to the point where I was able to forget what the fool did when he handed the hoaxist liar Tawana Brawley a 10,000 dollar Rolex and agreed to pay for her college education..yes he sometimes gets it right, but a busted watch is correct too...twice a day .
I think Bill Cosby needs to think some more about the message that he wants to send. It might help him if he remembers what Booker T. Washington said
And the way he repeated to King 'he doesn't want to help people', referring to Clarence Thomas, he might want to remember what Alex de Toqueville said
African Americans should study history from the beginning of the USA to the current time, and then ask themselves this. Have the white Democratic politicians changed their mind about the enslavement of poor African Americans or changed their strategy to an enslavement in the socialist welfare daddy state?
Now there's no more oak oppression,
For they passed a noble law,
And the trees are all kept equal
By hatchet, axe, and saw.