So I was on stumbleupon and recently came across this speech from 2004 that Bill Cosby gave when he accepted an award at an NAACP awards ceremony in D.C on the 50th anniversary of the Brown v. Board decision. I'm pretty interested in what he talks about, and have yet to form a firm opinion about it.

I'll provide the full speech, because it is a bit long and some people on here would troll "didnt have time to read that essay!111!!11!" : Link to text of the speech

A lot of people praised Bill Cosby for being open about his opinions regarding "ebonics," single-parent families, problems in "the hood," and drug use.
At the same time, however, many people criticized him for ignoring the "culture of poverty" and focusing too much on the people living these lifestyles - they focused more on the job of a white-dominated society regarding this problem.

So basically I'm really interested to hear your thoughts!!! Thanks for reading and I hope this will be an intelligent and civil discussion...

I sense a big black **** sized mess brewing.

This is going to turn into a 20 page topic that goes EXTREMELY off topic with people going deeper into a subject that has nothing to do with any of this

He was right. The blacks need to step it up and stop relying on mighty whitey do something about the issue

But, I think this was a great speech by him. I do agree that Bill could've touched more on a few more issues, but he got the gist of it. I agree EXACTLY with what he's saying.

people (of all races) need to take responsibility for their own lives, plain and simple. the "white oppression" argument can only be stretched so far and it has nothing to do with personal ethics.

as a minority I have encountered my share of racism but that never prevented me from being a hard worker and achieving my goals of going to college. as a person coming from "the hood" I can tell you ive seen some crazy things but the thing that bothered me the most was the laziness of some people to bother getting up and getting a job or obtaining some type of skill to get a career.

most people who live in this area are actually good hardworking people, but there are too many who rely on government programs when they can very well do something to help themselves and their kids. it really is a cycle that has to stop.

So do you think that it is the government's job to stop these programs that are allowing these people to be so lazy in the first place, or it is the lazy people's job to get a job and not be lazy? Who should bear the brunt of the blame?

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the government has programs to help people in need. unfortunately (as I have seen first hand and ill be honest some of my family members) have taken advantage of this generosity because of the failure of the programs to give strict deadlines as to how long one can receive this assistance.

I think that there needs to be more government oversight by these program. examples could be giving deadlines to get enrolled in college, or trade school, or having to go on at least a few interviews within a couple of months and getting some kind of signature by an interviewer to show to a case worker. really anything that would give the case worker the knowledge that the person was at least trying to get out into the workforce.

As of now they just take peoples word and unfortunately many people just lie. so basically I think its up to both the government and the people to step it up but since that's not going to happen I feel like these people need to know that they cant just receive assistance forever. The only way that will happen is to actually threaten them (with a deadline) and tell them, you cant just live off of the taxpayers forever.

let me be clear, im not generalizing lower income areas, like I said there are many hardworking people who live there. im just referring to those people who take advantage of these programs. (as Bill mentioned)

he sounds like a trash ass self hating mess who blames the problems of african americans on black culture rather than systematic oppression.

did you even read the entire speech?

I was actually alive at the time of this speech lol.

At that time I thought it was an embarassment to blacks in general, but looking back now and actually having some experience with some people o realize that a lot of what he is saying is true.

I agree with a lot of what he said but disagree with the systematic education part its not easy to make changes in the school system. You have some who try to move to a better neighborhood to get a good education for their kids because the one near them do not provide the necessary means of a good education.

What about them? what about the ones who do want better but can't afford to move to the suburbs it's not all about being lazy all the time. Systematic oppression still exists so what solution do we have for them?.

But I agree 100 percent about parents stepping it up in being there for their kids so they do the right thing.
You can't complain about them being locked up or dead when you weren't there to guide them in the right direction.

I feel the same way about his quotes the same way as I feel about Don Lemon's quotes.

If you're talking about me messing up Don Lemon's name, that was moreso to a stupid autocorrect than me not knowing how to spell.

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Not at all, I meant the uncle tom part.

I don't think Cosby (or Lemon) for that matter, are necessarily Uncle Toms (THAT designation is saved for Allen West).Just that I think some of their opinions can kinda be misguided.IMHO The black struggle (right now) can be attributed to irresponsibility and ignorance.Residual Oppression is just only part of where we are now.

I can agree with that.