Your comments please

[soulbrotha]

Originally Posted by jamesfrmphilly

so you give white power a free pass?
it is not even worthy to be spoken of?
how can U fight an enemy that you do not even acknowledge?

No, I don't give "white power" a free pass, but the blame game gets you no where especially when the person you are blaming is not responsible for your actions and/or does not care.

Just imagine if he had put responsibility for the such large incarceration of black males on white folks. Better yet lets say he blamed all of society's ills on YT. Does it motivate anyone to do better? Does it motivate those intelligent black women to "take charge"? NOPE

[Jackson]

I deliberately refrained from posting my opinion yesterday because i had a lot of mixed feelings about the speech given by Cosby. Today my feelings haven't really changed that much so i'm just going to air out the assortment of issues that went through my mind after reading about the speech.

Crash (movie) - "You embarass me". This is a phrase which was spoken by Terrence Howard in the movie to Ludacris after the latter had attempted to steal his car unsuccessfully. It's a phrase which concisely explains how i feel about those black men in our community who choose to drop out of school despite having the opportunity to study further, who choose to run the streets, to commit crimes, to have children with many different women, to not support any of those children and those men who take it for granted that the mother of their child can raise that child, on her own. Such men embarass me, and perhaps most of them are too depraved to realise it but they embarass themselves. Those men perpetuate a cycle which will continue to render the black community handicapped, until their attitudes change. They are fanatics of a so called "black (street) masculinity" which ascribes nothing more to the black man than that which is hogwash. Therefore when Bill Cosby stated that the men aren't there, his words were based on fact as opposed to fiction. The undeniable reality is that MOST black men aren't there, and they simply need to do better.

Ran Ran stated that one of the probems he had with the speech arise not as a result of what was said, but rather how it was said. I concur with you on that. Telling black women what they already know about black men in so far as their achievements or lack thereof is concerned is not going to help the black man to do any better and ultimately, it's not going to improve the state of the black community in this country. I felt like Cosby attempted to exclude the necessity of the black man to the community by making it seem as though most black men now reside in a camp known as "FOREVER IRREDEEMABLE". That's wrong. He tried to make it seem like the black community can make it with the contributions of black women solely. That's like saying that a one legged person can win a race run by two legged people. His speech in so far as it alluded to the aforementioned was ludicrous. The survival of blacks in this country cannot be placed in the hands of just one gender, we need both to progress. A necessary element of progress will always be unity and i felt like his speech, by footnoting the fact that there are some black men out there doing what's right and by extensively illuminating the flaws of most black men whilst blessing black women, was somewhat factious. I always tell those disillusioned by our communities, be part of the solution, not the problem. Throwing rocks, instead of offering a rope, simply adds to the problem.

[jamesfrmphilly]

Originally Posted by soulbrotha

No, I don't give "white power" a free pass, but the blame game gets you no where especially when the person you are blaming is not responsible for your actions and/or does not care.

Just imagine if he had put responsibility for the such large incarceration of black males on white folks. Better yet lets say he blamed all of society's ills on YT. Does it motivate anyone to do better? Does it motivate those intelligent black women to "take charge"? NOPE

i believe you have it backwards.
telling black people the truth is always liberating.
you can point out the methods and effects of white power on our community.
this alerts young people to avoid those pitfalls.
if you do as cosby does and, in effect, say black people are no good that is a very poisonous thing to say to young black people.

there is a large neo con attack on the black psyche today selling the idea that black people are just bad people.
that it is all our own fault that we are down. that there is no point in blaming the white man.

i say there is always a good point in blaming the devil.

i say the white man is the problem, the black man is the solution.

[lizaa]

@ James:

there is a large neo con attack on the black psyche today selling the idea that black people are just bad people.
that it is all our own fault that we are down. that there is no point in blaming the white man.

i say there is always a good point in blaming the devil.

i say the white man is the problem, the black man is the solution

I agree with you James on this particularly we Must Understand the brainwashing mechanism that has been used on our peole for centuries has been elevated and pushed into fast forward ..it has always been a Struggle to wake our people Up to what is the Reality of where we are in Amerikkka.

I agree with your entire post Jackson. Very well said also.

Originally Posted by jamesfrmphilly

i believe you have it backwards.
telling black people the truth is always liberating.
you can point out the methods and effects of white power on our community.
this alerts young people to avoid those pitfalls.
if you do as cosby does and, in effect, say black people are no good that is a very poisonous thing to say to young black people.

there is a large neo con attack on the black psyche today selling the idea that black people are just bad people.
that it is all our own fault that we are down. that there is no point in blaming the white man.

i say there is always a good point in blaming the devil.

i say the white man is the problem, the black man is the solution.

Agree 100% James.

[soulbrotha]

OK you are right James. Lets blame white power. Lets blame white power for our suffering, for our mother's crying, for anything you can think of. Lets blame white power for the perdicament that our HBCUs are in, b/c they don't receive government funding. For those sisters at the HBCU don't know white power does not exist, right? That's why they chose to go to a HBCU right? Lets preach what damn near every "black activist" YT labels a black leader preaches. As a matter of fact Bill Cosby should have stated that YT has so much power that those graduates really wasted their time getting educated. Billy C should not have implied that black women are the mothers and fathers in a large portion of our households and they should continue that cycle.

Bill Cosby would surely motivate them covering those topics, huh.

Soulbrotha it's clear you and James have a difference of opinion on who to blame here and that's cool. My question to you is this, seeing how you agree so much with Cosby, I wonder what type of motivation would you suggest for all the Black people Cosby and you seem to think are the problem? We see what a motivational speech to people who apparently aren't a part of the problem looks like, but what type of motivation would you give the problem people???

[soulbrotha]

Honestly, I don't think a "speech" of any kind would bring about the change we need for those that don't know any better/hopeless. We hear great speeches every year at Tavis' State of Black America Forumns and the response to those speeches by the thugs in our neighborhood is the same. I think the only way for the hopeless or problems (as you called them) to get out of that mental state is for Black people to control the mental traffic that flows in and out of our communities by way of media and every other avenue. Maybe even have a nation within a nation as Farrakhan spoke of. Otherwise, the only other motivation would be to persuade those black people that "have" to move back into our neighborhoods. Just there presence would restore hope, but even then it would be generations before we see great change.

The difference in the two is that those graduates have some hope, some of the brothas on the corner don't. So why not spark their drive. Maybe Cosby should have encouraged the graduates to move and give back to the community.

[MrAtlanta]

Originally Posted by RanRan

How about motivating those people Cosby insists are the big problem to our community???

Honest, constructive criticism is often the best motivator in my opinion.

I think you'll also find that the truth is like badly needed medicine. It dosen't taste so good going down, but it is often good for you.

[ewfisher]

Originally Posted by lizaa

@ James:

there is a large neo con attack on the black psyche today selling the idea that black people are just bad people.
that it is all our own fault that we are down. that there is no point in blaming the white man.

i say there is always a good point in blaming the devil.

i say the white man is the problem, the black man is the solution

I agree with you James on this particularly we Must Understand the brainwashing mechanism that has been used on our peole for centuries has been elevated and pushed into fast forward ..it has always been a Struggle to wake our people Up to what is the Reality of where we are in Amerikkka.

LOL LOL LOL LOL