It’s as if Bill Cosby and Alvin Poussaint were trying to write a state of the union address for the African-American community in their recent and controversial book, Come On People.
In the book, Cosby and Poussaint attempt an analysis of the present health of the black community in which they conclude that African-Americans have some serious issues to address. They cite some pretty sobering statistics: 70% of black babies are born to single women, black males have a high school dropout rate of over 50% in some cities, and blacks make up 44% of the prison population in this country although they comprise only 12% of the population.
According to Prof. Don Shaffer, who teaches African-American Studies and English at Dominican University, the authors are making what is referred to as “the culture argument”-that the cause of the negative statistics is black culture. In other words, values, traditions, myths, perceptions, taboos and self-perception within the African-American community are the main barriers to realizing Dr. King’s dream.
This analysis is controversial. For example, blogger Earl Ofari Hutchinson wrote, “While Cosby is entitled to publicly air black America’s alleged dirty laundry, there’s more myth than dirt in that laundry.”
The proposal Cosby and Poussaint offer to redress this situation, however, is as controversial as their analysis. Basically, they are telling the African-American community to stop blaming whites and “the system” for their problems and start taking responsibility for moving up from victim to victor.
Since it is traditional for a response to follow the State of the Union Address each January, it seemed proper to give African-Americans in our Tri-Village area an opportunity during Black History Month to say what they think about both the analysis and the proposals made by Cosby and Poussaint.
The problem
Dwight Bailey, pastor of Austin Blvd. Christian Church, said the authors put into print what a lot of black folks were thinking. “I hope the issues Bill Cosby raises are not seen as a negative on him,” Bailey said. “He is only saying out loud what a lot of people are saying in their living rooms and around their dinner tables.”
Though he didn’t disagree with Bailey, Bob Sherrell, a former Oak Park village trustee, said the book was too simplistic in its analysis.
Prof. Shaffer agreed, noting, “It’s not that simple. If you really want to explain those numbers, you have to go much further than the old culture argument.”
Shaffer also argued that even though there is a “kernel of truth” in what Cosby and Poussaint said, how our society is structured explains the negative statistics as much as black culture.
District 200 board President Jacques Conway agreed saying, “From the days of slavery up until the current educational system [in which] many of your African American boys and girls find themselves, the system has stopped them from getting the education they so desire. The power to educate first starts with the people in power and in many cases the powerful are the whites, the rich and the educated. And unless they impart their power to the powerless, these children will never receive the education they so need.”
Devin Love-Andrews, a member of St. John Lutheran Church in Forest Park, took exception with Conway’s point of view, noting some blacks are part of the power structure and are also part of the problem. “Bill Cosby,” he said, “is telling African-Americans what they have needed to hear for a long time: Slavery is over. This message, unfortunately, is what most liberal African-American ‘leaders’ do not want their people to hear because they consolidate their power by making sure their people remember how ‘oppressed’ they are.”
Ralph Lee, a District 200 school board member, allowed that the book contains some truth about “varying segments” in the black community, but added that it makes the often repeated and “unproductive” mistake of lumping “all black people” together as a homogenous whole. For example, the book states African-American girls perpetuate their low self-image by dancing to music that refers to them as “bitches” and “ho’s.”
“While some radio stations and recording companies do routinely accept these terms,” Lee said, “it is not my experience that it is acceptable to the majority of young black people.”
Harriette Cross, pastor of Cornerstone United Methodist Church, put it this way: “I don’t feel that we are a black community, but black communities. The black community is diverse.”
Shaffer added that Cosby and Poussaint may have erred on the side of minimizing race too much. The Dominican professor referred to an interview with George Will following Barack Obama’s victory in the Iowa caucuses in which the conservative columnist declared that the “old, tired narrative about race is done,” but events in the primaries following Iowa, he said, confirmed that race does matter.
Shaffer also pointed to a statement by African-American commentator Shelby Steele who believes Obama can’t win the election. Steele, noted Shaffer, argues that black politicians tend to be either “challengers” or “bargainers.” If Obama comes off as a challenger, he’ll alienate whites, and if he starts bargaining, blacks won’t support him.
“As much as people say it’s not about race,” Shaffer declared, “it is about race. It’s the gorilla in the room that no one wants to talk about.”
Solutions
Respondents agreed more with the proposed solutions offered by Cosby and Poussaint than with their analysis of the problem. The concrete proposals in other words, were worth paying attention to.
Conway, who is also an ordained minister, affirmed the book’s contention that children need two parents in the home, alluding to the Book of Genesis.
“I truly feel for the child born or raised in a single-parent household. He or she needs both loving and caring parents to [grow] among the weeds of life and to truly understand the creation story.”
Likewise, Ron Atkins, a member of River Forest’s District 90 school board, agreed with the strong emphasis on education in Come On People as “a very important key to success in life in America.” He, like many who commented on the book, saw education as empowerment for success.
District 97 board President Michelle Harton spends part of her time teaching at Brooks Middle School in the Math Academy, a program designed to increase the number of African-American students who take honors math classes at OPRF High School. She believes that acquiring “a high sense of themselves” is the most valuable thing her students get from the program.
Every year she begins by telling her new seventh-graders that she expects them to be taking advanced placement physics, chemistry and calculus when they are in high school. She reacts to their whining and questioning of their ability by consistently keeping the bar of her expectations set high.
“They start to get used to the idea that they are expected to compete at that level,” she said. “What I have found over the years is that math acumen is oftentimes not the major impediment to a student’s success. It is important for a student to have a sense of themselves as high achievers with goals that are far-reaching.” She added that one way to accomplish that goal is familiarize students with the history of their people, which includes heroes like Booker T. Washington and Mary McLeod Bethune, who established institutions of higher learning as pathways to success.
Conway affirmed Harton’s conclusion, saying African-American children aren’t looking for a handout so much as “a hand to help them reach their full potential.” His wife, he noted, who is a medical doctor, was able to achieve her dream because of the mentoring and care given her by three older doctors-one of whom was Jewish, another who was Japanese, and a third who was African-American.
Sean Blaylock, vice president of Forest Park’s District 91 Board of Education, used a military metaphor to talk about the importance of education in general and learning to use Standard English in particular.
“Parents and teachers must take the lead in arming our children with this skill,” he said, adding that many people outside of the U.S. are surprised that most Americans only speak one language.
Harton agreed with Cosby and Poussaint that black students have to be taught coping and survival skills to use in combating stereotypes.
“Students,” she said, “have to be taught what to do when confronted by their peers and accused of ‘being white’ because they are dedicated to academic success … how to cope when entering a room and being confronted with low expectations … to assert themselves constructively … how to navigate for success.”
Conway used the term “power from within” to articulate what Harton was describing. For all its shortcomings, he implied, that power from within is responsible for America’s black cultural legacy.
Renee Willett, pastor of Fellowship Christian Church in Oak Park, liked the emphasis in Come On People on the necessity of the whole community working together to address problems and on the importance of moving beyond rhetoric to actually “walking the walk.”
Blaylock framed it in political terms, “I am looking to contribute in any way I can to solutions that will help my community. I am also looking to support leaders who are quick to follow the ‘discussion of the problem’ with an action-oriented solution.”
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On the negative side, Lee took issue with Cosby’s tone, accusing the former comedian of “preaching from a pedestal.”
“Black people, like all other human beings,” he said, “tend to value criticism that is accompanied by love and respect and place very little value on criticism that they perceive is accompanied by scorn and derision.”
Lee seems to be implying that Cosby is guilty of projecting some of the internalized self-hatred that he says is endemic to the black community.
Among the problems Shaffer had with Come On People was the book’s view of the African-American community as monolithic. Judging by the variety of responses here, that clearly is not true.
Shaffer is something of an expert on Ralph Ellison’s acclaimed novel Invisible Man. But if he were to write a novel, his African-American hero would be very visible, the inverse of Ellison’s character. What we’re seeing now, he said, is not invisibility but a proliferation of images, many of which are negative.
“I would write a character,” he said, “who would be very aware of who she or he is but in constant conflict with what the media projects.”
