Race: Newsweek on Cosby

The Right says that entertainers should stay out of polotics and stick to making movies (even the ones who were better than C students at their Ivy League Universities). And I think the same might be said about Bill Cosby:

In "Code of the Street," sociologist Elijah Anderson wrote eloquently of the war in inner cities between "decent" values and "street" values. That is the war into which Cosby has leapt mouth first—and into which Ameer Tate was born. "I grew up in a bad neighborhood ... and I always had to fight... My grandmother was on crack ... Both my uncles were pimps. My father was never here ... [I remember] being beat up as an 11-year-old by this 36-year-old fresh out of prison just because he wanted to put his hands on my mom," recalled Tate, an 18-year-old San Franciscan.

Telling people born into such circumstances to shape up is not much of a plan. Combating "a history of inequality and disadvantage" requires "systematic solutions," argues Stephanie Bell-Rose, president of the Goldman Sachs Foundation, which funds programs targeting achievers in poor communities. She believes Cosby has an obligation to be "more thoughtful."

Of course, there's absolutely nothing wrong with preaching personal responsibility, which is clearly the central jist of Cosby's rants. But far too often he progresses into a sort of blame-the-victim type of game, confusing street culture with African American culture and willfully ignoring some of the real struggles those of lower SES must endure and dishonoring the many who, despite their absolute best efforts, will fail against the weight of a situation.

David K. Shipler's wonderful book The Working Poor: Invisible in America does much to outline the traps and pitfalls of the many who will never increase their stations in life despite seemingly following Cosby's prescription to a tee.