From the beginning of Cosby's Crusade, when I declared that America's Dad was out of pocket, I've opposed his war on poor Black America. Not just because my (single) mother, Artina, and all my kids have 'funny names'. Besides the fact that Cosby isn't a policy maker or reliable social commentator, his jokes were cheap, middle-class yuckery and his facts were largely wrong or just completely fabricated. Not just off by a decimal point or two, but wrong, wrong, wrong. His sounded like the alarm of someone who'd watches too much BET, and anytime you suggest it's OK for cops to shoot kids for stealing pastry, you'd want to have your facts straight. Certainly, we have to do better, but when you fly across the country for the pleasure of telling people off, then start trying to Debo-up on detractors in wheelchairs, we'd like to think you know what you're talking about. The black middle class journalati clamored to pat Coz on the back and buy him another drink as they coronate him the bold vanguard of a New Black Morality without the requisite fact-check we would give any would-be pundit. In the meantime, he was fresh out of paternity court, fending off dope-and-grope allegations from far afield. When he paid off an accuser after vowing to go to war on her, it just hit me: this cat's got more drama than anybody, trying to tell people how to live their lives from some kind of moral high-ground. Enough.
Let me be clear: College education is no longer an option, it's a must and Cosby always had that point right. But I never saw the point calling out people's mama's and the kids with the funny names, who evidently sit on the stoops in Cosby's neighborhood eating stolen pound cake. That mailroom clerk-type of toothless insult punditry is funny and even right on some notes but absolutely ineffectual as a catalyst for change, pretty much because only the converted are listening. The only way to make a change is to reach out, without judgment and give to those who are trying to get. Cosby has given a lot of money to HBCU's in the past, but I've long said that he had some hella-nerve puddle-jumping around America insulting people and not leaving any kind of micro-scholarships or grants in place.
Well, Coz is getting down with North Carolina A&T as they start an outreach program called "Cosby's Kids" where they pair up at-risk kids with mentors who will support and encourage their endeavors. He's scheduled to do a benefit for the program in May. THAT'S what I'm talking about. And I hope he brings a checkbook, and a few corporate friends with checkbooks. Because trying to save our kids, instead of trying to shame them? That's what's up. And I hope this is just the beginning of the giving, because some HBCU's are practically recycling cans to keep the lights on, and the crisis of public education has arguably never been worse in this country. Forget the parents beating each other up on the corner: let's work on the kids. For me, it looks like the first time in a long time that Cosby admits to still loving kids and not just the ones with regal names born into The Manor.
The weird thing about this story is that it hasn't gotten a lot of coverage. Maybe because of the election? Perhaps, but we're all breathless for Brittany Spear's next move. I think the omission is a lot deeper than that. It's sexy for middle class blacks to talk bad about "the n*ggaz," and it's a shame that Cosby only gets airtime when he's confirming presumptions, prejudice and taking pot-shots at economically disadvantaged blacks.
It's hard but it's fair.
Jimi Izrael is a writer and commentator living in Tallahassee, Florida.
