Race in America. Can a White Man even talk about it?

Today, I am going to make some people uneasy.

GOOD. People think better when they are taken out of their comfort zone.

Today, I am talking against MICHAEL ERIC DYSON and for BILL COSBY.

We all know who Bill Cosby is...a man who EARNED his way to prominence in not only th black world, but in the world as a whole. He went to school, read books, learned proper English, and became a rich, successful man. And he did it without relying on affirmative action or some other liberal "equalizer" to get him through. He is a brilliant man who worked hard to get what he has. Beginning at a speech to the NAACP, Cosby started a war on ignorance, laziness, crime, and lack of personal responsibility.

Many applauded his speech and his efforts to combat the downfalls of lower middle class and poor blacks. He brought their entire lifestyle and culture to question, challenged their disregard for taking it upon themselves to prosper without crime, and attacked their willingness to settle for the life they have without working toward a better future. As far as I am concerned, Cosby hasn't spoken a mistruth since he began his attack on the poor black cutlure.

But, then again, I am white. Where parents, for the most part, teach children that education and respect will get you places.

Cosby feels that in this country, in this day, no one who gets an education, develops proper self-respect, develops a respect for others, and becomes a worthwhile employee, anyone who does that, will succeed. Cosby sees ads many see, many poor blacks are not doing that today.
So, Cosby has been calling his race out-he wants work ethic to become a staple lesson to blacks. He wants a high level of personal responsibility restored. He wants blacks to become more educated, more responsible, hold higher moral standards, be better parents, and build a life that does not involve crime.

Why is that so wrong?

Michael Eric Dyson, also a successful African American, is a professor who completely disagrees with Cosby's attack on the poor black lifestyle. In fact, he put pen to paper and has a book out called: Is Bill Cosby Right? Or has the Black Middle Class Lost its Mind? This book is an attack on Cosby's attack. This book is a 300 page list of excuses for the poor black community to do just as they have for the past 20 years.

In an excerpt from his book available here: at NPR's website, Dyson insluts blacks as a whole while also attacking Cosby for coming out and challenging blacks.

Cosby's overemphasis on personal responsibility, not structural features, wrongly locates the source of poor black suffering—and by implication its remedy—in the lives of the poor. When you think the problems are personal, you think the solutions are the same. If only the poor were willing to work harder, act better, get educated, stay out of jail and parent more effectively, their problems would go away. It's hard to argue against any of these things in the abstract; in principle such suggestions sound just fine. But one could do all of these things and still be in bad shape at home, work or school. For instance, Cosby completely ignores shifts in the economy that give value to some work while other work, in the words of William Julius Wilson, "disappears." In our high-tech, high-skilled economy where low-skilled work is being scaled back, phased out, exported, or severely under-compensated, all the right behavior in the world won't create better jobs with more pay. And without such support, all the goals that Cosby expresses for the black poor are not likely to become reality. If the rigidly segregated educational system continues to miserably fail poor blacks by failing to prepare their children for the world of work, then admonitions to "stay in school" may ring hollow.

(The bold and RED is mine for emphasis on some of the statements made here.)

First, the comment that Cosby overemphasizes personal responsibility. To me, that is a statement that completely supports Cosby's statements. How can you OVEREMPHASIZE PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY? The choices one makes in this life are what determines our life. Yes, there are outside factors that contribute to our successes and failures. There are people who will do us wrong. There are unfair circumstances. SO WHAT? Get over it. Move on. Try harder. It is up to God's plan and your personal responsibility to yourself and your family as to whether you are a success in life. However, you cannot wait for God or any other deity, situation, or person to arrive to your front door step. You must make the efforts necessary to be a success. It is up to YOU and no other human being.

Dyson then berates his entire race with the second comments I put in bold. He all but calls blacks too dumb to work high-tech, high-skilled jobs. He says that in the high-tech, high-skilled work place, there are no or fewer opportunities for blacks. HUH? Just because the world is developing and requiring intelligence and education, there is no place for blacks? NO. If ANYONE gets an education and has work ethic, there is room for them in the work place. This is what Cosby is getting at. This goes back to the personal responsibility issue. You can't expect a drug dealer to drop the dime bags and walk into the CEO's chair at Microsoft. No. He's got to go to school, learn how to type and read and gain an understanding of computers, THEN he goes to work and climbs the ladder. Few, if any, successful people started on the top rung.

Dyson thinks blacks can't hang with the high tech world. Cosby thinks if they get and education and work for it, they can. Who do you side with?

The last comment in this excerpt from the excerpt bothers me very much. He blames the education system for the poor state that schools in highly black areas are in. How about looking around, Dyson. Its a vicious cycle of crime, irresponsibility, and laziness. The schools are in bad shape because the kids were not raised right and are running the school because they have not been taught responsibility. So, they have kids who go through the same cycle. IF the parents of poor black kids would raise them with integrity and personal responsibility, the kids would not ruin the schools and would be able to learn while in the building. However, when you are raised by the streets while mom is either coked and smoked out of her mind and sleeping with random men, or she is out working 2 jobs because her sorry man left, then the streets is all the kids know. And they bring the streets to school.

Bill Cosby is right. He may seem mean, hateful, and a traitor to blacks at times, but trust me, he is not. Cosby's crusade can save many blacks from the vicious cycle they are in, and at the same time, save our country. Cosby needs support from every person of every race.

If you ask me, Dyson is the traitor because he excuses the black behavior and encourages blacks to stay right were they are.