Bill Cosby's Highly Controversial Statement

[supervike]

There are social deviants in all races.

I think societies role is to codemn those that try to destroy society, not make excuses to why the deviants do what they do.

There are far too many excuses.

So, Bill Cosby has a problem because as a proud member of his race, he expects more from folks. He thinks that blacks are doing themselves a disservice by speaking poorly, or presenting themselves as an idiot....Somehow that makes him a bad guy and a sell out?

If anything, I would hope this would stir conversation within all sorts of communities, but sadly it seems it has made things even more divisive.

Edited July 30, 2009 by supervike

[doesnt_matter]

Saying that the poor are the ones that treasure things over treasuring intelligence is indeed a racism, or rather, a classism. When people , the world over, finally grow up and realise that the true treasures are each other, then all of this pointing the fingers and hurting one another for nothing more than things, in this case intellectual pursuit, will need be no more. Compasssion is the first casuality in the pursuit of things. It is unfortunetly a lesson purposely demeaned by a society who values things over the lives of its own people. It is done in households , it was done here by Mr. Cosby. Therefore, he is a hypocrite, perhaps a well intentioned hypocrite but one none the less. IMO

[cluey]

http://moneytalks.net/index.php?option=com...2&Itemid=62

i think he's 100% correct.

I agree with it too................the thing is....it's what most people think and never say!....just because he is who he is and said it publicly.....he's in trouble???.....if it had been said by someone at a family barbecue.......it wouldn't be in the news at all.jmo

[itsnotoutthere]

The Truth About Black Crime

by: R Jeneen Jones

Early last year, I wrote an article entitled "Who's Afraid of Black Men?",

which raised the issue of how society views black men as criminals,

regardless of their true nature. After posting the feature, I received tons

of email. While most African Americans praised my comments, many non-blacks

agreed that black men are generally violent and aggressive law breakers.

After all, one just has to look at the statistics. In all fairness, I decided

to do just that and discovered some very interesting details:

Among men, blacks (28.5%) are about six times more likely than whites (4.4%)

to be admitted to prison during their life. Among women, 3.6% of blacks and

0.5% of whites will enter prison at least once. (U.S. Department of Justice)

Based on current rates of incarceration, an estimated 7.9% of black males

compared to 0.7% of white males will enter State of Federal prison by the

time they are age 20 and 21.4% of black males versus 1.4% of white males will

be incarcerated by age 30. (U.S. Department of Justice)

Some have noted that more black men are in prison in America than are in

college. (The Black and White of Justice, Freedom Magazine, Volume 128)

Statistics on black crime are, on the surface, very bleak. There are,

however, some very important factors that help to influence the numbers.

Consider those and a strong case for a much different view unfolds. Since 62%

of persons admitted to Federal prison and 31.1% of those admitted to State

prison for the first time were sentenced because of drug offenses, let us

first take a look at the racial disparity in the war on drugs:

The National Institute of Drug Abuse estimated that while 12 percent of drug

users are black, they make up nearly 50 percent of all drug possession

arrests in the U.S. (The Black and White of Justice, Freedom Magazine, Volume 128)

According to the National Drug Strategy Network, although African Americans

make up less than one-third of the population in Georgia, the black arrest

rate for drugs is five times greater than the white arrest rate. In addition,

since 1990, African Americans have accounted for more than 75% of persons

incarcerated for drug offenses in Georgia and make up 97.7% of the people in

that state who are given life sentences for drug offenses.

In six California counties independently surveyed in 1995, 100% of those

individuals sent to trial on drug charges were minorities, while the

drug-using population in those same counties was more than 60% white. (The

Black and White of Justice, Freedom Magazine, Volume 128)

A CNN article in 1996 sited U.S. government figures that show more than 90

percent of all federal prosecutions for crack cocaine in 1995 were of African

American defendants. In addition, unlike convictions for powered cocaine and

other drugs (which wealthy, Caucasian defendants are more likely to use), a

conviction for selling crack cocaine can carry a lengthy prison term without

benefit of parole.

I know some people might think that African Americans are arrested so often

for drug offenses because police officers target drug dealers and most blacks

fit that profile. If that is indeed the case, why did an analysis by the

Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles find that 77% of the offenses

leading to the first conviction and 79% of the offenses leading to a second

drug conviction involved less than one gram of a controlled substance. In

addition, that same study found that 60% of the cases involved drug values of

less than $50. I'm sure Georgia isn't the only state in which such statistics

hold true.

What about figures for other types of crimes? According to the U.S.

Department on Justice, property and drug offenses account for 76.4 % and

56.4% respectively of crimes by individuals admitted to Federal and State

prison for the first time. Most criminal convictions are, therefore, not for

violent crimes. Even still, there is evidence to suggest that race also plays

a factor in those types of cases:

In 1997, the American Bar Association observed that quite often public

defenders, who are most likely to be assigned to poor and largely minority

defendants, are inexperienced, underpaid, overworked, and largely indifferent

to their client's plight. (Philadelphia Bar Association Calls for Moratorium

on Death, A-Infos News Service, 12/19/97)

Even though it is illegal, throughout the nation, there are incidents of

local officials influencing jury selection to include mostly white males.

This is done mainly because local police and law officials are afraid that

randomly selected jurors will be more liberal and less likely to convict

defendants. (Prosecutors Object to New Method of Jury Selection, St.

Petersburg Times, 12/28/98 and The Race of Decision Makers, RSTL Study)

A 1990 study by The U.S. General Accounting Office, indicated that racial

bias has influenced prosecutors' decisions to charge a defendant with a

capital offense and/or to proceed to trial rather than plea bargain. (U.S.

General Accounting Office Report, Death Penalty Sentencing, 1990)

What do all of these findings suggest? For starters, we cannot conclude how

many African Americans or black males are actually guilty of committing

crimes. We can only obtain data on the number of black males who are arrested

for and convicted of a crime. While arrest rates are highly subjective, one

could argue that a conviction is a guilty sentence in the eyes of the law.

Though that is true, given the racial undertones and biases still present in

the American judicial system, it seems highly unjust to assume that black

crime statistics are a valid indication of the state of the entire community

of African American males.

Am I implying that African American males do not commit crimes? Not at all.

In my opinion, there is an equal distribution of criminals (and law abiding

citizens) among all racial and ethnic groups and blacks are no more likely to

be criminals than are whites. The data shows, however, that African Americans

more likely than others to be arrested and convicted. It is for that reason

that I propose we use our intelligence and humanity to look beyond the

numbers. Even though it has been shown time and time again that racial

discrimination still exists in almost every segment of our society, (Driving

While Black, Police & Civil Rights Leaders Sit Down to Build Bridges,

Painting Insanity Black, Avis Charged with Discrimination, The New Face of

Racism, Race & The Death Penalty, Bell Atlantic Sued for Discrimination,

Judge OKs Boeing Bias Settlement, Black Customers Sue Denny's) why do some

people find it impossible to consider that it also exists in our judicial

process?

Will we ever be able to agree on the truth about black crime (or know the

real story on white crime) in this nation? I doubt it. I do hope we will

open the lines of communication and learn to discuss all of the facts. Only

then will we be able to make changes and overcome the tremendous effect that

race continues to have on the perception of black males in America.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Boston Globe, usually a far-left newspaper, printed an uncharacteristically honest column about black crime rates yesterday.

From the Boston Globe…

“Do you realize that the leading killer of young black males is young black males?” asked Secretary of Health and Human Services Louis Sullivan 16 years ago. “As a black man and a father of three, this really shakes me to the core of my being.”

From Georgia Congressman John Lewis, a veteran of the civil rights movement, came a similar cry of anguish. “Nothing in the long history of blacks in America,” he lamented in 1994, “suggests the terrible destruction blacks are visiting upon each other today.”

Happily, crime rates have declined from their 1990s peak. But it remains that the worst destruction in black America is self-inflicted.

In a new study, the Justice Department’s Bureau of Justice Statistics confirms once again that almost half the people murdered in the United States each year are black, and 93 percent of black homicide victims are killed by someone of their own race. (For white homicide victims, the figure is 85 percent.) In other words, of the estimated 8,000 African-Americans murdered in 2005, more than 7,400 were cut down by other African-Americans. Though blacks account for just one-eighth of the US population, the BJS reports, they are six times more likely than whites to be victimized by homicide — and seven times more likely to commit homicide.*

Note: The BJS reports that blacks are seven times more likely to commit murder than other Americans. This includes all murders committed by whites, Hispanics, and others. When the large Hispanic component is removed, the black murder rate is approximately nine times higher than whites.

[Beckys_Mom]

Somehow I knew you would reduce my son’s life to a mere, insensitive “if” because it is only a continuum of your denial and apologetics for your race. But none of that will erase the statistics showing that your 12.8% of the nation’s population forms almost 50% of our jail and prison population. But then I suppose it’s that terrible prejudice of white police, right? It’s the discrimination of those horrible white judges, right? Or is it because the FBI who made those statistics were agents who never lived in the ghetto?

One findings report of the FBI stated, “Racial differences exist, with blacks disproportionately represented among homicide victims and offenders,” but oh, yes, the author never lived in the ghetto. The 2005 national crime report shows that blacks are offenders seven times more than whites. But then the people calculating those numbers simply didn’t understand the black culture, right?

Even the black apologist author, R. Jenson Jones had to admit that, “Among men, blacks (28.5%) are about six times more likely than whites (4.4%)

to be admitted to prison during their life. Among women, 3.6% of blacks and 0.5% of whites will enter prison at least once. (U.S. Department of Justice)

Based on current rates of incarceration, an estimated 7.9% of black males compared to 0.7% of white males will enter State of Federal prison by the

time they are age 20 and 21.4% of black males versus 1.4% of white males will be incarcerated by age 30. (U.S. Department of Justice). Some have noted that more black men are in prison in America than are in college. (The Black and White of Justice, Freedom Magazine, Volume 128).” But then you object to black men like Jones or Cosby to tell the truth about their race.

Next we hear your lame reasoning that my son could have been killed by men of any race. But the truth is that he wasn’t. The truth is that his chances of being killed by a white man was 3.5 in 100,000 but his chances that black men killed him was 19.7 to 100,000. His chances of being killed by someone of another race was 4 in nearly 2 million. But my son never lived in the ghetto and didn’t understand the black culture.

So you can doubt my son’s death and I will accept it as part of your illusions to support your apologetics and ignorance. But don’t doubt my bitterness that he is lost to me and those who refuse to face the problems characterizing their race and oppose those like Bill Cosby, who have the courage to do so. But perhaps the thing you really don't like about Cosby's message was the part about how many blacks, like you, really don't care enough to admit the problem, much less do anything about it.

Outstanding post, you have it in the bag with this one

[conspiracybeliever]

So? Did I not say that the author was a black apologist? Did I quote anything that does not appear above? So what's your point?

No idea how you came to the conclusion that that author was saying anything close to what you have been posting. Did you read it? And naive, empty form of thinking? Go back and read your posts!

[conspiracybeliever]

Saying that the poor are the ones that treasure things over treasuring intelligence is indeed a racism, or rather, a classism. When people , the world over, finally grow up and realise that the true treasures are each other, then all of this pointing the fingers and hurting one another for nothing more than things, in this case intellectual pursuit, will need be no more. Compasssion is the first casuality in the pursuit of things. It is unfortunetly a lesson purposely demeaned by a society who values things over the lives of its own people. It is done in households , it was done here by Mr. Cosby. Therefore, he is a hypocrite, perhaps a well intentioned hypocrite but one none the less. IMO

Thank you.

[Corp]

Saying that the poor are the ones that treasure things over treasuring intelligence is indeed a racism, or rather, a classism. When people , the world over, finally grow up and realise that the true treasures are each other, then all of this pointing the fingers and hurting one another for nothing more than things, in this case intellectual pursuit, will need be no more. Compasssion is the first casuality in the pursuit of things. It is unfortunetly a lesson purposely demeaned by a society who values things over the lives of its own people. It is done in households , it was done here by Mr. Cosby. Therefore, he is a hypocrite, perhaps a well intentioned hypocrite but one none the less. IMO

Can you point out where Cosby said that? Because from what I read he stated that there are those out there who buy their kids designer shoes instead of spending the money on helping their kid's education, and that this is wrong.

I'm still confused how people seem to think that Cosby was talking to all blacks and now the claim is he's talking to all poor people as well? Anyone care to explain this to me?

*sits back and waits for someone to believe Cosby is targeting everyone not named 'Bill'*

[Dr. D]

No idea how you came to the conclusion that that author was saying anything close to what you have been posting. Did you read it? And naive, empty form of thinking? Go back and read your posts!

When I returned from my trip, I had a PM from finalword telling me that he found posting in this thread and in this forum too painful for him to continue.

After reading the posts, I understood what he meant.

Your comment here that the author did not write anything like finalword was posting was in complete error. In fact, all finalword did was quote from that article and clearly state that the author was a black apologist. I find no error in that and it is impossible to see how you could either and still be honest.

You and Kim have been apparently offended by the very idea that the black community represents particular dangers to society. You choose to ignore all official statistics and in your case you refuse to accept them because they are the product of government and media. Well so are many of your benefits and entertainment. So are your education system, federal highways, Social Security benefits and countless more. So discount them all because, after all, they come from that bigoted government that produces valid statistics proving the point that the black community produces the highest crime rate in almost every category.

Many comments have been made here about it "could have been white men" and other absurdities. Slavery has been mentioned and a lack of knowledge of life in the ghettos.

Yes, white men committed many errors. Still, many of those errors were recognized and corrected. Slavery, the denial of civil rights, drinking bans on Indians, the removal of children from Indian homes, etc. In some cases it required that hundreds of thousands die to correct those errors but it was done.

Today it is time for the black community to create its own social mirror and confront the problems that fester within it. But instead of doing that, we hear the terse little comments intended to be cute because they could not be supported by intelligence or logic. We have witnessed a complete denial of the problems by people who here represent their race and have the responsibility to all to create a better image of their people. But that was not done and the thread died with those in denial continuing their denials and the danger discussed growing by the minute.

[conspiracybeliever]

When I returned from my trip, I had a PM from finalword telling me that he found posting in this thread and in this forum too painful for him to continue.

After reading the posts, I understood what he meant.

Your comment here that the author did not write anything like finalword was posting was in complete error. In fact, all finalword did was quote from that article and clearly state that the author was a black apologist. I find no error in that and it is impossible to see how you could either and still be honest.

You and Kim have been apparently offended by the very idea that the black community represents particular dangers to society. You choose to ignore all official statistics and in your case you refuse to accept them because they are the product of government and media. Well so are many of your benefits and entertainment. So are your education system, federal highways, Social Security benefits and countless more. So discount them all because, after all, they come from that bigoted government that produces valid statistics proving the point that the black community produces the highest crime rate in almost every category.

Many comments have been made here about it "could have been white men" and other absurdities. Slavery has been mentioned and a lack of knowledge of life in the ghettos.

Yes, white men committed many errors. Still, many of those errors were recognized and corrected. Slavery, the denial of civil rights, drinking bans on Indians, the removal of children from Indian homes, etc. In some cases it required that hundreds of thousands die to correct those errors but it was done.

Today it is time for the black community to create its own social mirror and confront the problems that fester within it. But instead of doing that, we hear the terse little comments intended to be cute because they could not be supported by intelligence or logic. We have witnessed a complete denial of the problems by people who here represent their race and have the responsibility to all to create a better image of their people. But that was not done and the thread died with those in denial continuing their denials and the danger discussed growing by the minute.

Dr D, if finalword told you the thread was too painful for him to continue why did you dig it up and continue it? I let it go because I came to the conclusion that I am not going to change anyones mind and am even more sure that no one on this thread is going to change mine. I'm sure everyone here has their reasons for feeling the way they do and believing the things they do. I have my reasons too and I refuse to apologize for them. This is my last post on this thread. I'm done with it.

[Dr. D]

Dr D, if finalword told you the thread was too painful for him to continue why did you dig it up and continue it? I let it go because I came to the conclusion that I am not going to change anyones mind and am even more sure that no one on this thread is going to change mine. I'm sure everyone here has their reasons for feeling the way they do and believing the things they do. I have my reasons too and I refuse to apologize for them. This is my last post on this thread. I'm done with it.

Finalword is not entering the thread or forum again . . . . or so he told me. That does not prohibit me from adding my opinions, does it?