This morning I was listening to Black Talk Radio and the topic was ole’ Uncle Bill Cosby and the allegations that are dogging him.
The callers and the host were extremely supportive of “Dr. Cosby,” and gave him the full benefit of the doubt. It’s like nothing short of a recoded and signed confession by Bill would sway their support for and faith in Bill.
Now, I have to say, I couldn’t really give a damn about Bill, I think that he’s an opportunist, a talented opportunist, but an opportunists none the less. He was a prominent figure during the height of the Civil Rights and Black Power struggles of the 1960s and he kept his head down, way down.
Then when the smoke cleared he pops up with some “positive” Black programing and he makes some “controversial” statements in that Black History film yall love posting so much (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=niqpkvyYMEY).
[Let me touch on that video for a second, because that annoys me to: The video was produced after King, and Malcolm were assassinated, after COINTELPRO was in full swing, and when it was safe for the Negros who kept their heads down to stand up and actually be Black, many prominent Negros from that era took none of the risk and reaped all of the rewards of the struggle. Bill makes a video after many African scholars put their credential, jobs, and lives on the line to bring us the true facts in history; and this goddamn comedian does a historical overview and yall fall all over yall selves!
Why didn’t Bill tell us to look up Dr. John G. Jackson, Dr. Yosef Ben-Jochannan, Dr. John Henrik Clarke, Carter G. Woodson, Cheik Anta Diop, Ivan Van Sertima, or any other real historians who were on the front-line of the struggle? Why did he take a watered down overview of their research and put it out there without giving recondition to real scholars? Why the fuck did he, after talking all that shit then show us an integrated class room with Black Children seated next to White Children, right after going over those issue, was he suggesting that it’s all in the past, and it’s all good and wez equal now? Why? Why? Why?
Why didn’t Bill stand with Malcolm X, hell, Dr. King was too much of a trouble maker for him to stand with and publicly support. Where the fuck was he when the Black Panthers were being executed in the streets, he was one of the most prominent Black men in the world at the time, and he kept his head down, way down that whole era and only became “Black” when it was safe and sanctioned by the White Elites.
Most of his peers, even the non-political ones took very public stances and were shown standing with our political and cultural radicals; from Harry Belafonte to Redd Foxx, to Muhammad Ali, and many others put up their fame and wealth, and took considerable risk to support the People’s Movement, and were was Bill, why did it take him until damn near the 1970s to figure out that he could use his star status to make a real difference?
It’s because after COINTELPRO destroyed the real Black leadership they found that the Black masses still were radicalized and wanted change, so the White Elite elevated some safe and controllable Negros to the foreground to “lead the people” right back into oppression while these controlled Negro leaders used the radical lingo and dress of our real revolutionaries. So Uncle Bill gets not props from me for doing an Black history doc, he should have put his money and influence up to give our real Revolutionary scholars a platform, and stayed in his lane as a comedian.
One more thing; this MFer was playing a Black spy on the TV at the very same time the CIA and FBI were first recruiting Black agents to infiltrate Black Organizations in the US, Latin America, and in Africa; then he turned about to play a wealthy Negro living is the almost exclusively White community of Brooklyn Heights at the very moment Blacks were losing ground economically (due to deindustrialization), Affirmative Action/Set Asides were being withdrawn from Blacks (who need that shit to get into law school and med schools) and the CIA was implementing it genocidal Crack program to drive us into deeper dysfunction. He was portraying fictional black progress and opportunity while Blacks were losing ground and opportunities (that the freedom fighters that Bill didn’t support gained for us) dried up. Then the MFer turns around an blames us, not for abandoning our Revolution, but failing to take full advantage of integration (which we never got) and the goodwill of our White oppressors (which never existed).]
Damn, I dun got all the way off track, I shouldn’t have mentioned that video, but it annoys me so may people post that shit as evidence that Bill was down with the Struggle and the Liberation of the People, he was/is not.
My initial point is about how we, the Black masses are caught up in Classism; how we allow the Negro Elites to get away with shit that we wanna bury poor Black folks for, how we give prominent New Negros a pass on shit we would never give each other a pass on.
Obama has a Kill list, and yall love him, but yall attack “dez kids out here killin.” Obama blames his failures on the White Republicans and yall accept that, but if a poor Black man blames Whitey for his woes yall attack him. Ole’ Bill just can’t keep his name outta scandal after scandal from sending his own child to jail for blackmail to the current dirt that’s being dug up, yall support this New Negro til the bitter end, but let a minor negative rumor start to circulate about one of our Brothers and Sister in the trenches and yall run with it; if you think I’m lying, look at how they tried to throw Umar Abdullah-Johnson under the bus behind a damn photo. SMH.
So, I ain’t saying that yall can’t hold us poor Black folks to account, but yall better make damn sure you hold these New Negros in high places to the same fucking standards, ya damn hypocrites!
Or at the very least give these New Negros exactly what they give to the community, Bill spent the last decade or more tearing the Black community down (without any historical or political context), and I never once heard him giving our young black “thugs” the benefit of the doubt; so why the hell should we give Bill anything but our contempt and suspicion. Let the children of the New Negros Elites and other New Negros support him, because that’s were he put his money, let those other Negros who get by keeping their heads down take up Bill’s cause, we need to sit this one the fuck out! (http://www.blacknewsweekly.com/new80.html)
If we don’t sit it out, we are showing a lack of Self-Love, because only someone who lacks Self-Love shows ongoing support to one who has failed to show solidarity to them. So let’s show some collective Self-Love and tell ole’ Bill that he’s on his own, and that he need to take “personal responsibility,” and to “pull (and keep) his damn pants up!”
