What are yall thoughts on Bill Cosby's Pound cake speech??

[MaxBundles]

I agreed.
People in 2024 still saying it was "harsh".
That's the problem, y'all don't want to be judged.
Or held accountable.
Tough shyt.
No more assauging your feelings.
Being soft is why we're at where we're at.
Y'all said he was wrong.
But in 20 years, y'all haven't done nothing to prove him wrong.

This where I'm at with it. Alot black people wanna be coddled with their feelings when it comes to this type of rhetoric but he spoke nothing but facts

 

[Blessed Koala]

Its like this....interesting message, bad way of addressing it from a man with a glass house and stone throwers. Lets not act like Bill wasn't from the projects and was on his low key deviant shyt, but so happened to find his way above the trenches. Yet, instead of just being like "brehs, I have been there, but you don't need to go in such direction", he went on a "pick up ya fukking pants you hoodlums", like the problem was that from the get go.

Nevermind the lopsided economy, the deception of politicians, the cutting of school programs to the point it's a K-12 prison sentence, the lacking of funding to help low income families escape such torment of poverty, the radio stations promoting lust, greed, and violence, while the music industry focuses on getting crash out drill steppahs as the modern day rappers to control the population of black folks, the heavy agenda of social media breaking up black families and demeaning our queens and belittling our kings, and downright making a killing on keeping black folks in prison (word to Alabama and it's recent cash flow ;) )

Breh I get it, we are in hell where these youngins are crashing out and deviancy is at an all-time high, but this speech was just a bitter angry old ass black male that didn't pick up the phone to receive his wake up call.

 

[Wildin]

I will say this...if you are trying to bring something to the comminity as far as kicking knowledge it has to be nonjudgemental and presented in a humorous way or it gets tuned out.

You want it humorous?

That's what i hate about this speech. This dude is telling people they need to be doing better and they are clapping like they agree with him but laughing like this is a damn def jam comedy session.

Your principal or dean isn't going to present it humorously to you when he says "you failed math".

The cops aren't going to present it humorously when they say "your kid was shot and killed".

The judge isnt going to present it humorously to you when he says "your sentence is 20 years."

Your god damn rent company/landlord/mortgage dealer isnt going to break it to you humorously when they say "you have to move" "your evicted" "we seized the house"

Your bill companies ain't gonna break it to you humorously when they say "your shyt is disconnected due to non payment."

Your boss isnt going to break it to you humorously when they say "as of today your employment is officially terminated."

I don't know if that's what you meant, but I've been pissed for 20 years that mfs were clapping and laughing like he was at the Apollo.

 

[Remote]

If you are old enough to remember how impactful Bill Cosby was as a comedian and philanthropist and television icon, I think you might have a different perspective about what he was trying to do.

40 years ago people didn't like the way he criticized other comedians and actors because he felt image or presentation mattered a lot. And those are fair things to debate.

I think that the backlash of that pound cake speech was more about anger over his delivery and it gave people an opportunity to escape the message he was trying to put forth. I think Cosby has been a complicated man but on the whole, he's done more good than bad. Or tried to.

 

[Dynamite James]

He was right

 

[invalid]

Let's keep it a buck..if Dr. FRANCIS CRESS WESLOMG gave this speech no one would say anything negative.

Poor people shouldn't have children. That's for starters. Yes it's mean, yes its raw, but it's real and truthful.

And she said just that. With her chest.

 

[CreepyMcCreeperson]

If you have black grandparents, you’ve heard them say the same thing.

 

[King Poetic]

Black people especially generation x and on like myself, hate accountability, hate responsibility, hate to look in the mirror and face the truth…

Black folks like listening to the DL Hughley types and keep the blame on others and bashed the messenger and not listen to the message

Bill came from the silent generation era 1925-1945 where people was born and they literally was still fighting for our rights…

 

[invalid]

And I hate to bug a lot of you bougie nikkas, but a man who sags his pants, may not speak the kings English and use "nikka" is still a fukking man, and still worthy of being treated with dignity and respect. The average mfer ain't dumb, and can tell when a mfer is talking or looking down on them, which is something a lot of ya'll will never shake yourselves from and it's why it goes in one ear and out the other.

Brother, respectfully, the streets are harsh.
These kids are being bombarded from all sides with harsh messages from the culture that reinforces genocide, drug usage, prostitution, and intellectual mediocrity.

When you're being bombarded from all sides with harsh messaging that has, at this point, penetrated down to the deepest parts of ones psyche, soft messaging is not going to penetrate at all.

You need a message that is going to startle people. Wake people up. Something that is the opposite of the messaging that they have been receiving but equally as harsh to snap them back to reality. We have no problem saying that that side is talking down on us but not the other side that's calling for our own murder and not our dignity and respect. But we've been receptive to this and not the other? It's being hypocritical.

And attacking the messenger discredits the message and gives others license to discredit the message from wherever it may come, again giving people the license to shirk accountability.

 

[UncleTomFord15]

Personal accountability is c00ning. And the cats you see running around murdering, robbing and harming other (innocent) black people, they are the real victims when you really think about it. Something... something the system.

 

[desjardins]

I used to have an agenda against Michael Eric Dyson over that book he wrote "Is Bill Cosby right"
So you can figure out how I felt back then. shyt just didn't age well with all the revelations that came out about Cosby later. It's always room for personal accountability tho
Maybe in 20 yrs ppl will look back on the pound cake speech the way we now look at Delores C Tucker but right today it's foh

 

[FTBS]

Also two things can be true. Are there systematic things negatively affecting black folk? Yes. Should they be addressed? Yes. Does that mean we aren't responsible for doing what we need to do for ourselves? No. Same for the reverse.

One thing I cant stand is convenient fragility. Gang leaders and drug dealers and cops dont talk to people nice. But guess what...people listen to them. The idea that an elder (who we aint know was sick) that has invested his time and money into the community, that has educated, uplifted, and entertained the community for decades would need to parse his words and worry about peoples feelings rather than the truth in what he was saying is . If a building is on fire and a person yells "You betta get yo ass outta here right now!" you gonna go back and forth about how they are talking to you or you gonna get outta there? This was a call to action. If people took his words to heart and acted accordingly would we be worse or better off? That should be what we are focused on...not his delivery or deviance.

This aint an attack on anyone either. I respect and appreciate everyone's substantive, thoughtful, respectful contribution to the discussion. I am more than willing to engage with anyone willing/able to engage in such a manner.

 

[MajesticLion]

Bitter medicine.

 

[WIA20XX]

Bill Cosby gave a speech excoriating poor blacks for not living up to the promise of the civil rights movement. What's yall thoughts on it

This isn't the full speech, and it's the most tame part.

American Rhetoric: Bill Cosby - Address at the NAACP's Commemoration of the 50th of Brown v. Board of Education

Full text and audio mp3 excerpts of Bill Cosby Pound Cake Speech (NAACP, Brown v. Board of Education)

www.americanrhetoric.com

Here are some of the fiery parts

Fifty percent drop out rate, I’m telling you, and people in jail, and women having children by five, six different men. Under what excuse? I want somebody to love me. And as soon as you have it, you forget to parent. Grandmother, mother, and great grandmother in the same room, raising children, and the child knows nothing about love or respect of any one of the three of them. All this child knows is “gimme, gimme, gimme.” These people want to buy the friendship of a child, and the child couldn’t care less. Those of us sitting out here who have gone on to some college or whatever we’ve done, we still fear our parents. And these people are not parenting. They’re buying things for the kid -- $500 sneakers -- for what? They won’t buy or spend $250 on Hooked on Phonics.

another one

If you knock that girl up, you’re going to have to run away because it’s going to be too embarrassing for your family. In the old days, a girl getting pregnant had to go down South, and then her mother would go down to get her. But the mother had the baby. I said the mother had the baby. The girl didn’t have a baby. The mother had the baby in two weeks. We are not parenting.

and

People putting their clothes on backwards. Isn’t that a sign of something going on wrong? Are you not paying attention? People with their hat on backwards, pants down around the crack. Isn’t that a sign of something or are you waiting for Jesus to pull his pants up? Isn’t it a sign of something when she’s got her dress all the way up to the crack -- and got all kinds of needles and things going through her body.

And the one that hit closest to home (for me and a lot of people)

Those people are not Africans; they don’t know a damned thing about Africa. With names like Shaniqua, Shaligua, Mohammed and all that crap and all of them are in jail.

Five or six different children -- same woman, eight, ten different husbands or whatever. Pretty soon you’re going to have to have DNA cards so you can tell who you’re making love to.

Oh and just in case ...

I’m saying, look at the Black Muslims. There are Black Muslims standing on the street corners and they say so forth and so on, and we’re laughing at them because they have bean pies and all that, but you don’t read, “Black Muslim gunned down while chastising drug dealer.” You don’t read that. They don’t shoot down Black Muslims. You understand me. Muslims tell you to get out of the neighborhood. When you want to clear your neighborhood out, first thing you do is go get the Black Muslims, bean pies and all. And your neighborhood is then clear. The police can’t do it.

I’m telling you Christians, what’s wrong with you? Why can’t you hit the streets? Why can’t you clean it out yourselves? It’s our time now, ladies and gentlemen. It is our time.​

Some more "fire"

What is it with young girls getting after some girl who wants to still remain a virgin. Who are these sick black people and where did they come from and why haven’t they been parented to shut up? To go up to girls and try to get a club where “you are nobody....”

But back on topic

We have to begin to build in the neighborhood, have restaurants, have cleaners, have pharmacies, have real estate, have medical buildings instead of trying to rob them all. And so, ladies and gentlemen, please, Dorothy Height, where ever she’s sitting, she didn’t do all that stuff so that she could hear somebody say “I can’t stand algebra, I can’t stand…" and “what you is.” It’s horrible.​

Basketball players -- multimillionaires can’t write a paragraph. Football players, multimillionaires, can’t read. Yes. Multimillionaires. Well, Brown v. Board of Education, where are we today? It’s there. They paved the way. What did we do with it? The White Man, he’s laughing -- got to be laughing. 50 percent drop out -- rest of them in prison.​

I applaud whoever did the hatchet job on this speech, but it still has undercurrents of the vitriol that Bill is spitting.

As for my thoughts?

I can run down the things that society/white people/media actively do to black people, incentivized to do, and get handsomely paid for. This stuff is happening to us a class. From poor pre-natal care when WE GO TO THE DOCTOR, see Serena, to being "tracked" into different schools, labeled as at risk, profiled by private citizens/businesses/cops, and screened out at the resume level, and then "not fitting the culture" at the interview level.

It's systemic, it's intersectional, it's pervasive, and has been going on in some form or fashion since they stole us from Africa.

All that said...

A lot of Black individuals are making unforced errors.

A lot of Individual Black People are making bad choices when they know better.

I'm not saying we need to be perfect before them folks should change, but one can "reduce the harm" by not harming one's self.

 

[RickyDiBiase]

Brother, respectfully, the streets are harsh.
These kids are being bombarded from all sides with harsh messages from the culture that reinforces genocide, drug usage, prostitution, and intellectual mediocrity.

When you're being bombarded from all sides with harsh messaging that has, at this point, penetrated down to the deepest parts of ones psyche, soft messaging is not going to penetrate at all.

You need a message that is going to startle people. Wake people up. Something that is the opposite of the messaging that they have been receiving but equally as harsh to snap them back to reality. We have no problem saying that that side is talking down on us but not the other side that's calling for our own murder and not our dignity and respect. But we've been receptive to this and not the other? It's being hypocritical.

And attacking the messenger discredits the message and gives others license to discredit the message from wherever it may come, again giving people the license to shirk accountability.

Then his message wasn't effective then.