Gan
06-10-2007, 10:26 AM
http://media.philly.com/images/20070610_inq_onesun10-a.JPG
As part of a rally against violence , Bill Cosby gave a speech at the Bible Way Baptist Church. The rally Monday was sponsored by Men United for a Better Philadelphia.
Bill Cosby's popularity in the African American community hasn't been the same since he started speaking his mind about it. He has told parents to start parenting. Told the community it was complicit in the misogyny, vulgarity, violence and racism in black culture.
Many take offense. Why blame a people still struggling with racism, inequality, poverty and crime?
Their complaints can't be dismissed. But neither should Cosby. Everyone - black, white, whatever - needs to hear what he's saying - and act.
Monday, Cosby joined Men United for a Better Philadelphia on an 11-block antiviolence march through West Philadelphia. Then came a frightening FBI study in which, among U.S. cities of one million or more, Philadelphia leads in the rates of murder and violent crime per 10,000 inhabitants.
Monday's march, Cosby's words, and these searing statistics suggest that much work remains for this city, on several levels.
Individual. How about this for an unusual statement?: The killers are wrong. Many may be teenagers, on drugs or poor. They may have suffered disrespect, violence or crime. They may belong to an oppressed class or race, trapped in a hopeless system in which every roll of the dice is a loser.
No matter: If they kill, they're wrong. They are always wrong.
Cosby's message to young men: Stand up and accept yourselves as responsible agents. Step away from the annihilations of backward rage. Accept that murder makes you less of a man.
Family. Be closer to your children, Cosby said. Parents should "love and hug" - create a home environment of acceptance and closeness, to counter the fear and brutality outside. And fathers can't teach if they don't stick around. "We've got to teach our children to think of other ways to settle ill feelings" - one of Cosby's best lines on Monday. Which leads to:
Community. As Penn professor Elijah Anderson has shown, the "code of the street" has undermined older codes of right and wrong in the black community. Individuals can help change such malignant codes - but scuttling them will take the effort of many villages. Better, more watchful neighbors. Friends being better friends. People unafraid to say, "That's wrong."
"Stop waiting for Christ to come," Cosby told the crowds, a shocking line - but also Christ's own teaching (Luke 17:21, "The kingdom of God is among you"): That the future rests with us and our work. This can become the city of brotherly and sisterly correction if the neighborhoods will shoulder the task. More marches. More speaking out. More teamwork. More work.
City. Mayor Street and mayor-presumptive Michael Nutter should build consensus now for a citywide antiviolence program. This isn't politics; it's survival, for hundreds of citizens a year, and for the city itself. More policemen on the streets? More support for groups such as Men United? Decide now and make it happen.
State. Gov. Rendell has the city's interests at heart, but can he rouse Harrisburg to allow the city to enact tougher gun-buying rules?
National. As the FBI report shows, this country's inner cities suffer some of the same problems they've had since the 1960s. Few in power want to talk about that. Barack Obama did in a speech Tuesday, decrying the "sense of disconnect" that leads to a "quiet riot" of despair. If anyone thinks the federal government is doing enough for America's inner cities . . . the writing is on the wall, in blood. Big gov can't do everything. But could George W. Bush leave a better domestic legacy than a bipartisan program that backs the efforts of states and cities?
The hardest work - to accept - goes back to the individual. To accept is to care, and to care is to act. Denial and waiting don't make a revolution. As Cosby memorably said: "The revolution is in your neighborhood . . . in your streets . . . in your apartment . . . in your mind."
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/opinion/20070610_Editorial___Cosbys_Message.html
_________________________________________________
When I think of community leaders, this is who I think of. Not the Sharptons or the Jacksons...
As part of a rally against violence , Bill Cosby gave a speech at the Bible Way Baptist Church. The rally Monday was sponsored by Men United for a Better Philadelphia.
Bill Cosby's popularity in the African American community hasn't been the same since he started speaking his mind about it. He has told parents to start parenting. Told the community it was complicit in the misogyny, vulgarity, violence and racism in black culture.
Many take offense. Why blame a people still struggling with racism, inequality, poverty and crime?
Their complaints can't be dismissed. But neither should Cosby. Everyone - black, white, whatever - needs to hear what he's saying - and act.
Monday, Cosby joined Men United for a Better Philadelphia on an 11-block antiviolence march through West Philadelphia. Then came a frightening FBI study in which, among U.S. cities of one million or more, Philadelphia leads in the rates of murder and violent crime per 10,000 inhabitants.
Monday's march, Cosby's words, and these searing statistics suggest that much work remains for this city, on several levels.
Individual. How about this for an unusual statement?: The killers are wrong. Many may be teenagers, on drugs or poor. They may have suffered disrespect, violence or crime. They may belong to an oppressed class or race, trapped in a hopeless system in which every roll of the dice is a loser.
No matter: If they kill, they're wrong. They are always wrong.
Cosby's message to young men: Stand up and accept yourselves as responsible agents. Step away from the annihilations of backward rage. Accept that murder makes you less of a man.
Family. Be closer to your children, Cosby said. Parents should "love and hug" - create a home environment of acceptance and closeness, to counter the fear and brutality outside. And fathers can't teach if they don't stick around. "We've got to teach our children to think of other ways to settle ill feelings" - one of Cosby's best lines on Monday. Which leads to:
Community. As Penn professor Elijah Anderson has shown, the "code of the street" has undermined older codes of right and wrong in the black community. Individuals can help change such malignant codes - but scuttling them will take the effort of many villages. Better, more watchful neighbors. Friends being better friends. People unafraid to say, "That's wrong."
"Stop waiting for Christ to come," Cosby told the crowds, a shocking line - but also Christ's own teaching (Luke 17:21, "The kingdom of God is among you"): That the future rests with us and our work. This can become the city of brotherly and sisterly correction if the neighborhoods will shoulder the task. More marches. More speaking out. More teamwork. More work.
City. Mayor Street and mayor-presumptive Michael Nutter should build consensus now for a citywide antiviolence program. This isn't politics; it's survival, for hundreds of citizens a year, and for the city itself. More policemen on the streets? More support for groups such as Men United? Decide now and make it happen.
State. Gov. Rendell has the city's interests at heart, but can he rouse Harrisburg to allow the city to enact tougher gun-buying rules?
National. As the FBI report shows, this country's inner cities suffer some of the same problems they've had since the 1960s. Few in power want to talk about that. Barack Obama did in a speech Tuesday, decrying the "sense of disconnect" that leads to a "quiet riot" of despair. If anyone thinks the federal government is doing enough for America's inner cities . . . the writing is on the wall, in blood. Big gov can't do everything. But could George W. Bush leave a better domestic legacy than a bipartisan program that backs the efforts of states and cities?
The hardest work - to accept - goes back to the individual. To accept is to care, and to care is to act. Denial and waiting don't make a revolution. As Cosby memorably said: "The revolution is in your neighborhood . . . in your streets . . . in your apartment . . . in your mind."
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/opinion/20070610_Editorial___Cosbys_Message.html
_________________________________________________
When I think of community leaders, this is who I think of. Not the Sharptons or the Jacksons...