by Dr. Boyce Watkins, Syracuse University – Scholarship in Action
So, Bill Cosby tells Russell Simmons to “Get the fuck out of my face”? I would like to say that the comment surprises me, but the truth is that someone else told me they had a similar interaction with Cosby in private. It appears that their divergence of opinions stems from Cosby’s remarks about black youth a few years ago. In case you don’t know, Cosby seems to think that all young people are headed to hell in a hand basket, and that they all miraculously decided to get together and destroy their own futures. The problem, obviously, is that there are a host of extraneous factors which led to the urban decay we’ve witnessed over the last 30 years: A failed educational system, unbelievable amounts of black unemployment and mass incarceration have worked together to destroy the integrity of the black family. Cosby’s courage in attacking single mothers and black teens is not matched with an equal amount of courage as it pertains to standing up to the powers-that-be who profit from our destruction. Therefore, his analysis was incomplete at best.
