Agree with Bill Cosby

I truly enjoy reading your messages, but I have to agree with Bill on this one. You want to say it's societies job to take care of the less fortunate, but it is really OUR CHOICE, to do better or stay in that trap. we need to find it within ourselves to be strong and do something about our own situation. I came from a not so good neoghborhood and now I'm in an upper middle class suburb, and when i go back to where I came from, nothing has changed. the same people in the same place doing the same "crap". they wanna blame everyone but themselves for not making. "I wish I could get out of here just like you did" is what I hear everytime I talk to someone from back in the "hood". YOU CAN! you just have to want to bad enough to do something about it. if it meens changing the way you talk, done. changing the way I dress, done. We went from a 2 bedroom frame home worth $50K tops to I now own a $200k home in a nice suburb and as quickly as i could I got my mom and sister out of there too. they both now have their own $125K and $200k home of their own too. we pulled together and said we would make it. look at the jefferson's; they moved on up.

Why can't we all just get along?

I give Bill Cosby a lot of credit for saying what I’m sure a lot of people are thinking. We just don't have a forum to express our opinions publicly.

Yes, I'm sick and tired of the racism in the world. And yes, things are not always fair. But please stop making excuses, complaining and blaming the "white man". Believe me I have a lot to be angry towards the "white man", but I know that's not the solution.

I'm sick and tired of us "black people" tearing each other down. Bill Cosby said what he felt was the problem. He put himself on the line by speaking up. Whether, what he says is right or wrong, it is an opinion that is well taken. Hear what he is saying.

I would love to see our people have respect and pride in themselves. We need to be at a point where we don't have to depend on one another’s race to get us through. Build our own society, our own communities and take care of our people.

I know that may be too good to be true, but that's my opinion.

The fact that we are asking this question of who is right between Bill Cosby and Michael Eric Dyson is sad in it gives a glimpse of how far the African-American mind has descended.

Simply put, Bill Cosby is right!!

The things Cosby have said are minor compared to what needs to be said. We as blacks are our own worst enemy and have been for years. The African-American is the dumbest ethnic group on earth in regards to any ethnic group knowing “what is the real problem facing them.”

While we get satisfaction blaming Bush for every negative facing our people, black people continuously kill each other, perverted gangster rappers express their right to degrade women (who they consider bitches and hoes) and foolish black leaders actually condoning it and kissing up to these “niggeretic” fools simply because these rappers happen to be black (some have the gall to call themselves Reverends). If you condone the “niggerism” mentality of Michael Eric Dyson with all its negativity, blaming and vulgarity, you do a disservice to your race. Being black does not make any of the things listed above cool or right. It simply makes us stupid enough to think that it’s OK for a brother to greet another brother with "What's up my Nigger" simply because they are black.

We are the only ethnic group in the world ignorant enough to take derogatory terms and greet each other with them. And we actually believe that George W. Bush is our biggest problem? Martin or Malcolm please come back to life. We need either one of you. It is sad we have black leaders that will appear at the execution of a former Crips gang-founder and not show any sympathy or even make a comment on three young black men being shot dead in Boston by other black men. But again, we actually think that George W. Bush is our problem.

The Ku Klux Klan is in retirement simply because we are doing what they simply got tired of doing. We are simply doing a better job of keeping ourselves at the bottom of the totem pole or in the grave, better than they ever could.

I read the excerpts from your book in Savoy Magazine. I found it to been written with a superior level of intelligence. But of course, you are a PhD. It is my opinion that the very intelligence the good doctor possesses worked hand in hand with your opportunist inclinations. What a perfect time to pounce. One of America’s leading icons speaking bluntly and frankly on subject matter that the good Dr. is an expert. How could you pass the opportunity to elevate your own profile?

Good Dr., I am a product of the 60's generation from South Central Los Angeles and the grandson of a sharecropper in Louisiana. I know what it is to be poor. I have lived it. I now live in Oakland, Ca. where a significant part of the population is African-American. My question to you is this. Why is it that other peoples migrate to this great land of America and prosper? I am talking about people coming out of mud-huts in Southeast Asia, shanty towns in Africa, cardboard box and tin homes in Mexico and Central America, dirt farms in China. But we African Americans have excuses.

Many of your arguments in my mind are trite at best. The point is, the desire to succeed and aspire to greater heights I believe is absent from this generation of African Americans. It has to be something on the inside that makes one want to be somebody. Don't make excuses for mediocrity. It's too late for that.

Dear Mr. Dyson,

I just came from your discussion at Princeton on Dec 6, 2005. There was not enough time for questions from the audience. If there was, I would have raised some that perhaps you didn't want to hear, such as:

1. If Bill Cosby was so wrong in his viewpoints, why do so many people (black and white) agree with him?

2. Regarding Cosby's remarks about a poor parent spending $500 on expensive sneakers vs. $250 on Hook on Phonics for their child: Are you saying that Cosby's comments aren't true? Are you saying that a young single mother SHOULD spend her money on the sneakers instead of Hooked on Phonics?

It seems to me that black intellectuals and Professors such as yourself should focus on NOT nick-picking Bill Cosby's efforts to finally speak the opinion of the silent majority. You question his background, in particular his non-effort in civil rights, as a justification for dismissing his viewpoints. That is ridiculous. Bill Cosby speaks what so many of us have wanted to hear for years. It doesn't matter that he was not marching in the 60's. He is talking about what’s going on NOW in 2005.

I think that you and other brainiacs such as Cornel West and Professor Eric should be concentrating your efforts on issues such as the public education problem in the inner cities. The disparity in the quality of schools in the cities vs. suburbs -- underpaid teachers -- the whole voucher controversy -- the corruption of the NEA -- these are VERY complicated, thorny issues that remain UNSOLVED. Lord knows bussing did not help.

Instead of tearing down Bill Cosby, focus your "social critic" efforts on a cause that NEEDS your high-intellectual thought and broad thinking. Focus on something that can lead to a positive change in our society. Come up with some practical steps (not big words without substance) that can help our public schools. You guys are smart enough to do this and we black folks with less than a PhD education need you. So far, NO-ONE has an answer for this issue.

If your upcoming Katrina book is another effort to criticize the plight of the poor, the government, FEMA, etc., then I say disband it. You guys are way too smart to play Monday-morning quarterback on Katrina. There were so many political problems in that aftermath – what’s the use of re-hashing all that? Everybody knows what happened. All the agencies and politicians involved in helping the victims were caught with their pants down. But the bottom line was: Katrina was ultimately caused by Mother Nature and the fact is that New Orleans is below sea level, it was not caused what the mayor, governor, Bush, or FEMA did afterwards.

Elaine
Computer Database Analyst, Native Detroiter, and graduate of Wayne State, now living in Princeton.

Dr. Bill Cosby has been through it all. Consequently, he has the right to chastise the children he has always demonstrated he cares for.

He donates what he is able to donate (regardless of not being a software company), he puts together great television viewing that I have never been ashamed to view with any member of my family. (YES, I even like Leonard Part 6. – Hey, the man needed a tax right off.) In fact, he helped Cicely Tyson get her start on TV when he pushed for black people to be able to show black romance - check it out!

Dr. Cosby, the new father knows best, really does know best. He and his wife published a statement in JET magazine chastising society for laying the ground work that allowed a foreigner to come to this country and kill their son – again, CHECK IT OUT!

I as a black woman I am tired of seeing my black brothers walk around with their pants far down off the hips and thinking that it’s a demonstration of their rights. The last time I checked, pants are supposed to cover our bodies. How have we convinced people that the style is to buy clothes that do not do what clothes are suppose to do? But hey, "We got the right to show our butts and that is why some of us are going around acting like butts."

Dr. Dyson's points as presented December 4, 2005 at Hartford Memorial Baptist Church in Detroit, MI, were heard but were not necessary. Where Dr. Cosby sounds like the father who knows best, Dr. Dyson sounds like the nephew who has recently gotten into a little bit of trouble and wants people to feel sorry for him.

I'm with Bill Cosby on this one.

Dr. Dyson is not being honest in trying to frame Bill Cosby's speech as an attack on “poor black folk.” I heard no such words to that effect in the speech. What I did hear was a criticism of uninvolved parents who are setting a bad example for their children and a criticism of thuggish behavior on the part of some young black people. If you happen to be in that crowd you wouldn't like the speech, but if the shoe fits wear it. It's got nothing to do with how much money you have. Cosby's message was a call for better behavior; a much needed message for all people regardless of color.

After reading Dr. Dyson's book I'm convinced that he is just using Bill Cosby's speech as an excuse to spread more of the same old rhetoric of bitterness and righteous indignation against white society. Although there is little "righteousness" about his indignation since all he wanted to do was criticize Bill's speech, which he could have done in just a few pages. He didn't have to write a whole book.

It seems to me that Dr. Dyson is a person who enjoys being angry and couldn't resist telling everybody just one more time how mad he is about everything.

I have had conversations with a lot of my friends in reference to what Bill Cosby spoke about and most of us are glad that there are a few that are not afraid to speak the truth.

I went to my granddaughter’s graduation this past June and the young single mothers in the stands had their thigh high skirts on and their fingernails and a tattoo on just about every part of their bodies. Then I looked at the daughters who were graduating and they were carbon copies of the mother.

Bill Cosby did the Fat Albert part and then there were the Huxtables. Perhaps the Huxtalbes was not the true image of a black family. I will say that it did not have a lot of gang banging and shootings. Today the movies have nothing but negative images of blacks and our black kids crowd the movies to see these films.

I talk to the neighbor on my block about keeping their property up because it is an investment and I was put on a black list because I think that I know so much. I see that black kids on the block after school playing basket ball and the other part of the town where there is an Indian and Jewish population those kids are inside doing there home work. Black parents today have to open books and read and educate themselves so that they can help educate their children at home.

Today the school system does not educate children they indoctrinate them. I tell black families as I did my daughter that she must educate herself by reading the works of Dr H Clarke, Dr Ben, Chancellor Williams, and Ivan Van Sertima etc. What a lot of black people do not understand is that we are not needed any longer. Our young males are only needed for entertainment for the majority of the white population to run with football or shoot a basket ball etc.

They are dropping out of college to play sports and now the pro teams are taking them straight out of high school. Last week I was in Elizabeth NJ and I was driving down the street and I approached about twenty young black boys in the middle of the street with their baggy pants on and caps turned backward and their cell phones hung on their side getting ready to go to war. I turned around and went back the way that I was coming from because the 9mm were soon to be flying.

I see so many poor ethnic groups coming to this country and can hardly speak English but they are cutting lawns, washing cars, being picked up by contractors each morning working in fast food chains and doing anything to make a dollar. I have a friend who owns a car wash and there are only Mexicans that work there now. I asked him what had happened to the black kids he use to use and he said that they won't come to work.

These young black kids play basketball after school, go home and eat then they are tired and sleepy and off to bed they go and the home work is not done. I see this happening all the time. I go to the library on the week ends and I see East Indian kids and Jewish kids with their head in the books.

There is one place where the masses of black people congregate and this is the churches and we have our share of churches if nothing else. So we sit and listen to the stories of the white man’s religion each Sunday. This is the moment when the preachers should take time out to talk to the black grandmothers and mothers and children about our communities and how important it is for us to use the system and to register to vote and to go to the school meetings and bring up their grievances as to what is being taught and how it is being taught.

I hope that New York and New Jersey makes black history mandatory also like is has started in Philly. I look at the black community and when I hear of the crime that has hit the ceiling in places like Plainfield and Irvington NJ where they used to be high class cities. When the white people moved out these towns were not run down. Our black people moved in and until this very day I have never heard of white people coming into a black neighborhood breaking into a black home or stealing a black person’s car. If so, that white person must be heavy on crack or just plain crazy.

I was born in Elizabeth NJ back in 1938 and grew up there. It saddens me to see that there is not one black store in the whole town and the Elizabeth Port section is being revitalized now after we ran it down and the whole commercial part of the city is run and owned by Spanish speaking people. The only thing that our black people have is a lot of the white man’s churches.

I could go on and on but I am just responding to what I read in your book about "Is Bill Cosby Right" In my opinion and others I am proud that the brother stepped up to the plate and told it like it is. It is about time that black people look into the mirror and ask why is it that other ethnic groups are coming here and taking over the communities, which we populated and are registering to vote.

Some black people do not realize that the politicians know how to count. If you have a problem that needs to be addressed and you have ten people standing behind you and I have a thousand, who is he going to pay attention to? I say that I applaud Bill and I hope that some more of our celebrities open their mouths and give our people a reality shock that they so badly need.

There is an old saying that if you want to keep a secret from black people all you have to do is hide it in a book and I have found this to be true. I am in no way downing my people but just one of many who disagrees with your opinion of Bill Cosby.

I think that Mr. Cosby is definitely right about the Black poor of America.

We are definitely destroying ourselves...I say "we" because I believe that this is every Black person's concern, including myself. I believe that although Black people started off in this country at a disadvantage, we now have more than enough doors that have been opened for us by our past Black leaders to take ourselves to another level.

I think our Black people that have been called out by Mr. Cosby's speech have just given up and decided that being lazy is easier than focusing on goals and taking steps to accomplish them. Unfortunately, I fear that my people don't have a need to establish goals and therefore don’t have anything to focus on. No focus leads to just wandering around life without knowing where you're going, which leads to trouble.

That's what we're doing...wandering...wandering and waiting for a strong leader to tell us what to do. While we're wandering we're not being good parents (which is child abuse), dropping out of school, killing our people without a care, doing drugs, having promiscuous sex, going to prison, and making music videos that condone it all.

We need to realize that we, as individuals, have to be that leader and set goals for ourselves or else we will continue on this road of destruction until we don't exist.

I believe Mr. Cosby's comments are true.

We do need to practice self-enhancement and quit excusing the crime, dead-beat fathers, and drugs that permeate our communities. My community celebrates criminals like they are Robin Hood or something, but these hoods don't steal from the rich, they suck the life out of the poor.

I thank God that I was able to turn my life around, but in hindsight I think that if my community had not been so receptive to my anti-social behavior, I would have seen the light much sooner.

I understand that we live in a society that has oppressed us from day one but the voices blaming white people for our problems should not drown out the voices calling for the black community to stand up and take care of our own.

Michael Eric Dyson is too busy trying to fit in and suck up to the HIP HOP community that he has no clue to what is really going on in OUR community.

What Bill Cosby said is the truth but, he didn't go far enough. I'm tired of making up excuses for the behavior of far too many of our youth. I live life in the hood daily and our communities our in crisis. Shootings, drugs, robberies, you name it, it's going on. Today it is worse than ever because of the ever emerging 'thug culture" where anything goes and damn everybody else.

We make excuses for everything our youth do. That they can't get jobs; go to bad schools, experience racism and profiling, and more. We all know this happens all the time and much more than anyone wants to admit but too many of our kids quit before they ever even try. You can go tell Newsweek or Time or whoever about your watered down version of what is going on but we live it.

I know first hand about going door to door to talk with parents, or sitting on the local school board hoping that one parent would show up, and hosting meetings in the community to get parents involved but nothing worked. I see parents hang out half the night with their newborns in the back of their cars blasting music and drinking. I see kids spaced out on drugs. We tolerate everything.

You tell Mr. Eric Dyson to come on down to Oakland, or Richmond or pick a city and do something about the drug dealing, the murder, and the terrorizing of our communities.

He talks a good game about something he knows nothing about. Look at our low-income communities and you will find a sense of anomie has settled in most cases and people like Mr. Dyson sit around and bump their gums all day and have NO solutions or anything that can help alleviate any one of these daily issues.

Thank you Mr. Cosby, I only wish you went a little further.

I believe that Mr. Cosby's 100% correct on this issue.

The thing that black people seem to fear the most is the airing of the dirty laundry of our community. However, right is right and wrong is wrong. The fact of the matter is that many black people have absolutely no interest whatsoever of improving their lives through education. The sad truth is that many young black parents are looking for a quick fix to their lives when there isn't one. Many young black parents have all but abandoned the hopes and dreams of the civil rights movement if they ever embraced them at all.

And I can honestly say as a probation officer with the Georgia Department of Corrections that I witness daily what Mr. Cosby talked about. I'm a huge fan of Mr. Cosby and Mr. Dyson. However, I wish that Mr. Dyson wasn't so LIBERAL MINDED that he'd miss the opportunity to speak the truth regarding the black community. What's the truth? That being black and poor has never been justification for bringing shame to oneself. Being black and poor has never been justification for not speaking proper English. Being black and poor has never been an excuse for not encouraging your kids to be all that they can be. And finally being black and poor has never been justification for allowing our community to spin out of control.

Bravo Mr. Cosby for having the GUTS TO CONFRONT THE FAMILY for its wrong doing. Bravo Mr. Cosby for being willing to stand alone in the lions den and speak the truth. This is not about a divide between poor and rich. This is about right and wrong whether it be black, white, rich, poor or whatever, someone has to call the family to task for the behavior that we're displaying.

I'm a HUGE MIKE DYSON FAN but I have to DISAGREE WITH HIM ON THIS ISSUE. Mr. Dyson tries to suggest that the names some of are people are choosing to name their kids is an expression of cultural pride. That would be true if our people were living lives that reflected cultural pride. What needs to be taken into consideration is that OUR CHILDREN WILL HAVE TO BE EMPLOYED SOMEDAY. We've got to prepare our children for a life above and beyond youth. As much as I'd like to agree with Mr. Dyson I can't because naming our children Shaniqua, and Shaquan isn't an attempt by these people to express their identity.

Peace and God Bless.

We are left with two positions: neither is clear about what direction to take - so I will have to use my best judgment.

Would I rather have someone of stature in the Black community point out what he believes is wrong and improper, challenging the populace to bare responsibility for its dismal condition? Or would I prefer someone of stature make excuses for the dismal behavior of the masses of Black poor folk for the condition they're in, without any specified direction to rid the race of all the negative aspects Bill Cosby discusses? Hmmmmmm..... the choice is all too clear. Cosby is right, and NO, the Black middle class has not lost its mind!!!

While Dr. Dyson makes a clear argument against Bill Cosby's right to criticize those who he believes are victims of oppression and slavery, the obvious question that arises is who really has a right to criticize a group such as the Black poor, or any other group for that matter? Bill Cosby is a product of a poor beginning, and that alone qualifies him to be a critic. I'm assuming that Dr. Dyson's real difficulty with Cosby's comments is indicative of his inability to accept criticism from older individuals. Respect your elders, and be sure not to allow history to repeat itself. Dr. Dyson could make a far better argument if he focused on what Cosby was saying instead of who was saying it. The very gist of what Cosby says is that this generation of Black folks (the younger generation) hasn't understood the lessons learned by the older generation, and has absolutely no respect for the groundwork laid out by the generations before them.

People died to gain the rights which we enjoy today, however the road being forged today is not the path the older generation envisioned. In fact, the road being forged today appears to be self-defeating. Where will we be in the years to come if we fail to educate ourselves? If we continue to self-destruct we will become extinct. While Dr. Dyson argues that there are reasons there are multitudes of Black poor folks who never had a chance to make choices that would elevate their status in society, focusing on the reasons does nothing to change the direction of the race as a whole. Cosby's comments are much more of a challenge that asks Blacks to view the whole picture. Where are we going as a race? Why have we not achieved more in the time since slavery was outlawed, and why are there such vast differences in the generations? Why could an elderly person be so much more a part of the community structure 50 years ago, and today, his ideas are squelched by our youth? Why are we killing each other in the streets; fighting over turf that neither gang owns; why are there more Black men in prison than in college; why are we spending $500 for sneakers and won't spend $50 on hooked on phonics? Why are we still out-pacing Whites and Hispanics in the numbers we send to do jail-time (proportionately)? Is prison where our youth feels it is proper to get an education? Yes, yes, Dr. Dyson says it isn't the fault of the victimized and that Cosby, least of all, has the right to criticize a group which he no longer represents. Well, I disagree wholeheartedly.

Bill Cosby just may have ignited a revolution that has been a long time coming. Kudos to Mr. Cosby for taking a controversial position that may have riled Blacks just enough to force us to step back and take a good look at ourselves. I don't think it is wise to wait for some rapper or some super athlete to tell us we are not living up to the legacy left for us by the leaders who died for our futures - such as Malcolm or Martin. Cosby's comments served as a wake up call for Black America and can withstand the criticism by Dr. Dyson.

Having read the book, Dr. Dyson leaves me no choice except to applaud Bill Cosby for speaking out and bringing these issues to the attention of America.

Had it not been for Bill Cosby, Dr. Dyson would never have had an opportunity to discuss the issues that Mr. Cosby publicized. After all is said and done over who was right or who was wrong, the very fact that we are even discussing these issues, which will hopefully bring about serious dialogue and ultimately - meaningful change, is potentially a very positive step in the right direction, for which we can thank Mr. Cosby. While Dr. Dyson and a few naysayers have chosen to attack Mr. Cosby's right to speak out, for a variety of reasons - including the fear that those who were already "blaming the victims" for their relative condition, would take Mr. Cosby's comments and use them as a banner to justify his or her position. While there may be some truth in that fear, despite the discomfort that accompanies the aforementioned tactic of blaming the victims, we cannot overlook the underlying truth that Mr. Cosby points out. How long will Blacks and Latinos continue to blame Whites for all that is wrong in society?

We have to realize that racism will never end - and will exist in some form as long as we are a multicultural society with one dominant species. Our resistance to assimilate into the dominant culture will forever mark us as anti-cultural misfits - but that is not what makes us "bad" or keeps us under the thumb of the dominant culture. Many races have maintained their autonomy and their dignity within the larger American culture by accepting some portions of the dominant culture, and stressing the importance of keeping intact some portions of their foreign culture - making it work within this society. Blacks and Latinos have not made a case for adopting anti-societal behavior. Can anybody verbalize a justification for a race/culture adopting a style of dress that mimics prison wardrobes? Can we justify the fact that there are more Black men in prison than there are Black men in college? I ask again, HOW LONG will we blame the White man for all that is wrong in society? If we accept the fact that racism will never end, we will have to redirect our energy, and come up with a redeeming solution - one that will address our lack of responsibility to this point in time.

Bill Cosby hit the nail on the head. I would suggest that Dr. Dyson spend more of his time figuring out why the Black middle class agrees with Bill Cosby, and search for remedies we can seek as a nation to awaken our youth from its comatose state. Dr. Dyson ought to thank Mr. Cosby for using his fame and fortuitous platform to point out certain matters that were hush-hush in years past. I, for one, wish to take this opportunity to thank Bill Cosby for "telling it like it is." Remaining silent in the face of extinction will do more harm than good.

I share Bill Cosby's views.

Black crime, illegitimacy, poverty, academic underachieving and on and on, have created negative images of the black community. That is a fact, whether people like it or not. Blacks have created a poor image of themselves which spills over onto people who do not deserve it. I don't blame Cosby for being angry.

I also believe that blacks resent Cosby because he can counter all of their excuses and finger pointing for their failures and problems. Cosby made it. Cosby was a trail blazer. It has always seemed to me that blacks resent other blacks who are successful. When a black succeeds then it disproves all of the blaming that blacks do to excuse their failures. It's easy for blacks to blame racism for all their woes. It gets them off the hook.

A black friend of mine was on the board of the local NAACP. When he rocked the boat and suggested a campaign of personal responsibility they ran him off the board. The same thing happened to Cosby. Blacks don't like the hard truths. They have been told for too long that they can fail and then cite racism. It's a lie and how long blacks will hold on to that is hard to say, but it's already getting old.

I don't like being told I'm a racist which seems to be the knee jerk response anyone gets when they are critical of blacks in any way. Blacks do not think they should be criticized and if anyone speaks out and wonders why the hell black males - 6% of the population - commit 40% of the murders in this country, and why 80% of black babies are born into poverty to single mother, and why the black high school drop out rate is twice that of whites, then we are called racists. When we wonder why black males are statistically more likely to go to prison than college we are called racists. When we wonder why blacks expect whites to solve their problems we are called racists.

My son's best friend all of his life, who is black, came back from college to go to his and my son's former high school football game. He was jumped and attacked by a group of black punks. I think they did it because they were jealous that he was in college. I think they were trying to sabotage him.

That's the sort of thing blacks need to be taking a hard look at. When I'm out with my son and his friend or my aforementioned black friend and I get a whiff of racism - which I have - it infuriates me. But it's the blacks giving blacks a bad name who I blame the most. People like you and the plain old hard working people who are just living and working and going about their lives, who also happen to be black, should not have to pay for how the majority of blacks have chosen to live - in poverty and crime and irresponsible procreation.

In a sense, Bill Cosby has a point.

We as black people have forgotten about our values, and our struggles to become who we are today. In our culture, we have used it to undermine one another. Whatever happened to us as a people?

I believe that Bill Cosby as a person is just obviously frustrated with the black community. He did set the example of how a black person should live instead of in the slums and gutters that we were so evidently used to and that our white counterparts were used to.

I don't believe he really meant to cause a stir, but sometimes people don't quite hear you. They hear but they don't get it, and it just takes those few choice words to wake people up and understand.

I just believe overall that we as a people took it as him talking “at” us instead of “to” us.

I think Bill is the only black American speaking the truth.

When black America can start taking ownership for their problems then they can start making progress. As a white American I don't owe the black American anything. I never owned slaves; I'm trying my best to make a living like everyone else. Stop blaming whites for all your problems.

I think slavery is a black eye on the history of the United States. I watch documentaries on the History channel about slavery and the treatment of black Americans and I feel like terrible. I have kids and feel bad when I realize the difficulties slaves had to deal with like families being split up and children never seeing their parents again.

Families that have been split up is at the root of all the black Americans’ problems. With no real parents children never learned how to be good parents. I feel all black Americans know the truth, but it's easier to blame someone else.

Even if you are right and every white person hates blacks, why waste your time complaining about it? Make your life, family, and community better. Don't worry about someone who does nothing but hate. This is a big waste of time.

I'm doing this more for my own therapy then to make a difference. Like most white Americans I'm sick of hearing how racist I am. I've been waiting for someone to say enough is enough! I think that person is Bill Cosby.

Well first off, I don’t know where the term African-American comes from since not a single one of you are from Africa, nor were your most recent ancestors.

As a matter of fact the only time I hear that term is on TV. I am a business owner and have yet to have a so-called African-American ask for a job, only a hand out or ask if I'm looking for drugs!

Am I a British-American seeing that my ancestors came over on the Mayflower?

As for Bill Cosby, well he spoke the truth. There are good people of color, like Colin Powell, who is a true AMERICAN. When will people like the so-called doctor realize that every person in the united states is afforded the same opportunities, but that Whites strive to better themselves, not sit and wait for a hand out or blame someone else because they quit school. There are more white people homeless than people of color, yet you don’t hear them crying fowl.

Maybe people like you should look at what Bill Cosby said and quit making excuses for pure laziness and stop looking for the easy way out. Michael Dyson is exploiting his color. He needs to find a real cause and quit looking for a fight.

Cosby was absolutely right!

Blacks should start taking personal responsibilities, if they want to change the system, this will no be accomplished by screaming at it from the outside.

GET INSIDE, BE A PART OF IT AND CHANGE WHAT EVER YOU WANT TO CHANGE. STOP YOUR CRYING AND DO SOMETHING!

I've just finished reading the book, and still, I defend Mr. Cosby's right to speak up and comment upon that dirty little secret that is a part of most American cities, that is part of the new social order.

For too long, the generations past have been silent and quietly seething when they saw the new generation so disrespecting of a collective history and former activists. I do not want to use a broad stroke to include our entire race; however the trend, or at least the VISIBLE trend of our youth, does not bode well for our future as a viable entity to be dealt with seriously.

I cannot visualize the admission committees of Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Cal Tech, Stanford, MIT, University of Pennsylvania, etc., shivering in their boots about what to do with the rising tide of qualified Black applicants from the inner cities of America. Yet, they are all grappling with what to do about their racial percentages between Jews and Asians. I cannot envision Wall Street, the halls of Congress, major law firms, brokerage houses, accounting firms, top hospitals, IBM or any major industrial corporations calling together meetings of their top associates to deal with the army of Black men who just decided to leave the street life, and arm themselves with degrees and knowledge as their weapons of choice, instead of illegal arms.

Cosby is an entertainer, who, as Mr. Dyson so eloquently points out, would not have had much material if not for the very same Black community he chastises. His humor derives from the swells of the Philadelphia slums. So be it. Cosby is just that: an entertainer - not a politician, who was observant and commented upon the negativity so obvious to him. Where does the fault lie? Certainly not with Mr. Cosby. Don't kill the messenger. In a way, who better than an entertainer who came through America in the forties through the Civil Rights movement in the fifties and sixties, to call attention to the failures of the people the movements were supposed to benefit?

There should be more Cosbys out there among our financially successful stars. Too many of us have accepted this reality and we are now paying the price for our failure to take responsibility as a race. Telling it like it is should not be a problem for Mr. Dyson. While Mr. Cosby has laid out the challenge in no less than bold terms, albeit without a plan to remedy the issues he presented, one cannot be dismayed by his attempt to start a dialogue to discuss the obvious failures that has the Black man on a path toward extinction in the not too distant future.

I'm overweight, and have abused my body for many years - should I be upset that a casual observer pointed out that he observed me stuffing my plate for lunch with bad choices of food every day for a week? Should I then engage in a diatribe to blame my genetics for where I stand? Should I blame McDonalds and other fast food establishments for saturating the public airways with commercials for their less than nutritious meal offerings? The answer is categorically NO!!!! I have to face my own demons and get a grip and handle my responsibilities of eating properly and exercising regularly in order to be healthy. In the mirror lies the ultimate truth - no one to blame but myself. Mr. Dyson may be able to present a better case for me and spread the blame around and provide me with excuses, but the bottom line is the same. He may even label some of the observers as the "Dietocracy," living well somewhere without a right to criticize what I've been through, however, the fault ultimately falls into my lap.

I had an uncle from Philadelphia tell me years ago: "we are where we want to be, and we're heading where we want to go." The beautiful thing about America, albeit imperfect, is that we can change our surroundings and our prospects by making adjustments in our lives. This is not to say that it has been easy for many, or will be easy for others to re-direct their focus. However, the possibilities remain and are limitless if we, as a people, take responsibility for our actions.

Mr. Dyson, a preacher and an educator in the community, knows this all too well. To borrow phraseology from my sons and the current generation, don't hate the player, hate the game. From my perspective, the game will soon be over if we don't "recognize" where we are.

I strongly believe that Bill Cosby is absolutely correct in his assessment of the Black and Black culture in the United States.

Being of Hispanic decent, Mr. Cosby's assessment holds just as much truth for the Hispanic population. After seeing Mr. Dyson on TV, he is the stereotypical Black activist who is set on making this great country of ours a third world country.

All I hear spewing out of Mr. Dyson's mouth is resentment and blind hatred; certainly nothing constructive for anyone to use, much less Blacks. It's a shame that we have all these Black charlatans coming out of the woodwork to exploit the ones they claim to be helping.

Mr. Dyson is right up there with the Jesse Jacksons and Al Sharptons in this country. If these so-called Black activists want to help the Black population, instead of attacking the rich and conservative governments, they should attack the entertainment industry and the media. Here is where Blacks have been prostituted and until we all get a better perspective, things will never change.

Mr. Dyson is living proof that being educated does not preclude one from being an ignorant fool!

He is no more than a cheap race hustler in the same mold as his less polished colleagues Mssrs. Sharpton and Jackson.

I'm surprised that he doesn't call himself, "The Reverend Dyson."

Bill Cosby is right!

This will become even more apparent 20 years from now when Hispanics will be the majority in this country and African-Americans will be blaming the "Brown" Supremacist for the black community's inability to succeed in American society.

Blacks in this country should wake up and embrace the Cosby message. A community which constantly labels itself as "downtrodden" because of historic circumstances will continue to be defeatist and unable to proactively take advantage of the opportunities this great country offers.

It is time that the Black community instills hope, self-responsibility, persistence and progress rather than constantly looking for others to blame. Of course this would require Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Kayne West and Michael Eric Dyson to be constructive rather than racists themselves.

I think Bill Cosby is right.

It's time whiney liberal Black Americans take responsibility for their own actions (or lack of action) and quit blaming non-blacks for your irresponsibility’s.

In other words grow up and start setting a good example for our younger generation.

Bill Cosby is right! And no the black middle class has not lost its mind.

When I first heard about Cosby’s speech I must say that I was curious and wanted to know more. Then the press hit hard and I couldn’t go anywhere without hearing about it. I really think that Cosby is just trying to bring awareness to a problem. And if that means embarrassing a whole lot of folks and airing dirty laundry…then so be it.

I really think there is a problem with any race that can’t say “Thank You” or “No Thank You” when appropriate and give attitude when asked a question. I know that this is more of a class thing and it could be in the Black world, White world or any other world but since I am Black or African-American, I would appreciate that my own race would get off of their behinds and act accordingly. And if you don’t know what acting accordingly is then there’s a problem. It may be the sign of the times but there is no excuse for disrespect. If anything I blame ALL OF OUR ROLE MODELS. Role models that are making millions but are acting like gang bangers and you can’t say it’s not out there.

Whether a Rap star or an athlete, you are a role model. I am sorry that the trend is Ghetto Fabulous because now I’m seeing and hearing EVERYBODY putting on their best “Yo’ whatsup.”

I feel that both Dyson and Cosby want the same thing…different paths, but the same thing.

Bill Cosby is on the money.

We have always been a very proud people, and if we had nothing at all, we are the people who have a legacy of raising our children.

We are indeed each other keepers.

We have lost something quite valuable in our quest to live the American Dream.

I am an educator in an urban district and I think Brother Bill Cosby is 100% correct.

Unfortunately, in most of our urban cities responsible parenting is out of style.

When Mr. Cosby says that "we must take back our neighborhoods" he's so right. We have to be held accountable for the way we act and the way the world sees us.

Nobody is going to care for black people and their plight except black people.

As the hurricane was sweeping across the South East, U.S., I predicted certain people were going to find some way or another to blame white people for the misfortune in that region.

Sure enough, on Bill Maher's show, Michael Dyson opened his mouth and said, "If this (hurricane) happened in a white community, something would have been done faster and with more concern." I have news for you; there would have been the same mistakes made in any community despite population characteristics.

I hope Mr. Dyson reads what I have written. Maybe he will realize that what he said is just another ignorant black comment that never fails to come out whenever certain people in the black community get the chance to speak. It’s always the white man's fault. Take your head out of you’re ass Michael Dyson, and stop thinking everyone is against blacks.

Sooner or later your complaints will not win you sympathy from anyone, including fellow African-Americans.

I think Bill Cosby is right in some aspect.

I live in a black neighborhood and there are a lot of people just doing nothing. The black men live off their women and hang out on the corners.

I go to work everyday and it is a shame when a man who is younger than me asks me for a dollar. But then again there are African-Americans at my job who are working and supporting there families.

I just believe you have different people in each race who do work and who do not. Yet the media chooses to show the negative side of our life.

I work for a major water company and there are many blacks in upper management who have degrees or earn there position thru hard work. And I am one of them.

I totally support Dr. Cosby.

We do not talk proper English nor learn to thrive and survive in White America. I was never allowed to use “Ebonics” in the home. Proper English, attitude and demeanor will get you a lot more places than a made up name with 10 syllables.

As a hiring manager I could immediately profile an individual solely on the basis of a name. Yes, it's time to air the dirty laundry. We must step up and take OWNERSHIP and RESPONSIBILITY for our failures as parents and individuals.

I was not born in Africa. I may have been brought here, but even in Africa you won't find “Shaquita.”

PEACE,
R.

Bill Cosby is correct.

We, as African-Americans are always afraid of the truth and hurting some feelings, especially when the truth is spoken. It's not about the "class and cast system", it's about recognizing who we are and striving for the best for ourselves, our families, and our people.

As a senior citizen who was a college student during the civil right movement (1960-64), I experienced first-hand what discrimination, racism, and bigotry was really like. I picketed, demonstrated, and was assaulted by whites in "American" cities in the south. We African-Americans, who fought the good fight, are appalled at those who took our fight, struggle, and progress for granted. Further, it appears that others (immigrants, etc.) have capitalized on our success with the civil rights movement, and now take civil rights for granted. Is it because we as black people have not taken full advantage of what our forefathers and civil rights leaders fought and died for?

Needless to say what our inner cities are experiencing; black-on-black crime, neighborhood gangs, youth killing youth, poor school attendance, and a high drop-out rate, teenage pregnancy, drugs, aids, political disinterest, and so on.

Once we get pass the thin-skin ness, and start to deal with the real issues, perhaps things will improve; but for now, who knows.

Bill Cosby, Al Sharpton, and Minister Farrakhan are on the right track. We need to listen more intently!

I support Bill Cosby on this one.

We are in the year 2005 and it's time for black folks to get with the program.

There comes a time when we have to take responsibility for our lives and do something positive with it. People like Bill Cosby, Paul Robeson, and so many others have suffered humiliation and paid the price for a lot of us to have what we have today.

Everybody knows that the children in our communities have run amok and don't fear anybody or anything.
They can't speak English well, idolize Gangster Rap and know nothing about current events or anything pertaining to World History.

It all goes back to the parents. They are not teaching these children anything because they don’t know anything themselves. My father always told us and I quote "you follow a dumb kid home; you will find a dumb parent".

I'm not saying this to be mean-spirited, it's absolutely true.

I agree with Bill Cosby because it is time that people stop blaming others for their failure and be accountable for their own actions.

When I turn on the radio I hear people like Dick Gregory calling people "White Boy" and Jamal Simmons blaming "White America" for the black community’s problems. I have personally been passed over for promotion because I am a white male. There are college grants only for African-Americans. Affirmative action ensures that minorities have the upper hand when it comes to getting a job. When I turn my TV to BET Channel, all I see is Gangsta Rap, which seems to be based on negativity, i.e. killing, selling drugs, and more.

I hear about slavery every day. I had nothing to do with slavery and I don’t believe that there is anyone alive that did.

Your chances of being successful are as good as mine. It all just depends on how much you want it.

I agree with Billy Cosby.

As a Latino, I see the same petty exercise in self-victimization amongst my fellow Hispanics.

Of course black Americans were victimized in the past. So were Latinos. So were Jews. So were Asians. And, hell's bells, so were poor white boys. We cannot live in the past; certainly, we mustn't overlook it either. I cannot stand "conservative" historians that white-wash American history and downplay its atrocious chapters. The sordidness of United States' history is there for all to see. But, unlike today's blacks, the blacks of yore were patriotic, freedom-loving, and self-confident.

Today, blacks idolize mental-midgets that call for the brutal beating of women in their songs. How many blacks, though, know of William Carney? Now, there's a true black hero. Maybe if more of our black citizens knew of him, they'd have more respect for our flag. Unfortunately, many blacks today view it as a racist symbol.

Everything Cosby says is correct and accurate.

Dyson is a windbag with an excellent vocabulary and is strictly an apologist and excuse-maker for all the wrongs of the black community.

I agree with Mr. Cosby's point of view.

I may not have stated it the same, but most of us get the point. What he said is often time the subject of conversation between family members, or in barber shops, beauty shops and many of black conversational situations. Unfortunately, when said in public, some black folks get offended. They want to pull the black card of the offending member....Dog the messenger and the message.

Mr. Dyson, your life is well documented. I wish you would spent more time explaining how you over came all life's adversities to reach the status that you have. Maybe, it would be more helpful to many of us.

I believe Bill Cosby is right.

An overwhelming majority of African-Americans in this country do not seem to be motivated to do anything positive in their lives. They do not either understand or care about the importance of a good education; they look up to Rappers, pimps, etc, as role models and seem to blame the government for everything that ails them.

There is a reason why Africans come here and succeed as lawyers, doctors, engineers, accountants, etc. After all, we are black too, so if it was just discrimination, we should have the same problems. But we understand the value of hard work, delayed gratification, morality, family values, and a good education as we focus on these things.

African-American's really do need to wake up and start improving themselves. They are no longer the largest minority population in this country and soon, politicians won't even play lip service to them anymore. There are too many opportunities for black people to succeed in this country. Africans are not eligible for scholarships or grants yet they still somehow succeed. Time is fast running out and we all need to look at ourselves and take responsibility for our lives.

Mr. Dyson, please stop making excuses. After all, you went to college and are now able to write books, etc., because of it.

Please!! I agree 1000% with Bill!!

Dyson's trying to get pub off Bill’s back! That's just plain cheap. Bill has the right to criticize us and our behavior.

First, show me a perfect person, Dyson. Second, Mr. Farrakhan criticizes us about our behavior, but I haven't heard you go after him. Remember he's made mistakes too!!

And lastly, although I still respect you as a member of the family, but I can't get with you trying to come up off another man's back.

The type of divisiveness you are causing in the community is not healthy.

Yes, I agree with Mr. Cosby all the way.

Mr. Dyson,and lots of other African-Americans, just can't handle the truth. The fatal flaw in the black community is the family unit. Society has come to accept single parent families. This creates a message for young adults that it's "cool" to have sex and/or babies without being married, and artists who make music that promote this behavior make the situation worse because young adults identify with music more so than anything else.

We must accept the fact that the best environment for a child’s development is with both parents living together, not these one weekend a month parents. Children who are raised in a household with only one parent are lacking important social skills that usually manifest into "Angry Black-Men" and "Unfit Mothers" later in adulthood. We learn how to be parents from our own parents, so now we are beginning to discover second and third generation single parents, and we wonder why "Steve, down the street, got three baby-momma's just like his father does," and the cycle continues.

Then we look at the lack of desire to be educated in the African-American community. It is directly related to the family situation. Usually these single parents must sacrifice their education in order to either pay child support, or raise their children. Now, more and more children seem to think education does not always equal success, and it’s hard for parents to make a serious plea for their child’s education when they themselves are uneducated.

Mr. Dyson speaks of "Kanye West" in his comments in reference to his "self-critical approach to the link between consumption”, and the effort to ward off racial degradation in his song All Falls Down, but I guess Mr. Dyson forgot to read the title of the album College Dropout.

I think Cosby is right, generally speaking.

Sure, he overemphasized some points and didn't highlight the historical social ills affecting and impacting Blacks. However, it was time that some notable Black American stood up and exclaimed that we, as Blacks, have to have a hand in our uplifting.

Personally, I'm tired of continually finding excuses for why we are in our predicament. And I'm no fool; I know that slavery & Jim Crow had long-lasting economic and social impacts. However, I also walk the streets of my community, take public transportation, and mentor children. I see how we communicate and what our goals are, or not.

Until more Blacks take positions like Cosby, we will continue to find fault with the white man and not challenge ourselves and our community. I think Dyson does a disservice by publishing a book that in essence says, "It’s not our fault, look at these other reasons."

I beg the Black intelligentsia to focus on self-uplifting which will help our brothers-and-sisters tremendously!

I agree with Mr. Cosby because I "heard" him better than Mr. Dyson did.

At this writing, I am listening to Mr. Dyson's NPR interview for a second time. Mr. Dyson, being an academic blowhard, focuses on the isolated examples and phrases used, albeit carelessly, by Mr. Cosby -- an entertainer first, social observer second -- and not his heartfelt plea for personal change among the Black poor among us.

Mr. Cosby, a Blackman from the projects, has done more to elevate the image and status of African-Americans than any other living person of his celebrity and wealth that I know. Yet, because he takes a stand essentially the same as Booker T. Washington, Marcus Garvey, Elijah Muhammad, Malcolm X and Minister Farrakhan, to name several notable examples, he is assailed by a New Jack who should not be holding Mr. Cosby's coat, let alone criticizing him so doggedly in public.

Mr. Dyson builds his credibility from his ivory perch by recasting history on courageous African-American risk-takers like King and Malcolm.

Mr. Cosby is perpetuating their legacy. Hey, Hey, Hey!

I appreciate Cosby's take on problems within our community.

Everyday we hear about senseless murders and other crimes. While racism and neglect from the upper level of the Black community can attribute to some of the conditions, it seems like Dr. Dyson is merely giving the poor a pass because they are poor. What about people like Cosby, Star Parker, Ben Carson, John H. Johnson and others who grew up poor but made decisions in their lives to bring about positive changes rather than settle for the condition they were born into? I am sure that no one wants to be poor but there are options to escape poverty if one is willing to take advantage.

I happen to be a paraplegic as a result of a brain abscess at 15. I could have easily decided to go on welfare for my adult years and let the system take care of me rather than doing for myself. I earned a BS, an MPA and Ph.D. by working and struggling as others have done. I do not condemn those who are poor for being poor anymore then they would condemn me for being disabled but at some point, one has to take responsibility for self if they are to advance in life.

All in all, this book has brought a dialog to our community that has existed for generations. We are still suffering from "Willie Lynch" symptoms and with the drugs and violence that have saturated the Black community at all levels, I wonder if we will ever be able to come together as a people to support each other?

Bill was right on the money.

I was there and I agree with what he said.

It's time someone said it.

I've read Between God and Gangstra Rap and some of Race Rules...but have not read this latest effort.

I have always found Dr. Dyson's opinions to be well founded and thought provoking. I always enjoyed seeing him on with Ted Koppel to address any number of social issues. But I happen to think that Dr. Cosby makes a point with the seeming lack of personal responsibility that is prevalent with too many of our people, and that has to be corrected.

The whole process of establishing what’s important and what makes a community, economy, and world work, is the planning, education, money-management and clear heads to see and adjust to changes as they occur along with the ability to make tough and often unpopular decisions. In short, being responsible and not continually expecting somebody else or something in a government program to come and save the day.

Malcolm said it, Martin said it, and Melvin said it (and he's not even famous) "freedom is not given... its taken..." and you can't take anything if you're not prepared to take it and then manage it accordingly. Far too many of our people are simply not prepared to do or be anything more than victims...over and over again.

Cosby is right.

It is up to us to stop the continuous slide we are making. Black on black crime is out of hand. Is that white folks fault? Oh yeah, lack of economic opportunity makes our young black boys angry and hopeless, and thus they identify with thugs and criminal activity, right? That's the reason. Wrong. Stop exposing our children to negative images.

As adults we need to stop glorifying criminal activity in our songs, movies, videos, books, jokes, etc. Stop the blame game and letting our kids hear it. Stop teaching our kids that until the white man changes and treats us right that we will never have anything. No, that is not true. Until we stop destroying ourselves, killing ourselves, degrading ourselves, we will never have anything. We cannot have a nightclub because someone is always fighting or shooting. We cannot have a nice decent mall with decent stores because someone is always fighting or shooting. We cannot have certain school activities for fear of a fight breaking out. Come on, it's ridiculous!

As harsh as it might have sounded, Cosby was right. And as a single mother, I refuse to allow racism, sexism, classism, or any other “-ism” keep me from fulfilling my responsibility of taking care of my child, teaching him right from wrong, and raising him in a way to promote being a responsible citizen of this nation. Not a lazy, shiftless, thug-minded, what's in it for me type of person.

Michael Eric Dyson is an obvious hypocrite.

He's out to make a dollar off of Bill Cosby telling the truth. Bill Cosby is a self-educated, self-made black man who made a success of himself, something each person is capable of if they make an honest effort, regardless of where they go to school or grow up.

Dyson, a very well-spoken black man, should be ashamed of himself for trying to make money off this--he's causing more harm than good by denouncing what Bill Cosby had to say versus supporting Cosby's statements, which, although somewhat sweeping, were true and factual at their base.

Stereotypes exist for a reason, and Bill Cosby was merely using those for examples. Tell Dyson to either help the black race or shut up.

My comments have something to do with what I have heard from Mr. Dyson.

I don't think it is fair to require that a person have a specialty in whatever degrees Mr. Dyson deems necessary before considering that person's issues within a community that they are connected to.

All of us have experiences that foster inherent biases in whatever we may say. And just because Mr. Cosby has risen from poverty to celebrity doesn't warrant labeling him as elitist. He, like many others, sees what has been going on in our communities for a long time. It angers him as well it should.

Sure racism is still very powerful, but that is not the only factor keeping us down. The problem is not that some of our brothers and sisters are in poverty. The problem is that they are not working to get out of it. Many of our brothers and sisters have risen out of their situations DISPITE systematic racism because they took responsibility for themselves.

You cannot just pass off all the middle class Blacks as elitists who inherited their economic status in life. My own mother was born into poverty and pulled herself out of it through education, determination, and faith in God. She worked for everything she has and now can pass on opportunities to me. This is what good parents should do.

Right now, I know all that some of us may be doing is trying to live from day to day. The welfare system is not built to help us build a better future for ourselves. We must change this. But what good is changing the systems that oppress us if we continue to have a welfare mentality. We must recognize our obstacles, but stop looking at ourselves as the victim. We can no longer make excuses for ourselves. It IS possible to overcome by ourselves, individually, within the system that oppresses us.

We are NOT acting white by learning to speak correct English. In fact, we know that in the Jim Crow Era, unfair tests that included reading and writing requirements were used to keep us from having a voice. Well those same tests are still in place. Instead of complaining about it, LEARN how to read and write CORRECTLY. I know that things are a little different now, but all Bill Cosby is asking is that we continue our heritage of excellence against all odds.

We survived a lot as a people and it wasn't because some government agency threw money at us. It was because we worked hard and educated ourselves or at least made sure our children were educated. It may seem unnecessary, but it is essential to success.

Let us not criticize because one of us pointed a finger. Let us look at where the finger was pointed and make a change.

I am white. I grew up poor and with the cards stacked against me. I am now successful in many areas of my life and that is because of choices I made.

What you are offering in your book is merely an opinion. Bill Cosby's point of view is FACT. There are many forces out there, social and economic, but the cycle has to stop somewhere and people need to make better choices about their lives, black or white.

For you to give black people another crutch to lean on is not moral. It's time for people to get rid of their crutches and take responsibility for their own lives. The fact is that so many immigrants have been successful in this country. If they can do it, anybody can do it.

Mr. Dyson,

I am a young philosopher and just wanted to say after seeing you on many occasions on television and reading a few things you have written: "God Bless Kenneth Timmerman."

I somewhat understand the frustration Bill Cosby is feeling.

We tend to blame all of our trouble on someone else when a lot can be attributed to us. Cosby should not make light of these things but he has a point.

It is very easy to blame others and in doing so you can make yourself popular. Cosby is placing blame where it should be placed and this is not popular.

I admire his courage although he should choose his words a little more carefully.

I think that Bill Cosby is right in his comments.

Dr. Dyson looks to the social structure as why Blacks are in the situation that they are in. As a sociologist, Dr. Dyson should understand that you can’t work to change the structure, because the way to change it is to either destroy it or change the actions of the individuals within the society.

Societal structure has always oppressed the minority populations. It is up to us to change our actions and defy this inherent oppression.

With regards to the hip-hop culture, glorifying this only condones the ignorance of our people. Yes P-Diddy and Russell Simmons have profited from this culture, but at the expense of the ignorance of our people. Yes, they have profited from baggy jeans and too big shirts, but that does not get our kids a job as a marketing consultant or accountant, etc. We need to wake up and take responsibility for our actions or lack thereof.

And finally, why are we using people like Sean P-Diddy Combs as role models? Why not glorify W.E. B. Dubois, Booker T. Washington, and other Black intellectuals? (including Dr. Cornel West and Dr. Dyson).

Bill is right.

Dyson is just making a buck. Is he donating the proceeds from his book to the poor? I remember years ago when some Blacks had problems with how The Color Purple was depicting black men. At the same time my neighbor was beating his wife for breakfast, lunch and supper.

We need to face the reality of the situation, not Dyson's crap. Folks need to pull up their pants, stop dressing like hoochie-mommas. Buy books instead of Play Stations and expensive sneakers. It's not the crap they get now that's going to count, but an education in the future will.

How many kids are aspiring rappers? Probably near the same numbers of aspiring NBA and NFL players and statistically how many make it? Dyson himself did not get where he is by spouting Ebonics. Check out the high level of language that he uses. The very ones he is saying should keep on with the Ebonics would need a dictionary to be able to understand anything he says.

Dr. Cosby is definitely correct!

Blacks must stop attempting to make Whites feel guilty for their lack of success. Dr. Dyson, as well meaning as he attempts to be, only adds to the entire ideology of victimization, which far too many Blacks feel they must adhere to if they are to be really Black.

Dyson and his rhetoric does not only allow poor, middle, and upper-class Blacks to experience the sense of achievement other groups feel when they accomplish their goals. Dyson should call for more Blacks, regardless of their social and economic status, to seek the idea that “A person does not make their mark by how successful they have been at exacting charity, but by how much they achieve without charity…people need justice, not charity”

I will continue to support Dr. Cosby and his effort to assist Blacks in realizing their true potential. Unlike Dr. Dyson who only wants to promote himself with the same old tired rhetoric of the past that did not serve us well then, just as it does nothing for us today.

I contend that if more Blacks adopt Dr. Cosby's position that we would not have to have this discussion much longer.

I feel Dr. Cosby was correct with his comments.

While it is true that there are many obstacles that come with being poor, it shouldn't be an excuse for being ignorant. We all know that there are people in the lower class that work hard and try to succeed, Dr. Cosby is not addressing those, he is commenting on those who were their ignorance like a badge of honor.

I see it everyday, there are kids that can barely read but can recite every rap song and cuss more than adults and the parents do nothing about it. I see mothers drinking, smoking, etc., with young children in full view. Where do kids learn how to act and conduct themselves? From their parents, that’s where.

All Dr. Cosby did was put the responsibility on the certain group of people it belongs too. And as soon as he did that, he's accused of "picking" on people or is attacked by people such as Mr. Dyson. It's not society's fault and it's not the white man's fault your child doesn't have the correct values.

I feel that Mr. Dyson's apologetic approach for those certain people does more harm than any of Mr. Cosby’s comments. We have to stop making excuses for the failures in our community. I'm sure Mr. Dyson is aware that Dr. Cosby grew up in a poor area of Philadelphia, his father wasn't there and he dropped out of high school. But he didn't use those circumstances as an excuse to do nothing; he worked hard and became a success. And since Dr. Cosby was addressing the NAACP, it's only right he discuss the problems affecting black people.

As a young black professional, it hurts to see some of our people taking more pride in their ignorance than in achievement. I say kudos to Dr. Cosby for speaking the truth.

I believe that many of Dr. Cosby's comments are valid.

It may be a very hard pill for some to swallow - but let's "keep it real". People are acting as though poverty in minority communities is something new. I was raised by a mother and grandmother, who were from the rural south. My mother worked hard and provided for her family. She also made time for us - she attended school functions, volunteered with my Girl Scout troop and taught us the value of hard work. We were not rich with money - but rich in so many other ways.

The difference in some of our people today is lack of pride. I think that previous generations took pride in their appearance, how they conducted themselves, educationally and in one another. There was a sense of morality. I look at how parents spoil their kids with material things when the child can barely read, is failing in school, and is disrespectful. That's not parenting.

If I ever thought of acting up in school, my teacher and parents would be on my case. I was blessed with a lot of teachers in my family and they keep discussing how the kids today are unruly and so disrespectful. When they meet the parents, they are the same way. Do these children have a chance? I hope so.

I believe that Dr. Cosby was trying to remind some parents that they need to do a better job in raising their children and that if you can't speak or dress properly, then you won't have much of a chance in getting a decent job. I am also an alumnus of Temple University (Dr. Cosby's alma mater) and I must say that he and his wife are huge supporters of Temple and several historical black institutions. He deserves respect for that alone because there are many successful people who do not donate to colleges, where there are young people who are trying to do the right thing!

I think Bill could have turned down his tone a bit, because when you come off as "ranting and raving" certain people automatically close their ears. They don't want to feel like they're being scolded or forcefully converted to some religion. However, I think Bill's anger stems from the irresponsibility of many blacks, especially those of us who are poor.

There are some poor blacks who refuse to take responsibility for their behavior. We've made extraordinary achievements so why are we sliding back down the slope now?

My message, to add to Bill Cosby's, is that we blacks need to take have more pride and courage, take better care of our image in the media, and stop regarding proper english speaking and education as "white" activities. From the very beginning we were forced immigrants in this country. Many of us need to start integrating into this society and drop the immigrant, "outsider" status to which they assign themselves.

Oh for heaven's sake!

The question is, not whether or not racism exists, it's, what are we prepared to do about it!

The failure of the Civil Rights Movement was that it did not evolve after the tremendous accomplishments during its initial phases. Our leaders failed to develop new strategies once entitlement programs were in place and African Americans were moving forward. It also failed to engage black people in a dialogue that was self-critical and self-analytical. After all, nobody's perfect. Not me, not Bill Cosby, not Michael Eric Dyson, nor the hoards of poor black people who were ravaged by generational poverty and ignorance and who have ultimately procreated the “talented tenth” into oblivion.

In the 70's the leadership that reaped the economic rewards of government programs sold out their black ”brothas” and “sistas” and became too comfortable sucking at the breast of white guilt. I saw MED at a very sad and imbalanced panel discussion during the Harlem Book Fair yesterday (07/23/05) and I was appalled by his bloviating, rhetorical soliloquy, (since the other female members were too much in awe of him to try to get a word in edgewise, not that they could). I got news for all of you who agreed that Cosby expunged white people from their guilt. White people stopped feeling guilty about us back in the Reagan years. That's why we have a cowboy for a president now. The days of expansive white guilt are long gone and are never going to return. Get over it and get busy!

When black people stop being suckers for slick flashy oratory whose rhythmic cadences tap into our ethnic bloodstream recalling the days when we communicated via the drum, and begin to value content and substance over style, then we will begin to make strides. This is the real problem with hip-hop. Lots of style, bling, and very little content.

These are ugly times. Dr. Cosby is right! Period.

Let Cosby speak. He's earned the right. He put his money where his mouth is and given millions to black colleges. He is, like many of us, tired of lame excuses.

"Them that's got shall get, them that's not, shall lose. So the Bible says and for some reason this is still news! God bless the child who's got his own." Finally, "God helps those that help themselves." And my mother's favorite: "God sure don't love ugly."

You preach failure.

Your message is, "Your life sucks because of the white man" and, "it will never be better here until the system changes." This is just code for perpetual failure and victimization and dependency on demigod 'leaders'.

You're goal is to assume the crown of the new black demigod. You want to push the Revs. Jackson and Sharpton to the side and have the Democratic power brokers come to you for "the black vote." In my opinion the days of this outrageous race hustle are numbered and only fools like you and Jackson believe it has a future.

You claim to speak for blacks, but by your actions and words, you think they are less intelligent than the whites you so despise. I'm not sure who you think you are fooling when you begin your ridiculous rambling “answers” to questions. Stick to the point, and don't use more words to make yourself appear intelligent, when in reality you are filibustering and your intent is to obfuscate and obscure the point. It's pathetic and embarrassing. And to think you call yourself an “educator.”

You are a hater and a phony.

Cosby is so right, and in the words of Jack Nicholson's character Marine Colonel Nathan Jessep: "Truth? You can't handle the truth!!"

I think that Mr. Dyson is a great contributor to the stinking thinking of the easily emotionally manipulated black people.

As a regular churchgoer, I know how easy it is the get a group to say Amen to just about anything. Mr. Dyson's attack on Bill Cosby is easier than shooting fish in a barrel. In the first place, as Mr. Dyson and his Amen corner agrees, Mr. Cosby's comments are whispered by most mature black people everywhere; his only shame was saying it publicly. Just like black people everywhere use the word “nigger” but calling another black person a “nigger” on TV is unacceptable; unless of course you're a rapper or comic then it's alright.

Mr. Dyson knows Mr. Cosby’s heart is in the right place and that's what counts. Mr. Dyson also knows that Mr. Cosby's intent was to help through straight talk. Just like that “Scared Straight” or “Tough Love” program. Sometimes sweet talk is not enough.

There are only a very few black people that have contributed so much money to black colleges like Mr. Cosby and it certainly wasn't Tupac, Mr. Dyson, or any of his Amen group.

I think Mr. Dyson’s approach, while well intended, only serves to support black people's finger pointing when it comes to their problems. I personally believe that a man like Mr. Dyson could have very easily been a successful pimp, preacher, or spokesman and motivator for the brain-dead underdog. He chose the latter.

I am a fireman, which places me right smack in the middle of many of the social problems of my city.

I see the young girls having babies and the young thuggish fathers that are standing on the front steps laughing like it's a game while the little girl is inside in labor. The little girl’s mother sitting on the couch holding a grandchild which is the 2-month-old of her 16-year-old daughter.

I have so many stories that could back up Mr. Cosby's comments. You see... I think the same things that he said every time I have to enter many black homes in my community. I am also upset because as a Black fireman I face challenges because of stereo types. I try to defend my race when the whites say we are lazy, we are looking for handouts, or have no respect.

Granted... like we have projects they have trailer parks with the same type of whites.

What I see is the whites are ashamed of their people so they just ignore them like they don't exist and as blacks we allow the worst of our community to dictate our dress, the way we talk and the way some of us choose to act.

I have a 15-year-old and a 13-year-old. I am 41 and never had a father. I chose to be a real husband and father and have been married 19 and a half years. 'We make choices in life and unfortunately black people are linked to each other’s choices. It's simple, if one is honorable and upstanding he/she has a better chance in life. That's what I am teaching my kids. I read Mr. Cosby's comments and not one word offended me. I took it in the context of which it was spoken.

Mr. Cosby is a comedian and although it was a serious subject he was still Bill Cosby. I listen to Mr. Dyson on CSPAN tonight (07/23/05) and it troubles me that our brightest stars choose to use their energy attacking the very people that are trying to turn the lights on so we can see what is truly going on. Mr. Dyson, you could better serve us by paying attention to what I see as a cry for help from our strongest and most capable like yourself. Why can’t we agree and face that some in our communities are destroying our chances of making real change and real progress? Work on ourselves and then be more prepared to fight the wars and battles we all will face in our daily lives. If we refuse to recognize our problems how can we improve?

Mr. Dyson, I've heard you recite Tupac’s lyrics and you seem to really embrace him as a person. As an artist he was great without a doubt, but as a father I would be a fool to raise my kids using Tupac as a positive example. I will say that he was one more among many that gave us a far to familiar conclusion...Thugs that make the choice to live that life end up in jail or dead.

I agree with every single word from Dr. Cosby.

Black is not a race but a state of mind. Mr. Dyson gives no solution. The enemy of "blacks" is "blacks." The blame game should stop. Blacks oppress themselves. Has he listened to the lyrics of hip-hop lately?

Why isn't BET and NAACP harping on this? Harping on liquor stores, hair weaves, relaxers, blue-colored contact lenses, baby-momma drama, skin-tone prejudice, welfare, pimps and hoes, drugs, domestic, drug and alcohol abuse.

He should stop talking “Jessiejacksonese.” He is not saying a darn thing...just speaking too loudly and to fast. Shut up, please. I denounced the black community a long time ago. Most of my hurt and pain comes from this community...and there is no excuse.

There is no unity here. Before there is a cry about past wrongs there should be a critical examination as to why there is so much hatred among blacks.

Dr. Cosby speaks the truth and from truth is love. He is not an "Uncle Tom!"

Mr. Cosby is right!

Black people are taking a back seat to Mexicans.

Also no one is talking about how these huge black Churches are sucking all the money out of the community and putting nothing back!

That's why we still have massive ghettos in the country.

It's the church you people should blame for the down turn of the black race!

Think about it!

My Distinguished Colleague,

I think you're wrong and you have taken what Mr. Cosby has said way out of context.

I do appreciate your courage and determination to speak your heart. I also think you become too emotional and never give others a chance to express their sentiments.

You do your best to dominate panels and I think this is an injustice to others.

Thank you,
Ph.D. Candidate

Dear Mr. Dyson,

First of all let me just start off by saying that I'm a huge fan of your work and love the way you speak publicly.

Now in regards to Bill Cosby, I believe he is right to some degree. I mean no matter where you live or stay, you are still obligated to take responsibility even if you are the poorest of the poor.

That is just the right thing to do.

I agree with Mr. Cosby and commend him for putting it out there as it is.

Black Americans take notice and own up to self-responsibility. You need to stop comparing yourself to white people and blaming them for all your faults and misfortunes! As I tell my many family members, "the white man didn't make you drop out of school or have unprotected sex. He didn't put a gun to your head and make you do drugs and alcohol. He didn't tell you to hang out on the street corner instead of looking for a job. The list goes on and on.

Our ancestors have fought too long and hard for our access to vote, attend higher education, and so much more. Yet, I cringe in frustration as so many of us throw it back in their faces. So many of our youth only dream of being rap stars or athletes. Kids are bullied and abused for wanting to excel in academics. Black Americans are quick to whine and cry about what the white man is doing to blacks but will not educate themselves on social issues and politics in order to vote locally and nationally when needed.

When the few blacks that do make it to the elite status in America cross the bridge into success they alienate themselves from the rest. Suddenly they’re too good to socialize with the "others." I despise those weak black men who need a white woman on their arm in order to feel fully completed. They claim black women are too complicated. Please!

And don't even let me begin on the race card issue. I am so sick of this card being played. As a dark skinned black women I have only encountered racism from my own race and never from a white person in my 28 years of life. Why is it that blacks can call each other "nigga" but scream racism when the white man says the "N" world? And to those fools wanting a black president and I stress "FOOLS," - Why would you want a country ran by someone who can't even maintain their households, neighborhoods, and communities?

I am yelling from the highest roof top, "BLACK AMERICA, YOU BETTER TAKE THE INITIATIVE NOW BEFORE WE BE WORSE OFF THAN THE NATIVE-AMERICANS IN THIS COUNTRY!

A Blaq Queen.

I totally agree with Dr. Cosby's premise.

Black people or those who consider themselves of direct African descent need to tighten their belts overall and get their act together. I also agree with others like Larry Elder and Shelby Steele because Black folk are always making excuses for every one of their problems.

As African-Americans, we have the highest rate of out-of-wedlock births of all nationalities by far including immigrants that speak English as a second language.

We call our women names that other races would not allow in media outlets to children. We don't finish high school in alarming rates in almost every major urban city.

As a young urban professional between 25-42, I (as well as many of my colleagues) agree with Dr. Cosby and feel that other Black professionals need to step up to the plate and stop being enablers of our race.

After reading the book, I believe Bill Cosby is more right than wrong.

Professor Dyson's defense of poor blacks' speech patterns and dress seems to me to be a "reach" to justify the status quo. Shouldn't we be encouraging changes in these patterns which can only deter assimilation? Unless the goal is to assimilate, we will continue to have two distinct societies with increasing frictions.

Like it or not, we humans generally choose to associate with those who are somewhat similar to us. While, admittedly, we are not yet color blind, I believe color has become less important than how people look and act.

There is no doubt in my mind that Cosby is right.

I understand how limited it must seem; but I must speak from my own experience.

One little story so you can put this in the perspective you need:

One day, when I was having a particularly hard time learning long division, I went up to my mother and said: "Ma, I can't do this." She looked at me and said: "You can't do it? Oh, you're stupid?” (She knew that I wasn't, as did I). She proceeded to spank me while asking me if I was stupid. I said no, over and over, but it didn't stop the spanking. I went back to the room and learned long division. I've gone as far as pre-calculus all because of that little lesson. Instead coddling me and allowing me to be a victim of some sinister numbers game, she shocked me into realizing my that laziness was my only assailant. And that came from within. I knew I was being lazy intellectually...my little unformed mind knew.

We can overturn anything if we work hard. And, historically, when has that not been the case except in recent history, when strategic notions of what it means to be a "victim" have flooded our prescriptions for betterment? As one who grew up poor but was enriched within by another who hadn't even finished high school, I have no time for any values that embrace or engender defeat.

That's it; everything else is the equivalent of black intellectual sophistry. And I can't dignify that with argument...there is too much work to do. Excuse me while I get some ammonia.

Mr. Dyson,

I think Mr. Cosby is right about his views of us as a people.

I myself have let someone down, which was my son.

I saw you on B.E.T and “nigga” is only a bad word if you feel less than a person if someone with no color calls you one.

Peace

I agree 100% with Cosby and I applaud him for giving it to us straight and not sugarcoated. I am also astute enough to separate Cosby (the person) from Cosby's message. Yes, Cosby has had some "issues" in his personal life as of late, but whatever is in his personal life should not minimize the message he is offering. If you know anything about Black history, you know that MLK, Jesse, and the Hon. Elijah Muhammad had "controversies" personally as well. But I do not think those controversies ever diluted their value to Black America. So why should Dyson castigate Cosby over his? But that is "our way". Discredit the messenger instead of listening to the message. I see Dyson's book as simply that.

Every year I see Dyson on Tavis Smiley's day-long "State of Black You Name The Subject" symposium. Every year he dazzles us with his big vocabulary and embracing of hip-hop culture. He even wrote a book basically "sainting" Tupac Shakur, equating him to James Baldwin or someone. But behind all those big words is just another sophisticated version of absolving Blacks the blame.

Cosby is right. Many of our people at the lower end of the scale aren't keeping up their end of the bargain. Our middle-class and educated do fine. But the people who have to try the hardest seem to try the least. What ever happened to the parental sacrifices needed to do right by the child...whether there is one parent or two in the house? When did welfare become the status quo? And most disturbing, when has education become "acting white"? There is a whole generation of Black youth out there that will become dispossessed because of their refusal to participate in mainstream society. Unfortunately, these people will be left behind in an ultra-competitive world. Hispanics and Asians are now doing the work WE used to do, but won't do anymore. And they are putting their kids through school doing it! Once upon a time that was the model for lower-class Black America. That message seems to have died with MLK.

It is time Blacks stop blaming "the man" and "the system" and start creating their own destinies. All the energy wasted on Reparations should be channeled to helping out most "at risk" children in the poorest neighborhoods. Phds like Dyson should stop talking and start doing something substantial instead of trying to defame a man trying to be part of the solution -- albeit a tough love message. Cosby has given MILLIONS to Black causes and scholarship. Dyson has given us a few books.

I'm with COS!

Bill Cosby was right.

We have more than our grandparents ever had and yet we squander it. We are immoral, yet we go to church and praise God and sign songs that we just got over. Allot of our struggle is now because of our own behavior and not racial inequality. This debate is the same as the differences between Booker T. Washington and W.E.B DuBois.

What we need to heed as a people is the scripture below:

2 Chronicles 7:14

If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

If we turn from our wicked ways, the Lord will hear from heaven, forgive our sin, and heal our land. And this will be regardless of what white people attempt to do to us.

Take personal responsibility for your holiness and integrity and trust God for the rest.

Thank GOD for 'Dollar' Bill!

Mr. Cosby said nothing that Minister Farrakhan hasn't stated regarding personal responsibility in the Black Community.

It is irrational to state this because focus and subsequent analysis on a more specific issue without broadening the view is somehow wrong.

Just like in the medical field, you have specialists that diagnose a PARTICULAR disease and\or body part versus a more GENERAL practitioner.

Mr. Cosby was not talkin' about society-at-large and the conditions that it produces. We know there are those, particularly "social scientists”, pundits, and authors, who already provide this analysis.

It is also self-righteous and contemptuous to use words that imply that Mr. Cosby or anyone else cannot share views despite not being "qualified" to do so because of their "occupation". As if to say you can't offer social commentary being a sanitation worker, a maid, a day laborer, or comedian. Social analysis is reserved to those with 'letters' and the desire to write books.

Again, Mr. Cosby was only dealing with “US 4 US” and not social conditions. Personal responsibility and social design are NOT the same thing yet both contribute to society’s success and/or demise.

Mr. Cosby was focusing simply on the former and was as correct as Minister Farrakhan, leader of THE most personal reform and responsibility group in Black America as per the credo: "DO FOR SELF."

PS: I do believe that Mr. Cosby's language and delivery could've been more delicate and digestible.

I agree with Mr. Cosby wholeheartedly!

I read Mr. Dyson's book of which he makes a lot of cogent points. However, I must disagree with his main thesis, "Mr. Cosby is wrong." For too long we have coddled black folk and have enabled them so long that we have crippled them. Mr. Cosby was NOT talking about ALL poor black folk, he was talking about the ones who find excuses for why they don't succeed (and you know who you are). If the shoe fits, wear it, and don't complain because it's a little tight! Racism in America still exists, but we can't use that card until we have done all that we can do to better ourselves.

My grandmother who is 99 years old would talk to me about how she experienced racism in the south and in the north, and she and my grandfather were working class people. However, she still taught all nine of her children and umpteen grandchildren to persevere and keep trying no matter what obstacles stood in our way. If I skip class or don't want to go to school because I don't have the latest fashions, and my parents support this kind of "ignorant" thinking, how can I blame racism for that?

I usually agree with Mr. Dyson on many issues, but I totally disagree with him on this one. To answer his question, "Yes, Mr. Cosby is right!"

I totally agree with Mr. Cosby's view. It is very frightening what is happening to our black youth and the black race as a whole and Parents better wake up before it is too late. Calling each other the “N” word, as if it was a word of endearment. MLK must be spinning in his grave! And for the life of me I cannot understand why some people are criticizing Mr. Cosby for telling the truth. And if we as a people don 't wake up, we are going to become extinct.

Mr. Dyson was on our local radio station last week, and did exactly what Mr. Cosby said is the problem with blacks--he blamed whites, racism, poverty, and disparities in opportunity--BUT Mr. Cosby is RIGHT!

I have completed a chapter in a social ethics book, which outlines the disparity for blacks in rates of poverty, crime, HIV/AIDS and 25 other STD’s. Also rates of infant mortality, school drop outs, killing your babies in abortion clinics, and MANY other social ills - and guess what…they are ALL linked to ONE behavior which according to our own CDC blacks are CHOOSING to engage in at twice the rates of whites!

It takes courage to look inward and admit that the outcomes of our lives are OUR responsibility!

Bill is right, but you have to move beyond how these issues have occured. You have to move forward on how to solve the problems. You are no truth seller Michael Eric Dyson, you are a $$$$ maker. Educate, educate, educate.

Michael Eric Dyson is no different from most media pundits hiding behind his papers. He will never stand up and tell what he really sees. Standing in the background and watching a moral decline of all Americans is a crime. Dr., do you agree the absence of Black males in the household is really part of the problem?

After listening to you on Hearsay I wanted to say this:
Why won't we ever blame the motherhood for the social issues? You and others have the means and media forum to address this and I don't mean putting it in a book because the people who need it the most don't read your upper middle class view or the real deal.

You are so out of touch…where do you get your information?
We’ve heard the same issues brought up for the last 30 years. Race, federal government, single parent homes, etc.
Wake up! It's the inability to know how to raise children being passed down from one generation to the next.

I got more to say but I'll tell it to students ‘cause I know what hits home.

I have listened to Dr. Dyson on the "Big Talker" radio show out of Philadelphia. Unfortunately, I have to say I think he is "part of the problem." He seems to feel that Mr. Cosby's comments were meant exclusively for the inner city, poor blacks. I heard his comments and I understood no such reference. Dr. Dyson seems to imply that Ebonics is okay, and that there is a different language and set of rules that blacks can use when talking to themselves and amongst themselves as is made very clear by his recent position on the use of the N-word. Due to comments by Rev. Jesse Jackson, Dr. Dyson has stated he will no longer use the N-word in casual, public conversation. These notions are divisive. To assume there is one language and one set of civility rules that apply among blacks only, and another set that applies when blacks talk to others is craziness. It is exactly the kind of thing that divides and makes blacks feel separate and makes many whites further the stereotype of blacks that they just "want to be different." If nothing else, Bill Cosby was pleading with blacks to stop being ignorant for the sake of being different.

To be direct…I agree with Dr. Cosby.

At what point do we say enough! Where did our values go? Is it wrong to demand that we as a people have morals and standards? We need to teach our children to survive in society, not just life. You can't go to General Motors or Chase Manhattan as a man, dressed in baggy pants, timbs, white t's, dreads, and bling-bling. Or our women wearing dresses that the tops are too low, and the bottom is too high wearing 4" heels, talking Ebonics, cursing, while looking for a job. Our (Black) kids can recite 50 Cent word for word, but don't know the Capitol City of the state they live in, let alone recite Langston Hughes. Hell, some of them never heard of him.

Dr. Cosby gave it straight without a chaser. African American's need to step up, and stop making excuses on why we're not doing better than we are. Our problems are too many, and too deep, to address in the space you've allotted and that these two PhDs can debate.

And it's a shame that Dr. Dyson seems to hate on Dr. Cosby to sell a book. I'm surprised to learn that Dr. Dyson is a Minister. Couldn't tell by the way he's been going off on Dr. Cosby. Black thought is as diverse as the people are.

Dr. Cosby has been the subject of critics because of the Cosby Show of the 80's. People were saying that his show was not a reflection of Black Americana. Maybe not for them, but I know many African American families who have MDs, MBAs, etc. And I know many that are blue collar everyday.

Both men have valid points and it seems to me that Dr. Dyson does take the time to break his points down. But some people you just have to hurt their feelings to get them to wake up and listen.

I have read the book and while I respect Mr. Dyson's opinions, I couldn’t disagree more with his book. I work in an urban school setting and I get tired of hearing "brothers" and Puerto Ricans calling each other "niggers". I get tired of seeing "brothers" with their pants hanging down and think it's okay to bump into people without saying excuse me. I get tired of "brothers" thinking it's okay to disrespect authority figures. What's that all about? I thought it was their fault until I met the parents and saw where they got it. This generation is the least read, least curious generation in the history of the world. Why? There's an apathy that grips our community and it's nobody else's fault but our own. Too many of us walk around as if the world owes us something. The world doesn't owe us anything. I've only just scratched the surface. While I think Bill Cosby might want to take back a couple of things he said, which were factually incorrect, he was right on the money.

Dyson seems more concerned about black image than whether black Americans understand what is needed to progress in this society. While eager to complain about Bill Cosby, that eagerness seems to vanish when it comes to proposing an alternative.

Basically an academic critic without out much useful to offer.

I know Bill Cosby is right. All people must take responsibility for their own actions. Blaming others for your station in life is bull@#$%. The real question is whether or not you have lost you mind? If you want to make a difference you too would encourage other to take responsibility for ones own actions.

Bill Cosby is correct. Now, many take offense to HOW he said it all...but what he said was true.
We've spent the last 40 or 50 years trying to be something we aren't and leaving behind those who can't keep up. We've placed value on education ONLY if you "follow" the example "we" set forth. Otherwise...forget all y’all.

And then we turn and complain that "THOSE PEOPLE" can't get themselves together,
"THOSE PEOPLE" have no self-esteem; "THOSE PEOPLE" have no desire to be educated.

You're right..."THOSE people" have "NO's" cus we refuse to say YES to them.

We've created a gap in our community and we are comfortable with and Bill took a hook and pulled the gap closed...and we're mad about it.

Oh well...

*Return to attempting to reach some of the lost ones out there through education and lifestyle changes.

Dear Dr. Dyson,



I am a fan of your work and I have had the pleasure of hearing you speak and shake your hand. I am a member of St. Luke United Methodist Church in Dallas, TX. You spoke to the congregation about 6 years ago. I started reading your work and dissecting your point of view and became quite intrigued.


For the very first time, I disagree with you and I agree with Mr. Bill Cosby. I feel that black society today has lost respect for itself and the black race. We have lost focus as a people about what it takes to get ahead and the sacrifices that must take place in your life in order to be recognized and counted.


I feel that education and prayer have been placed on the back burner in the homes of black families. It takes hard work and dedication to rise above whatever you may endure as child in an environment that appears less than promising. Children today want a quick fix for everything. They do have any fight inside or out. Kids today go around the circle instead of going down the middle, so they can become stronger.


I was raised in a very small town and my parents were born in 1914 and 1933. I am 37 years old and was raised “Old School.” Respect was taught at a very young age. I attended a high school where I was the minority, but it did not keep me from being a leader and understanding what it takes to get ahead.


I would like to see the priorities of black people change, so that we can take control and move ahead as a race and stop making so many excuses for the situations that we have been placed in. We need a clear plan of how to better educate ourselves and take education seriously to ease the pain of the struggle.


Dr. Dyson, I am still a fan and I am so glad that God created you as positive role model for young black people. I just disagree with you on this subject.


Best Wishes

I think framing this as merely a class war discounts the many 'poor' blacks in the past and today that do insist on academic excellence for their children. My family is a prime example. With 17 children and a single income my grandparents were certainly not middle class. But they insisted on a certain work ethic that allowed their children to rise above the poverty they were born into. It would not be until 17th child, that one of their children graduated from college. But all achieved success in their careers - from police work, engineering, electrical repair, technical writing, nursing, TV producing, construction and military. These are just a few areas. And I have felt the long reach of their commitment to raising people of integrity as a grandchild. I knew there were just things a Manuel "doesn't do". And I guess ultimately - my heritage as a Manuel is even stronger to me than my heritage as an African American. Because there is much in the African American culture that I see, that I cannot identify with and claim as my own.


So for me, I see it much as class division than a morale divide. I think regardless of money or possessions - you have to stand for something in yourself and for your family. Treating others well, bettering yourself through education, using respectful language, making wise financial decisions with whatever resources you have (great or small) is a part of this. I personally have been on both sides. And my parents have to an even greater extent than with myself. But that hasn't changed how they raised me nor how they expected me to behave. I have seen many other examples of this with my personal friends mainly through church.


But those I have experienced without this morale core - both middle class and poor - appear 'poor' to me in respect for themselves and others as African Americans. They demonstrate - loudly - this lack of respect in the poor choices they make and the disregard they have for civil behavior. Bill Cosby is right to speak against this. Some in our community need to hear it. It's a wake up call coming from within our own community.

Thank God a person of Cosby's popularity and appeal finally aired the dirty laundry of our community. The greatest thing is that he ridiculed the targets of his diatribe in very humorous and vicious fashion. It’s about time. The only other place where you would hear these things, aside from the private politically incorrect conversations that many, many black folks have among themselves, is in your local Nation of Islam Mosque. It’s well documented, check out some of their literature. Funny how you guys never sacked Farrakhan or Elijah Muhammad the way you sacked the Cos. What is even more pathetic is the way that Cosby started to soften his commentary after the storm of controversy ensued.

Why is the black intelligentsia so hell bent on making excuses for a segment of our community that engages in behavior that destroy and terrorize our community. Perhaps you guys have yet to learn an important lesson: Never romanticize the ghetto. Laquan's membership in the Bloods is not a form of political rebellion. Shaniqua's third pregnancy at age 21, while still living in the projects, is not the action of a strong black woman in training. And at this late date, 140 years after emancipation, you cannot fault the white man or his white power structure for causing these folks to act as they do. Face the stark reality: Laquan, Shaniqua, and their ilk, are screw-ups. Period.

At one time, I thought as you did. Proudly brandished my red, black, and green Africa pendant. Blasted Public Enemy from my boombox. Unfurled my "By Any Means Necessary" Malcolm X poster on the walls of my dorm. I even voted for Lenora Fulani in the 1988 presidential election. My point is that I changed or rather I grew up. I suppose that if I had remained in academia, perhaps in one of those utterly useless Africana studies programs, I would have been shielded from reality and could continue reading Workers Vanguard and listening to Pacifica radio but unfortunately I got a real job. But then again being a middle school teacher in Bedford Stuyvesant may have biased me. I guess having daily interaction with the residents of the inner city may have given me false ideas. I suppose that if I had remained in the Ivory Tower that is academia I could have been as enlightened as you.

I think it is interesting that a person can make a career out of piggy backing on other peoples opinions. As an ordained minister I would like to know where these "opinions" you write about are listed in the word of God. After witnessing your rebuttal and affinity to hear yourself talk on the TV discussion with Ted Koppel I wondered what you based your life on. The bible does not speak to the "social structure" taking responsibility for people. The only person who has ultimate responsibility for someone's outcome is that person, could Cosby have been nicer yes. Could he have asked for more help from the Afristocracy to the Ghettocracy? Yes. But he was not talking to the people in the lower class and lower middle class who are taking responsibility he was speaking to the people that can't spell responsibility. Their are many ways to get from A to Z because he had the wherewithal financially to do so Cosby went where he saw fit to say what he wanted to say. You stated he did not go to the inner city and say it maybe not where you live but he came to a predominantly black neighborhood in Atlanta to say what he had to say when he was here. Everyone is entitled to an opinion and his work and legacy were his to make and be what it is. My question is what will your legacy be? As I listened to Cosby speak I heard the pain, anger and sincerity in his voice, he cared enough to say what was on his heart. When I heard you speak I heard someone who liked to listen to himself talk and plug his latest book. I don't agree wholeheartedly with you or Mr. Cosby but I do know that when he spoke it was with conviction and concern for the concentrated group in the lower class that he was addressing. When I heard you speak I heard someone who was interested in furthering his own agenda and plugging his latest book. The bible says that the church is here to help those you want to pawn off on the government...that the government is here to defend the country. Minister Dyson what does your bible say? The poor, widowed, incarcerated and orphaned should be aided by the church not the government regardless of the pigment of their skin. Minister Dyson what does your bible say? You ask is Bill Cosby right or has the black middle class lost its mind. I wanna know are you really concerned with the answer or how many people are willing to pay to find out what it is you have to say. I hope the people who see your book and want to read it are able to get it for the price I would pay? $0!!! If I ever read any of your books I'll check them out for free from my local library.

Having considered both the viewpoints of Cosby and Dyson at considerable length, I tend to believe that Cosby is saying what needs to be said. Dr. Dyson, though I am tempted to call into question your motives, I shall refrain, but I will say that I believe your philosophies keep African-Americans enslaved. You talk about us as though we are constantly at the mercy of the white man, like we are little children dependent not only on the white man but on people like you who seem all too willing to speak for us, lead us, console us. Sir, we are not children, and until you and others among our leadership stop trying to shelter us from the consequences of our own decisions, we might as well be pulling cotton. At some point we have to recognize which chains are in place because we keep them there.

Bill Cosby is telling the truth, but he is leaving another group of people out of the equation. Middle class black people and the black preachers who are just as bad. It's sad that we as black people have not come to the realization that if we do not address this issue head on, we are going to be in a real bad position in society 20 to 30 years from now. Our acceptance of disorderly conduct is worse than being addicted to crack and if we do not change our mindset and fast we are going to destroy ourselves into extinction. I'm saying this because I care about my people and I believe that Bill Cosby cares as well. I'm glad to see him willing to be brave enough to say these things even though it is not popular in the black community. The problem with us not favoring his opinion is the fact that it requires lots of work from us to fix our problem and its much easier to point to other groups of people and make comparisons to our negative behavior just like the high school students I teach. Unfortunately, Michael and others who share his view better recognize quickly that if your going to rationalize, justify, and accept ignorant behavior then you better be in a position where your services are needed. We do not produce or manufacture anything, and we own very little property. Furthermore, Hispanics, Asians, Africans, and other ethnic groups are surpassing us quickly. Therefore, we must address this issue head on and stop handicapping ourselves and appearing weak to the rest of the world. Nobody wants to hear our problems; they have enough of their own. Ask yourself this, if the government stopped giving us any assistance what would we do? We had better get out of this level of comfort and put our mindset into that of survival. Because only the strong survive and right now we look like the weakest link.

Bill Cosby is right, flat out right. Michael Dyson is totally obscured and in his attack of Bill Cosby shows he's more concerned of bringing down our best instead of complimenting them. As Bill Cosby would have put it, "the proof is in the pudding". Michael Dyson is the first black man you will see at every forum discussing the possibilities to why blacks have problems, and he goes all over the place, making no firm commitment to an issue. It's almost embarrassing to see him talking with white people on stage. Although his vernacular is far more complex than everyone else’s is, he surely lacks substance. I am tired of hearing him ramble on and on. To make matters worse he tries to identify himself to younger people by conning them with hip-hop quotes that he attaches to his asinine ideals.
How can he actually listen to Cosby's speech and declare it to be wrong? Every black leader who has gone against Cosby's statements has proven in some sort of way to be counterproductive to the black man's plight anyway. Look at Republican money hungry Russell Simmons. His interest is only in the black hip hop culture, he has no understanding that Black people are a lot more than just hip hop... everything has to relate to him. He's a fool.
I was caught in the Michael Dyson Hoopla when he first came out with books. I was saying to myself, wow an educated black man with a story... but once you understand that he is only an educated black man with a story, you can put him aside and listen to a black man with a real issue - BILL COSBY. I applaud Dr. Cosby for taking a less popular approach and identifying my people for what they have been to themselves and their families- irresponsible.

In all that I have heard and read the only person referring to "these people", as "poor blacks" is Mr. Dyson. Makes me think, hmmm.

From what I have read I don't see anything Mr. Cosby has said as being wrong. As a matter of fact I think most of what he is saying is right.

On speaking English—everyone has their own way of speaking amongst themselves but what Mr. Cosby said about speaking English is an example of bad English not Ebonics. Mr. Dyson's statements that Cosby has used this same English to make a fortune is wrong. Cosby made most of his fortune well before Fat Albert came along.

On clothing—I have this dislike of seeing the bodies of men paraded before me. I particularly dislike seeing the hairy chests, no any chests, in a venue that is inappropriate thus forcing me to confront situations that place me in a position that I don't want to be in. Yes, I could get up and leave most of the time but why should I have to. Don't I have a right to live also. Baggy clothes is one thing, this is something else. And if having your pants down around your knees is wearing them I think you may as well take them off and walk around in your shorts. And then again, who wants to see your shorts, you may as well walk around naked. Is that where you suggest we go?

Naming your children—I don't see what is wrong with stephen, or christopher, or even michael. Have you heard of the woman who named her daughter chlamydia because she thought it was beautiful?

Yes, there is a link between materialism, self-consumption, but social conscience. How can you have a social consicience when you are knocking someone in the head over a jacket, pair of shoes, pound cake. This is not social conscience, this is a lack of social conscience, morals and values. There is no excuse for this and YOU should not try to make one.

I know what being poor is, I am poor, have always been poor. This is not about being poor and YOU should not make it about being poor. By your statements you delineate a line when this problem crosses class borders. I am embarrassed by your statements.

Cosby is not, has never been ashamed of being black. Cosby was one of the first blacks to step across the line and say what you are doing to black people is not right. He put his career on the line many times to speak up for the rights of black people. Had not he and others done so, you would not be where you are today. For you to speak so of this man is disrespectfuly and (in my humble opinion) totally unjust. You cannot and should not disparage this man as someone who does not know from whence he came and does not know what he is talking about.

As usual in this history of ours, when we should be standing behind one another for all the right reasons you are falling for that old well used tactic. That would be divide and conquer. So it seems that YOU cannot talk about Mr. Cosby because you also are making your fortune on this subject. So tell me, Mr. Dyson, what are you doing to "make a difference." It would seem to me that untill you have stood in Mr. Cosbys shoes, walked the walk, fought the fight that allowed people like you to get where you are today, just be quiet.

I watched you on CNN today which is what prompted this note. My Mother always told me watch out for fast talking men. They mean you no good!!!

I respect Mr. Dyson's eloquence on a level that borders on reverence. That being said, I completely disagree with his argument opposing Bill Cosby and his comments towards low income African-Americans. I find Mr. Dyson's argument antiquated, and misguided. I believe like most of our present African-American (or whatever term we are using to describe Americans of recent African descent) leadership, Mr. Dyson is out of touch with the pulse of African-American opinion.

While Mr. Dyson makes ad homonym arguments against Mr. Cosby for his being "demurred" in his racial representation, I believe that it is the substance of Mr. Cosby's argument and not his history of racial representation that is of interest.

Why is it that we, the African-American community (although I was born in the Caribbean having grown up in America my culture is more African-American than Caribbean), continue to look to the horizon in anticipation of the next Malcom X or Martin Luther King? My opinion (although not backed by empirical fact, I naturally believe it to be true) is we wait because our present leadership lacks direction. We are lost on this journey that we have taken since our forced relocation to the Americas.

In the past, the issue of direction was easier because our goals were so clear they were almost tangible. In the past, we struggled against slavery, and later we fought the State and Federal policies and regulations that enforced our oppression. More recently we have had to fight private practices of discrimination through housing, banking, and employment, among other things.

In the past, when African-Americans were dealing with State enforced discrimination a person who suggested that African-Americans should focus on self-improvement could accurately be describe as either insane, or if "colored" or "Black," so filled with self-loathing that he was the equivalent of being insane because opportunities were clearly unavailable. These days opportunities abound.

By no means do I want to give the impression that America affords equal opportunity to its White citizens as it does to its African-American citizens. It must also be clear that I don't believe that our fight has resulted in the annihilation of these impediments to our progress. On the contrary, I feel that housing, banking, and employment discrimination remains prevalent but concealed. In addition, our schools remain separate and unequal as a result of disparate funding caused by the lower tax bases of the inner cities where the low-income African-American populations reside. However, if the strategy that we have for Black empowerment is to complain incessantly until the United States government devises a way to force all of its citizens to afford African-Americans the same respect and opportunities that they afford White Americans we will fail miserably in our efforts to empower ourselves.

The main crux of Mr. Dyson's argument is that Bill Cosby should not be so critical of low-income African-Americans without first recognizing the many barriers that prevent their advancement. These societal barriers are well known in the African-American community and we are weary with this preoccupation on them. It is my opinion, African-Americans feel that we need to stop complaining and making excuses and instead begin to show and prove. We want to prove it to ourselves so we don't just know that we are on par, if not better, but so that we can also brag about the achievements that attest to our knowledge.

Mr. Dyson represents the segment of the African-American intellectual leadership that is overly concerned with protecting the image of African-American culture. The thought is that we should not publicly criticize ourselves. We must stand united lest we lend credence to those who discriminate because of their belief in African-American cultural or even genetic inferiority.

When a person like Mr. Cosby demands introspective self-scrutiny of the African-American community, the protectors of African-American culture swoop down on that person with scathing, indignant, remonstrations. The result is two-fold: First, that person and his argument are discredited, thereby, negating the positive and badly needed message of accountability. Second, all aspects of the African-American culture, including the degenerative aspects that we should try to reform are reinforced and even legitimized.

There are some things that we in the African-American community need to change. We must sincerely ask ourselves why it is that Asians and White women are the two groups that have benefited the most from Affirmative Action? We need to know why so many dark skinned Africans and Caribbean people with excellent work ethics come to America and succeed.

I'm certain there is an abundance of justifications; but we tire of excuses. Any one who does not recognize that life is harder for low-income people with dark skin is in denial. However, there was a time when this knowledge was a call for African-Americans to raise their standards - "we must be twice as good." We need to be prepared to take advantage of the opportunities no matter how few and far in between.

"Twice as good." This means that we should not justify our failings by pointing out that other groups fail in similar respects. I don't care about other groups; I'm concerned with the African-American community. Why should we not set the standard of excellence in the areas that we are lacking so that we may proudly extol our accomplishments? Then if our accomplishments do not yield economic and political rewards we can rightly decry the injustice of society.

Therefore, one of the reasons Mr. Dyson's argument is misguided is because most African-Americans, I believe, agree with Mr. Cosby in his statements about the deficiencies in our culture. In jest, the average African-American describes the difference in African-American and White culture by painting African-American culture as aggressive, lazy, and decadent; whereas, White culture is describe as passive, disciplined, and diligent. We laugh and nod in agreement with the exaggerated generalizations by African-American comedians that describe our behaviors in similar light. This is some indication that we feel there are serious issues with our culture.

Although, I would imagine that Mr. Dyson would argue that it is these types of generalizations that, when perpetuated in the African-American community, are responsible for the state of African-American affairs. I would agree with such an argument because the first step to success is the belief in one's one efficacy. This is precisely the reason why preoccupation with societal challenges rather than an interest in overcoming these challenges is a misguided approach to empowerment.

Moreover, I would contend that generalizations are based on truths. I believe it is true that African-Americans are generally more athletic and have more rhythm than White Americans, and I don't think Mr. Dyson would disagree. That being the case, before we blindly defend our culture we should take a serious inward look and determine whether some of these generalizations are based in truths. If we conclude that they are, we should take steps to change those negative parts of our culture. In the alternate, if these generalizations are absolutely false, it is still our duty to change these perceptions of us not by words but by actions and results. One can claim to be whatever she believes herself to be but if she has no proof that she is what she claims, no one will believe her.

We don't live in isolation so we do have something to prove; the statements of Mexican President, Vicente Fox are proof of that. And how effective was Al Sharpton's protesting in that case? No one cares any more. We are not even the most populous minority group any more. We are increasingly being marginalized for the new coming minority power. What will we have to show in several years in terms of power and ownership of the factors of production? It is time that we abandoned obsolete methods of empowerment and begin empowering ourselves through a shift in our cultural values. We need to recognize that protesting was a tool used during the Civil Rights Movement to achieve civil rights but the underlying theme of the Civil Rights Movement was that "we [would] overcome."

Therefore, let us overcome these remaining obstacles because we are strong enough a people to do so. In overcoming we need to let go of the African-American culture that is truly the legacy of slavery. Calling ourselves "niggas" is not something we brought from Africa. "Nigga" is a demeaning term given to us that we accepted. Pookie, Alize, Shaquita, those are not based on our African traditions. Christianity was past on to us by our slave masters. Chitterlings are the leftovers of the pig that we were forced to eat during slavery. Reactionary rejection of education simply because we associate it with mainstream White America is not African. Glorification of delinquent, criminal behaviors among young Black men is not African. Black women's attraction to "hood status" is not African. Sagging pants among young black men is derived from the jailing of our black men. I list these things not to comment on their merit but only to point out that this culture that we seek to defend is not one totally of our choosing. These things were forced upon us and now we cling to it because it is all that we have.

In overcoming we need for our leaders that will not ignore or dismiss our failings because of their fear of what the neighbors will think of their household. We need to be told when our behaviors are unacceptable so frequently and forcefully that the negative behaviors actually become unacceptable to us. We are not weak children that need to be comforted and reassured before we receive criticism, and it seems that Mr. Dyson's approach calls for that kind of sensitivity.

Culture is a set of accepted behavior shared amongst a people that is past down from generation to generation. I would prefer if we, African people, the World's original people, decided to choose to adopt positive, effective patterns of behavior and decided to do away with the ones that were forced upon us by the very oppression that we seek to defeat.

Bill Cosby is right, flat out right. Michael Dyson is totally obscured and in his attack of Bill Cosby shows he's more concerned of bringing down our best instead of complimenting them. As Bill Cosby would have put it, "the proof is in the pudding". Michael Dyson is the first black man you will see at every forum discussing the possibilities to why blacks have problems, and he goes all over the place, making no firm commitment to an issue. It's almost embarrassing to see him talking with white people on stage. Although his vernacular is far more complex than everyone else, he surely lacks substance. I am tired of hearing him ramble on and on. To make matters worse he tries to identify himself to younger people by cunning them with hip hop quotes that he attaches to his asinine ideals. How can he actually listen to Cosby's speech and declare it to be wrong. Every black leader who has gone against Cosby's statements have proven in some sort of way to be counterproductive to the black man's plight anyway. Look at Republican money hungry Russell Simmons. His interest is only in the black hip hop culture, he has no understanding that Black people are a lot more than just hip hop… everything has to relate to him. He's a fool. I was caught in the Michael Dyson Hoopla when he first came out with books. I was saying to myself, wow an educated black man with a story… but once you understand that he is only an educated black man with a story, you can put him aside and listen to a black man with a real issue- BILL COSBY. I applaud Dr. Cosby for taking a less popular approach and identifying my people for what they have been to themselves and their families- irresponsible.

Mr. Cosby has no hatred or disdain for "poor blacks"! His problem, like everybody else's, is with popular black culture. You are probably one of the most intellectual people I have ever heard speak, exept for maybe Bill Clinton, but 99.9 percent of young black males don't want to sound, look or be like you. They want to look like 50 cent. I haven't read your book, but your oppinion of Mr. Cosby only needs to contain two words….."Right on, right on, right on." Mr. Cosby is simply angry that all the years he spent being a good role model for black men, seemingly has had no effect. I live in a small city in Mississippi and am in the rental property business. I have a whole lot o' contact with poor blacks on a daily basis, and I can tell you they are not the problem. The problem is in poor leadership, bad fathers mostly, but also from people like you who spend your time ridiculing other leaders, like Cosby, who are speaking the truth.

I agree with bill cosby's comments. As a young, black person, it is easy to fall into the categories of statistics and stigmas that so many people, including those of our race, have inevitably associated with being black. Growing up, I was made fun of by my peers because "I talked like a white girl", or because I didn't know how to curse. I cannot count the times I have been told that I dressed white, because I prefer to wear my hair pinned up, jeans, a fitted tee, and sandals. I sometimes reflect on the many times that my "blackness" was questioned because foods such as chitterlings, tripe, pig feet, neckbones, hamhocks, and any other scraps that the slaves were given from the master's table have never crossed my lips.

I'm not saying that I'm above black people who are not like me; I'm simply saying that I will not be a victim to my environment or carry myself in a way that would allow a person to make inferences about my character. And it's not that I'm afraid to wear red weave or "talk black", whatever that is; I simply do not wish to engage in these activities. My "blackness" can be expressed in other ways.

And I'm not clear on what all the fuss is about. I'm sure almost every black person at some point in his or her life has made a comment on how some of these other black folks conduct themselves. Many of the older saints in my church frown when some of the teenagers come into the sanctuary wearing baggy jeans and timberlands, or wearing tight jeans and a halter top, even though the pastor clearly said to "come as you are". Most of us shake our heads in disbelief when we witness a young woman between the ages of 15-24 who is not married entering a grocery store with 5 dirty and misbehaving children. And almost all of us have scoffed at the unique-spelling, hard-to-pronounce names that some of us have created to call our children. Just the other day, a male friend and I were discussing what we would name our offspring. We both gave each other a nod of approval on the names we had chosen. In addition to the nod, my male friend in quit, "just as long as you don't name your child 'boisha', or something along those lines. Blacks folk know they are something else."

I think the gist of what Cosby is saying is that instead of embracing these behaviors, like buying children all of this name-brand stuff when the child can't even read the logo; giving us names that will automatically allow employers of a corporate business or someone on the admissions board of an institution of higher learning to guess our race; or letting our young men impregnate young women without forcing him to take responsibility, then we should strive to teach my generation and those that will follow that we do not have to stay in the position that we are in; that we can become doctors and engineers, we can speak decent English, and that we can overcome some of the stigmas that are use to label us and still be black.

I was raised in a single-parent home for the majority of my nine-teen and a half years on this planet. my mother conceived me at 17. i have never seen my biological father. my mother never graduated highschool, but she did get her GED. we were on welfare, lived in one of the poorest neighorhoods in the city, complete with a crack house and a church across the street. i've watched my mother get involved men who did not have her best interest at heart. she conceived more children, all of which have different fathers, and only one of which whose father is actively involved in her life. but even though my mother failed to make the best decisions for herself, she made sure that all of us went to the best schools, made sure we were well-rounded in all areas of academics, and always stressed the importance of good grades. and after almost 22 years (mainly because relationships and giving birth to more children), she finally got her associates degree in computer science in ! 2004, the same year i graduated high school. now i'm a collge student at the University of Tennessee in Chattanooga who is about to start her second year as a biology major.

So you see people, your current circumstances do not have to determine your future. and where you were raised does not have to be what or whom you will become. in order to move forward, one must possess a desire to change the status quo, and rise above his or her surroundings. when you know better, you do better, but in order to know better, one must be taught. i think bill cosby was teaching in his own way. by executing tough love through his comments on May 17, 2004, he was simply "airing" black people's "dirty laundry" by calling it how he--and many other black people--see it.

Rather than attacking the messenger--let us hear the message and move forward.

I think Dr. William "Bill" Cosby was right on the money. I believe that there is this sub-culture within our race that promotes and reflects damaging images of black youths and black Americans as a whole. Not only are the images not a true reflection of our youth, but they reflect a group of young people who do use explicates (or shall I say curse words). They promote instant gratification and fast money over education, and they fail acknowledge that all honest work, whatever position or type, is honorable and it is creating havoc within our culture.

We are allowing white media to dictate to us how we dress, think, feel and to promote those images to us. Rather than embracing our diversity we are being challenged to develop a mold and require everyone to fit into it, when that has never been the case. We have always been people of multiple talents, beliefs, and intellect - what sustained us and enabled us to co-exist was our strong value system. Our family structure, our work ethic, and our ability to achieve success in spite of adversity.

What has resulted over the last decade is a generation of intelligent, creative, and talented people with no direction. Who in spite of their many talents have no sense of history beyond the days of the Sugar Hill Gang. They cannot fathom a protest or a sit-in, or understand the importance of family or taking responsibility and being accountable for their actions.

We have become argumentative and dividing, rather than mentoring and leading. So-called leaders in the black community use every instance of discourse as a part of a PR campaign and we find ourselves time after time, dealing with backlash over comments and not necessarily the issues brought forward in comments such as those of Dr. Cosby.

I believe that while well-intentioned, many so-called black leaders and media moguls missed the context of Dr. Cosby's message. Instead they sought out buzz words that would anger and divide our race rather than encourage us to look into the message and come up with solutions to the issues brought forward. A house divided cannot stand. Think about it. What Mr. Cosby said was not untrue, nor did he say it in a derogatory manner. Yet by the time it ran through the media, the context of the message was lost.

Like Dr. Cosby I too feel that it is time that we stop looking to others and blaming them for our socioeconomic status, but to look at our community. Look at the good, the bad, and begin to develop solutions for single parents to break the cycle of unwed parenting; To stop promoting sex outside of marriage; To address the issues teenagers, men, and women of color are facing, and to deal with the structure within the black family.

Hip-hop is a subculture that is controlled by the white media. Note the images, the use of derogatory words and statements and notice what is promoted and what isn't (i.e. education, knowledge, and financial success). Success seems to stem from negative black images rather than a true celebration of talent and creativity.

Rather than spend so much time focusing on the sub-culture we should seek ways to promote healthy images of our culture. To promote history before and beyond slavery and to challenge those in power to take a serious look at our issues.

That is what I believe Dr. Cosby's intention was, that he also feels that it is time we placed importance on family structure, education, values and morals, as well as socioeconomic independence.

Sean Combs and Russell Simmons make much of their money outside the realm of black America and yet they promote those negative images to sell their rhetoric and goods to the general public. When was the last time we saw either of the two dealing with an issue such as poverty, homelessness, literacy, or education?

It is time that black Americans stop justifying negative images and influences and begin to address issues of education, family structure, socioeconomic independence, poverty, domestic violence, incest, addictive behaviors, and other things that threaten our ability to succeed and become like Mr. Cosby. A successful, though not perfect, caring human being.

Look at how children are dressing: Baggy clothes is not a form of self-expression but an expression of I am lazy and I have no pride in my appearance.

How is it that I am educated, make a decent salary, work everyday and I do not have labels and brand names adorning the inside and/or outside of my wardrobe? Yet our young people are walking billboards—many of who will never have the opportunity to work for the many companies they wear because they lack the knowledge and opportunity to get there.

Lastly, are single mothers really victims in a world filled with choices, such as abstinence and waiting until you are married? Should we even have this problem when there is so much education about this topic or so many benefits in place to assist in helping these women to get an education and/or a job, childcare, insurance, food, clothing, etc? Is this really a problem or have we created another subculture? Some women lost their husbands and still maintained a comfortable life for them and their children. They chose to take advantage of the system and empowered themselves to become successful in their own right.

Rather than seeking to promote political views, I believe that the M. Dyson's and T. Smiley's of the world should seek to use their media influence to address the diversity within our race. Not only should others learn our history but also we to must know our history.

We must recognize that all blacks did not grow up in poverty and that long before this decade, black Americans were educated, were financially successful, and had values and ethical principles that guided our families in the house and in public. We too have families of old money.

Let us not continue to crave into this cycle of separation that has plagued our race but let us begin to truly look at the issues that plague our communities. Let's work with the many people who are struggling to find financial support and human resources to address the concerns stated by Dr. Cosby. I am sure that in your community there is an agency that is seeking support and would like more persons involved in dealing with and providing solutions to problems that have been plaguing us since emancipation.

I believe Cosby is saying what needs to be said and is speaking factually. We all see it but do not want anyone talking about it. I see a parallel to how the black community will blindly support anyone who is black (Michael Jackson, O.J. R. Kelly). We know what is right and wrong but don't want to acknowledge it when race is added to the equation. It is true black people have it rough but there is immense opportunity in this country if you are willing to work at it. In the Dyson vs. Cosby section I see the counter points by Mr. Dyson as excuses that are continually used to justify our lack of progress.

I consider Mr. Dyson a legitimate leader in the black community. Everytime I hear him speak I am captivated by his insight and oratory skill. But I think not acknowledging the truth in what Mr. Cosby said helps perpetuate negative stereotypes and actions that will continue to relegate black people to the fringe of American society.

I enjoyed your interview on CSPAN so much that I am compelled to respond. The problem with your argument, and the reason that most everything you say about Bill Cosby's opinions sound like "gobbledy goop" is because your premise is screwed. You keep saying "poor blacks", that Cosby is picking on "poor blacks". When did he ever say this? He's not picking on poor blacks; he's picking on today's popular black culture. Bill Cosby is angry about a culture in chaos, the culture of generation x. Pookie not only steals $5.00, but he fathers children out of wedlock and doesn't support them. Pookie sits on his front porch at 2:00 on a Tuesday afternoon staring at traffic, calculating his next non-altruistic move, no book in his hand, not even a can of coke. He can sit for hours like a bump on a log. Mr. Cosby is angry because of all the hard work he's done setting a good example as a rugged American individual, while a culture of insolence, whose problems are finally not due to "systemic racism" spits in his face. Bill Cosby will go down in history as one of the great Americans. (Notice I didn't say "black" Americans). And that is just the way he wants it. If I had half the amount of success he has had as a white American I wouldn't want to be known as a great "white" American.

The first review on your web site sums it all up.

I saw you on Fox News debating this and you are the biggest idiot I have ever seen. You should be an auctioneer. I can't believe that the American black public would for one second want you to speak for them. Paris Hilton? What the hell are you talking about? Bill Cosby brought family life to television and made us remember why we loved being parts of families in the first place, and you question him when he is just being 100% authentic in his comments.

I think Bill Cosby is right. He is successful and is showing a lot of courage in this liberal bias culture. Black people are victims of "whitey," and if you don't live like a victim something is "wrong" with you. Dyson is deadly wrong. He is a liberal elitist hanging out in a college. His attitude and what he is doing destroys black people. He doesn't care about poor blacks at all. He sits in that college teaching every one about the poor black monkeys helpless to the all mighty white man. His book was written to make sure that any one of you black bastards steps up and takes charge of your life, there is something wrong you. (Poor blacks are poor because of the behavior in the communities they live in. Behavior driven by the cultural lie that says that it is the way it is for blacks in racist America). Dyson will have plenty of non-critical press because the liberal media agrees with him. But the man is deadly wrong. Imagine if you can Black people taking note of Bill Cosby's words. Imagine if blacks lived a self-reliant conservative lifestyle and reinforced it with popular cultural support. Instead we have multi millionaire blacks taking about how racist America is. Whole cities are destroyed by that attitude. Over all Bill Cosby is saying what a college professor should have been doing all along.

I'm watching you on C-SPAN right now and let me just say this: Slow down, let the host get a word in and LISTEN.

You use a lot of big words Mr. Dyson but you're spinning your wheels. Cosby is actually right on the money. Poor African Americans must start holding themselves accountable. Keep your mouth shut. There is a change in consciousness in Black America. It's a consciousness of being responsible and having respect for self and family. Go away. You're annoying. And yes, I'm Black. A 33-year-old Black man raised in Washington.

Michael Dyson is just one more slave/victim mentality "nigra" who would sooner choose to go on blaming White America for the problems of the black race, than to address those problems DIRECTLY and IMMEDIATELY, so as to effect the much needed SOLUTION!!

Your message isn't new Dr. Dyson. You're just a little more polished than most. It DOESN'T MATTER who was to blame 50, 75, 140 or 400 years ago!! It matters what the hell you're going to choose to do about fixing the problems RIGHT HERE and NOW!!

To continue to blame White America for the problems of the black race is to seek their cooperation and assistance to effect their resolution… And I thought our objective was OUR OWN INDEPENDENCE???!!!

Dyson is no better than the likes of Jessie Jackson and Al Sharpton, who actually perpetuate and profit from keeping blacks angry, embittered and resentful at White America. So you keep making your money, while the black race continues to lay back and feel sorry for itself, failing to make any social progress whatsoever…

The fact that you are talented enough to rate a public forum in which to share your message, and choose THIS counter productive position to espouse, simply nauseates me, as a black man… Especially when you have the gall to criticize a man like Bill Cosby, who has ALWAYS sought out to HELP OUR PEOPLE.

You know what? This is so pathetic. Why do so many of us have the story all wrong? Well I think I have the answer to that. You know Dr. Cosby is telling the truth and I see that it is hurting some of you. The truth hurts. But you know he is right. We, as a people, need to stop making excuses and blaming others for misfortunes because no one can hold you back except yourself. No one else has that control except oneself. So I just want to say to all of the Dr. Cosby haters, please read and understand his message in it's entirety and stop taking excerpts of it and lashing out. Like he mentioned in one of his town hall appearances, "If he didn't care, he wouldn't say a damn thing." Stop being content with your situation and make it what it should be. Get educated and get your children the tools they need to be prepared for this world. Stop putting the focus in the wrong place and know that anyone, at any age and time, can move forward and change the things in their lives. And last but not least, start at home and branch out to the neighborhood and make the adjustments because we are extremely too acceptable to what goes on around the community.

While I think that both points of view have merit, I have to side with Cosby because I think that his basic message is that folks need to get it together. I agree that he should have chosen his words more carefully so-as-to not inflame, but his words have prompted discussion. That is a good thing. Mr. Cosby is an elder who has seen the community decline steadily over his lifetime, and he is angry and frustrated about the evidence of that decline. At the same time he has been extremely generous to the cause of education while at the same time seeing the "ghettoization" of the culture to the extent where those who need education the most value it the least. This has become a very dire situation in need of serious attention and remedy. The solution has to begin at home with parents taking responsibility for the children that they chose to bring into this world. We have far too many people becoming parents who are totally ill equipped for the job. They don't understand that they are the first and most important teachers in their children's lives. Since many of them are immature, they can not pass any wisdom on to the children. There is arrested development and dysfunction because of this, and it becomes a self-perpetuating cycle. This cycle has to be broken at some point. I hope it happens in my lifetime. What is your opinion of the recent comments by Mexican president Vicente Fox regarding the employment situation?

I think Mr. Cosby is right. I also think Dr. Dyson is a fast talking Jive master.

Democratic Socialist is just PLAIN "Pink".

You cannot get past the entrance to the mainstream of society if you a part of what we have as a nation. The "Doctor's" parents gave him the grounding he needed to take part in it. He chooses to use his mainstream position to spread nonsense like this Cosby thing. Face it, the punk rockers of the early 80's couldn't find a real job until they went mainstream, now they have families and degrees and 401 plans. The hippies of the 60's faced the same crossroads. If someone's parents named their baby "Shanika" or whatever, then she won't get a serious job offer. Don't blame society; blame her stupid-ass parents for handicapping her. The Doctor is SO proud of his MAINSTREAM identity; he flaunts all three of his names. So sorry MED, you will never amount to a MLK. You silly man. Try reading Drs. Sowell and Williams. Now they have a message that is useful.

I think Cosby is absolutely right, although he could have been a little more diplomatic in his approach. Black folks need to get away from the liberal-inspired, welfare-mentality that demands that someone needs to help them out. I grew up on the South Side of Chicago, and drug dealers and gang-bangers ran my neighborhood and a proud member of the hip-hop generation. But, I never used my family's economic status as an excuse for failure. I always worked hard in school because my parents taught me at a very young age that the only person responsible for my success in life is me. No one else can make me succeed in life, nor should they. They can't show up for my job, they can't sit in my class, and they surely can't and shouldn't provide for my kids either. Furthermore, the biggest problem that is destroying the very essence of black life in America is that A WOMAN HEADS 70% OF BLACK HOUSEHOLDS! Why doesn't the liberal media ever talk about that! Who's fault is that?? Is it the white system? Is it the police?? Is it the schools?? Absolutely not!! Black women need to value their bodies and the futures a lot more, and maybe we won't have so many wayward black kids walking around getting locked up, on drugs, in gangs. Black women need to demand respect and commitment from their male counterparts. They also needs to demand more than being someone's "baby's mama." This is the most ignorant crap I ever heard of, and we have totally gotten away from our roots of having a strong Black family. Every child deserves the stability of a nurturer and a provider, a.k.a., a mother and a father. If you don't have that father in the home to enforce discipline, standards, and values, the child is behind before they even get started in life. I don't believe for one minute that a woman can single-handedly raise a well-adjusted Black Man. Only a Man can teach a boy how to become a man. Black mothers also dote too much over their trifling, Repeat-offender sons, underachieving sons; they need to make them accountable for their actions. You absolutely need both parties involved. The Black Man also needs to be held accountable for his sex life as well. Having four babies by six baby-mothers is despicable and it is the most damaging phenomena in the black community. Half-raised children lead to amorality and poverty, which leads to crime and a host of other social problems. Allowing black babies to be half-raised, half-disciplined, and half-socialized sets them up for nothing but being a part of the criminal justice system. Also, the schools cannot make your child study for four hours a day. Some of these complaining black mothers openly smoke marijuana and do other drugs in front of their kids, so do you really believe that school is stressed in these same households? Here is what I found to be a prevalent formula for failure in the black community:

A fatherless black child + uneducated black mom + welfare = Locked up.

I lost a lot of respect for Dyson over this. Granted, Cosby made his remarks with very little tact. But wake-up calls are rarely easy to ignore. Dyson's remarks appear to be even more divisive, suggesting that this "culture" needs to be celebrated when it further perpetuates negative images of us all.

Mr. Cosby is right! I have seen first hand the proof of which he speaks. I was saddened to read Mr. Dyson's take on Mr. Cosby's comments. It's just more of the same poison that keeps his race entrenched in their misery and despair. "It's the White Man's Fault, and We Are Entitled"

My wife has been teaching the second grade in a low-income minority school district for the last 6 years. I have seen these precious ones come to the second grade unable to read or write, yet wearing $300 Michael Jordan sneakers. I have watched my wife as she has desperately tried to get meetings with parents to discuss the need for help for their child, only to have parents not show up or send a grandparent (none of which solves the issue!).

I have seen minority children in the second grade that can't read or write and parents never monitor their homework! I could go on and on and none of this involves the "White Man."

My father and mother were not rich. My father never graduated High School. I grew up the son of a logger and construction worker. Today I own my own business, which I've had for 11 years. My wife (who grew up without a father) is an educator with a Master's degree. What were we given? Only one thing: parents, who made it their job and responsibility to see that we could read, write, and to be good neighbors with a love for God and country. My father passed away in 1999—He left me no money—yet a wealth of support.

If only Mr. Dyson's race would wake up! It doesn't take a village! It takes committed, dedicated, concerned parents who refuse to go to bed at night without knowing if their child can read or write and that they are loved.

I challenge Mr. Dyson to come stay in my house for a week, go to the school my wife teaches at and watch the care and concern of each WHITE teacher as they struggle, weep, and pray (yes in a public school) for these precious ones. They are begging for parental involvement to give their child a fighting chance in our society! The "Poor Me" mentality displayed in Mr. Dyson's book is a guaranteed formula for keeping a struggling culture struggling!

Mr. Cosby is right…there is no American Dream! Not the one that blames their woes on the "White Man" and carries an attitude of entitlement "You Owe Me!" But there is an American Dream for those who refuse to let their history define their future! No one gave me what we have. We worked, studied, earned and acquired through faith in God, hard work, honesty, and integrity.

I am sorry this is so long, but this is such an issue that needs to be heard. If black society is to survive and excel, then Mr. Cosby's message must be heard and believed. Otherwise, you will continue to make Jesse Jackson rich and all the while wallowing in the mud of "Poor Me" and the entitlement of "Someone owes me!"

The invitation to stay in my house and visit the school in Riverdale, GA where my wife teaches is valid!

Dr. Cosby is preaching to the choir. I work in higher education at a HBCU. We cater to the middle class. I work directly with young black college students. Many are not prepared for college and they don't see the need for school. I have a building that houses about 190 students. By the second semester, about 30 to 40 of them end up on academic probation. Many do not know how to use "correct English," and only use the street language the have learned. Young men who choose not to further their education have influenced them. These college students want to have "street cred." Should it not be the other way around? Should not the college students influence the non-college students to desire an education? Basketball and rapping will only get a handful out of poverty. It is education, education, and more education, that will get US out of poverty. I think what Dr. Cosby was really trying to tell us is to put our eyes back on the prize. We have become distracted.

I understand Bill Cosby's point of view. At some point we need to be responsible for our own actions.

Poor inner city school systems don't help our condition (due to white flight). Students who don't appreciate the value of an education and are more concerned about material needs—without building a solid foundation to support such needs is another. The economy is changing manufacturing but for the most part will not be the jobs available to the masses. Technology is driving the need for more skilled workers and if we are not careful we will miss the boat.

Bill Cosby's comments fall under "you've got to be cruel to be kind."

If it shocks some and upsets others then at least it opened up a dialog.

I just watched you on C-Span with Debra Dickerson and I have never heard anyone so in love with the sound of his own voice and so full of the ultimate in BS! You wrote the book to elevate your own status and to find something else to attack since you're running out of true dialectic thought.

Michael, you're an embarrassment to what you assume is the "intellectual process" since you put forth so much hot air that you don't take the time to hear your own silliness. Try silence for a couple of years ---- stop writing, stop reading your press clippings and clear your head of the crap you call thinking. You are so full of that you can't see how far off base you are.

By the way, since when did you and most black folks become middle class? If you can't afford to live on your investments, family assets or independent income for a couple of years so you can stop the "intellectual buffoon show" that you're doing with Tavis and Cornell then you really aren't middle class as long as you need a paycheck to sustain your life style.

Dr. Dyson,

I agree with Dr. Cosby. A great deal of children will be forever stuck in poverty due to a lack of parenting. I drive a school bus and have time to listen to what children are saying and some of what they say validates Dr. Cosby's point. For instance a sophomore boy was cursing and I asked what would his parents say if they knew he was cursing like a sailor? His response caught me off guard, "my mother curses out loud at home on the phone all the time."

These children also think it's okay to be disrespectful toward those that are attempting to educate them. Yes, the majority of the teacher's are white and there is a culture divide, which adds to the problem.

Wearing baggy pants and listening to music that is laced with profanity and sexually suggestive lyrics will never lend it to educating our children.

I also strive to be a better father and yet my goal is far off.

Well, well, well. So we have to get on Bill Cosby for what he thinks. Many of us have shared the same view but were afraid to vent. I can speak out because growing up on the eastside of Detroit; I am also witness to some of our trifling folks. Selling our neighborhood for a liquor store. My kids played basketball and I never spent more than 39 dollars for shoes. Frankly, I adore my parents for lifting themselves up and raising three children from the slums/Ghettos of the Caribbean to the slums/Ghettos in America to living a decent life now. I can speak because I had to drink bush tea; go to the store to buy groceries by the ounce and pounds; get up in the middle of the night to use an outhouse/latrine; walk damn near 200 meters to catch water to bath; wash clothes; wash wares (dishes); make homemade brooms to sweep the house. Now, actually I am tired of the rhetoric, we as blacks have to police ourselves, we have to get into the inner city schools and read and mentor these struggling children. As I walk around some of the schools, blacks and whites alike are listening to hardcore music and we're wondering why white kids use nigger? They are communicating with each other like that now. If a black man uses it to me, I will beat him down just as a white person. I have zero tolerance. My family didn't and neither do I.

I have been in the world's most racist organization for 24 years (THE MILITARY) and didn't tolerate nonsense from white or black folks. I think Cosby calls it like he sees it. Going to school in Detroit was easy because I came from the Caribbean where life was also hard. I adapted to fighting off my own people because they couldn't understand my language/dialect or my country. Although we are third world (so called) and lived in the poorest state I will match any Caribbean child educationally with an American regardless if they have access to computers or not. Why is that? If you look at the GPA overall of Caribbean people they are well above the national U.S. average and still we have limited access to even some of the basic things. Now, I made that reference to say this: stop the bickering with Mr. Cosby's statement, get into the class rooms of the inner city schools and help our children. I have seen all kinds of drugs; I went hungry for days; I wore hand me down clothes. And still I am not a thief. I am no addict. I know as a people we can do it but many of us do not want to and take the easy way out. I am a single father of three children and I will constantly do my best to ensure that I am in their life 24/7. I am in the school always, supporting them in everything they do. Their mother passed away 10 years ago when they were of the ages of 3 and 5. It is time that our men step up, stop being so trifling, and take responsibility. I am tired of being in the Public schools and seeing children with no direction from sorry parents that are trying to make the teachers raise their kids. I am tired of Grandparents raising their grandkids when the grownup mother and father are around. So in a sense I know what Cosby is speaking about because I see it around me daily.

I just finished listening to Dyson on CSPAN's BookTV.

My advice to Dyson is to listen to that show over and over again. If Dyson has any self-awareness and honesty he will realize that he came across as a fatuous, phony, foolish gasbag.

He was all over the place without making any worthwhile points.

He chastises Cosby for at some points in Cosby's career Cosby addressed black issues only inferentially and only just now changes direction and addresses black issues directly. That's an incredibly stupid comment. It gets a big so what.

Dyson goes through the whole interview running his mouth without ever dealing with the substance of Cosby's assertions. Perhaps he does in his book but judging from this show I doubt that Dyson is smart enough to really have anything worthwhile to say on this issue.

I read a few sentences excerpt from Dyson book on MSNBC's website and they quoted some young black man justifying being a thief because he was poor. This is exactly the kind of thing Cosby is railing against. Did Dyson ask tough questions of this young man? Like did he take advantage of school, was he in the library reading books, did he do his homework, were his parents home each night making sure he behaved responsibly. My guess is no. My guess is Dyson gives the young man a pass for being black, that this young man's problems were all borne out of living in a white racist society and demands no personal responsibility of this man or his family.

Dyson is making a living telling people what they want to hear. He is doing a great disservice to blacks and humanity in general.

Mr. Dyson,

I saw a review of your criticism of Bill Cosby in print. I didn't see much substance, so I thought that I would wait until I saw you on C-span.

After I saw you on C-span, I understood. You talk a lot, but say little. It seems that you want to blame the messenger rather than acknowledge the message.

Good luck in the future.

I am looking at the cover of your book. I think it is you who have lost your mind. God says in his word that people who are wise in the world's ways will end up being the fool. I know where your book is coming from and all of the black political leaders of this country. I remember hearing the Rev. Jesse Jackson urging the people to live up to the white man's impression of them, so they can get all of these things from white society. If the whites say that we are stupid, just play the part. From kindergarten, one of my best friends was this one black boy. We attended a catholic grade school. When we entered a public high school, he claimed that we could not be friends anymore because the other black kids would not appreciate it. Growing up I was strongly encouraged to get good grades in school, study hard, and to only consider serious dating when I could afford to have a family. I did not get whatever I asked for, and in fact very little of what I asked for. If you want something, go out and earn it. This is what I was told.

Do I think many of the poor black people are the way Bill Cosby says they are? You better believe he is right. Is his assessment of what is needed right? Yes, right on target, and the one question you are not asking. Is this book actually a smear campaign against Bill Cosby by the black political leaders in this country? Another bullseye, right on. You do not care about people, especially the poor black people. You hear the cries not from the black community, but to the black leaders who are in my opinion the cause of this in the first place, and you have become their voice.

Mr. Dyson,

Both Bill Cosby and Thomas Sowell are right.

You spend much time defending "black identity" and claim that Bill Cosby should do more for the black cause. But not a word of criticism about Tiger Woods who just wants to an "AMERICAN" golfer.

In 2001, for example, there were more than 16,000 Asian American students who scored above 700 on the mathematics SAT, while fewer than 700 black students scored that high—even though black students outnumbered Asian American students several times over. "Black Rednecks…"

As for income, Asian-American students from low-income families score higher on the SAT than black students from upper-income families. "Black Rednecks…"

One of the most obvious reasons for the deficient educational performances of blacks is also one of the most overlooked or suppressed. By and large, black students do not work as hard as white students do, much less than Asian students. "Black Rednecks…"

Mr. Sowell goes on to state that there are no genetic differences in the ability of blacks, whites and Asians to learn. The problem, he says, is one of "culture" (black identity?).

Incidentally, Mr. Sowell, who is one of the favorite writers of this white middle-class boy, is a black who grew up in Harlem.

You should read his book before you write another one. You've succeeded in life by, perish the thought, "acting white," which is something to be frowned on by the "black identity" culture. But what is wrong with studying hard to get an education? Our world is becoming increasingly technical and there isn't much opportunity for anyone who speaks "Black English" and values a Southern redneck culture passed on by the South.

The ghetto roots are in the South. Not Africa.

I would have had more respect for Mike Dyson, if in his objection to Bill Cosby he'd decided to call him up and said, come on Bill, I can see you're frustrated. We are both very bright Black men, let's see what the two of us can come up with to challenge other Black folk to join us in fixing the things that have gotten you so upset. Neither of us wants to see "us" where we are.

Say to him, Bill where would you like to see "us" in 50 years, and I'll tell you where I'd like "us" to be in 50 years. Knowing that, how can we challenge, let's say 10,000 Black implementers to do in the next 2 years to get us started. Who can we put in our boat to help work this challenge? What do we want them to do? How will we know that they are doing it? How can we get the Black media involved? How can we get 25% of Black mothers, who today do not have a solid dream for their kids, to develop that dream and plant in their 3-year-old kid's head that they too can be an engineer, doctor, banker, artist, columnist, business person, university professor, architect, philanthropist, politician, economist, mathematician, physicist, neurosurgeon, and so on.

What is to be done in the next 5 years, how will we get 10,000 more implementers in the boat? What will we charge them to do? How will we know if the vision is moving forward? Who do you groom to receive Movement Baton from you? If we stand out here in the public eye and take on a pseudo intellectual mantel to demean one another and attempt to discredit each other we really aren't any different then Brothers in the hood who throw rocks, bottles and shoot one another. We're doing the same thing on a different level. Intellectual-Thuggism gets us nowhere.

We don't need your venom. We need your vision. How about writing another book, go back try again…we have enough venom between one another, but not enough of a vision that will draw all of us together to move us forward.

Mr. Dyson continues to legitimize anti-social behavior. Who are you, Mr. Dyson, to define black culture? In your misguided mission to validate hip-hop, you contribute to a mindset among youth that they have absolutely no responsibility for any of their abhorrent behavior.

Cosby was right. He didn't vilify poor people…he vilified ignorant people. There's a difference, one that people like you refuse or are unable to recognize.

Are you truly an educated man? If so, you would realize the percentage of black people on welfare, in prison, and undereducated is a crisis, one that "the white man" has no motivation to solve. You're a boorish man, and certainly don't speak for me.

Cosby got it right—I have lived and worked in a government owned reservation for most of my life. Currently I am in the middle of my fifteenth year of volunteer activities. I have worked in schools and social service agencies, but 'cut my teeth' so to speak in the private sector in low-end jobs. I tell you this so you know my experience. Basically, there are a lot of generational, systemic, historical and societal problems with American society and how minorities have been given the shaft, I have no doubt about that. Lately, however, I am becoming more and more convinced that all of these reasons have become EXCUSES for young people to underachieve. I watch as my fellow co-workers take an ordinary victim of society and coddle him until the government and drugs are his only release. I have seen how intelligent these young people are and how they are TAUGHT to believe that the WHITE MAN is out to get them so "get yours while you can brother" instead of being taught to 'get off of your lazy ass and do something TODAY.' I understand that my politically incorrect language will cause you to disbelieve the info I have given you. But since you probably have little to no experience working directly with these people I can understand your unwillingness to listen or believe a fella who has and continues to do it today. Just because I believe what I believe does not make me a bad person or someone you should call a hypocrite like you did to Cosby, but until you have logged the number of hours that I have DIRECTLY WITH DISADVANTAGED CHILDREN, then you are just talking sh*t. If you and your ilk continue to hold your brethren down with coddling and excuses, you make my job, the REAL JOB of showing these youngsters how talented they REALLY ARE that much more difficult. Finally, GET SOME REAL EXPERIENCE BEFORE YOU GO AROUND TALKING SH*T.

It seems to me as though Mr. Cosby has thrown a rock that hit a dog named Michael Eric Dyson. Dyson seems 2 fit the title of victim pimp and poverty pimp, along with other of the so-called black leaders who give black folk comfort when we need some one 2 blame 4 our problems. I know Dyson has some time until he retires and has 2 do what he can 2 keep his image up so that his black victims can continue 2 think that he knows what he is talking about. And maybe his book might help him out in that regard. It is so damn sad that a racial scam artist like Dyson has spent so many years misleading some blacks with the racial thing and now he takes it a step further by putting Mr. Bill Cosby on the cover of his new book 2 help him increase sales. What a sham.

Having worked in a predominately Black community for over ten years as a police officer I believe that Bill Cosby is right on in regards to young blacks. Dyson is just another loud mouth creating excuses for a culture (hip-hop) that lacks an identity.

I believe that Mr. Cosby's comments generally apply to a significant portion of Americans, not just Americans in the black community. Growing up in the rural south, there were far too many examples of Cosby's alleged apathy to be found in the white as in the black community.

While it is certainly true that those who are born less fortunate than others must give effort above and beyond what their more financially capable counterparts must exert, it is also true that the role personal responsibility plays in one's future is largely overlooked. Mr. Cosby is in a position to comment on such apathy, since his success was forged from humble beginnings as well.

In regard to culture, perhaps his views of what is and is not appropriate to wear, etc. may represent more of a generation gap than a derisive commentary. He is not the first older person to shun the culture of the generations that follow his.

Black folk, just like white folk, need to take more responsibility for their own future. As a society, our responsibility should start and stop at ensuring that there are no barriers in their way. From that point, one's own drive and determination will be the driving force to success, or the stumbling block to failure.

If the opinion of Mr. Cosby is wrong, then why is Black society (All social classes) so reluctant to prove him wrong? Or, are we satisfied with a society of:

(1) Obese black women (60-80%), (2) Undereducated black men (+50% with no college degree), and (3) A non-existent family structure (-25% of two-parent Black households exist where the children live with their biological Father & Mother).

My problem with Mr. Cosby's comments is centered on the "description of" and "actions of" the lower economic class of African Americans he called "these people." What type of person was he portraying when he committed adultery and fathered a child out of wedlock? Or when he lured "women" to his home away from home and used the date rape drug on them? Is this the way the more affluent African-Americans act?

Cosby is right and you are just making more excuses for bad behavior.

Mr. Dyson,

Just a few illiterate thoughts.

I listened Tuesday to your interview on NPR and with all due respect, this is my take:

Is Bill Cosby Right? by Michael Eric Dyson: Professor of Victimology.

Yes, Mr. Dyson, Bill Cosby is right; but your narrow racist, myopic viewpoint won't allow you to see or admit that. Instead you deny the truth (undoubtedly, out of fear), creating your own version of reality which you disingenuously pander through a reliance on circular semantics, minutia and use of false statistics.

This is exactly how brainwashed right-wingers defend George Bush's dishonest, crony-corporate White House. (Others and I know this personally; it's as though they just can't see the truth, when in fact, their argument itself is a lie).

As such, you'll, too, reject any argument to your disingenuous beliefs by attempting to endlessly parse the minutia of said arguments, while ignoring the greater truths they hold, just so you can say you "won" the argument.

Just as you did today. It's really quite pathetic.

A black father calls in today and says his son's grades have fallen since his peers started to taunt him with accusations of 'trying to be white', and you respond by using false statistics to say that the phenomenon isn't widespread but only exists in predominately white schools. That very statement is an example of anti-intellectualism. It's also a load of crap. I can tell you first-hand this racist 'phenomenon' exists in mostly black schools in Cleveland. It predominates the black culture right now, as we speak, yet you deny it importance and inevitable consequence. (Sticking your head in the sand won't help you).

Living in denial of the black racism that exists and victimizes blacks and whites everyday, you espouse the very victim-ideology that feeds the racism black youth grow up on and act out upon. The pseudo-statistics you used are false, as is your failed logic based from them. You are indeed part of the problem, not the solution, and your racist opinions are based in fear of the truth not in fact. "Africology," indeed.

The loud, bullying attitude you had while speaking about Cosby on NPR today exemplifies this fear (and was really hard to listen to). It felt like I (we) were listening to a bloviating right-wing AM radio talk jock, the bullyboy Rush Limbaugh, actually. And yet you kept spouting on.

You should understand that bullies are cowards. And just because there are bully-cowards in the White House doesn't allow you to justify the bully-cowards in the streets of our city. Young thugs who rob old white women and prey on white people and black girls, and each other. Whoever is weakest or most vulnerable at the moment. You refuse to admit this out of fear -- it drips from your voice. And yet your attacks on Bill Cosby are cowardly, bullying attacks them, as you exploit him to sell your book. (And I don't care if you make money, good for you).

Yes, the bully-culture permeates American culture in general -- so what. That's no excuse for how it has taken over black culture. It's been magnified in present-day racist black culture until that's now what it is the racist-bully black culture, there's your identity crisis. And you, somehow, through your use of fabricated words and semantic displays, defend that by pointing your finger of blame somewhere else -- at whites, some illusionary 'elite', at 'jobs'. Ridiculous.

Although there may be some truth in some of what you say, your use of these scattered truths to "prove" your racist ideology is in itself, disingenuous. (It's like you're a white racist, only black). Your bully-victim attitude exemplifies the black-bully culture we presently find ourselves surrounded by, and are victimized by.

These racist bullies aren't the victims and they don't need people like you to defend them.

From the book: "Cosby may even convince them that personal behavior will help the poor more than social programs, thus letting white and black elites off the hook".

What the hell kind of circular logic are you talking about? Yeah, personal behavior has nothing at all to do with it; and naming your child "Trashay" (actual name) will be good for her future -- You are the racist elitist you speak of. Get a clue.

In summary, all I know is Bill Cosby has done more for black America, and thusly for America, than at this point you'll end up doing in two lifetimes (Sorry, just my take). And you attack him as an elitist, unbelievable. Who's the 'Uncle Tom' opportunist?

At the risk of sounding trite:
Black Racism is racism.
Stop being a racist.
Stop Racism.

Go ahead, call me names.

I believe Mr. Cosby is right in many ways. And as for the white people looking on and for what they heard, it has already been known for years.

Mr. Cosby has always been someone that I have looked up to for many years. Maybe for the reason that he never really took a stand on color. He always seems to me to be color blind and that race or color did not matter to him. He seems to take a man for what a man was. But I really can not judge a man for good or bad from what I hear or see on TV or in the news. Unless I walk in a man's shoes for a day, I can not clearly see what or how he sees things in life.

I personally think some people love to keep the race thing going on. There is money in the war of the people. Someone is going to raise money for some sort of rally that they think is going to make life better, but in the long run if the war is won how can more money be raised. Do not get me wrong, we would have to be outright blind to think there is no hate in this wonderful county we call home. Some people are just raised and full of so much hate for life itself. I'm not even sure if they like themselves at times. I'm sure we can think of a few of the hate groups out there with out my bringing up any names.

I will bring up one group that I admit I know very little about, but what I do know is that they started out in the right direction. They stood for something they believed and then somehow got off the path set out on. The Black Panthers. There was a time I agreed with them. Like I said, I really do not know much about them and maybe in some ways I am also guilty of judgement without truly knowing. But at least many will agree the KKK kids were always just a hate group of inner bread cousins that never stood for anything and hated everyone.

Black, white or what ever the color of skin, fight for one reason only. Dr. MLK was one of this country's greatest heroes. He did not fight the fight for money or fame. He walked the talk and also was in the fight when the fight was a lot harder then it is today.

I know some single-family mom's and dad's raising their kids. Poor as some of the rest who are using color and hate for some sort of reason. I know this one wonderful black lady with 3 kids and she works as many jobs as she can handle. She is doing the best she can just to get her head to the bottom line in life. I do know this. She knows where her kids are and she knows and cares what comes out of their mouth. I do not even want to think of what she would do if one of them called someone else by a "n" word or any other word for that matter.

Mr. Cosby was right in many ways. Love and hate starts at home. Just because someone is poor is no reason for hate. Just look at the rich side of the tracks and tell me is there anymore love on that side of town. Black or white on the rich side of town the crimes are just that much more into politics with better lawyers.

You hear about rich kids sitting at home alone with the TV as the baby sitter as both parents work trying to keep up with the Jones'.

I have seen love in poor families where good kids are raised. In turn I have seen poor families who seem to raise the kids for a welfare check twice a month and I do not care what the polls say, it is not a color thing, both black and white do it.

So I think what Mr. Cosby was talking about could be used in all families. Know what your kids are doing, be a part of their life and teach love and not hate.

The bible talks of a man who was blind from birth. When he heard of this man named Jesus who was walking by, he yelled out to Him. People told him to keep still, do not say anything. All the more he yelled out louder, Jesus, Son of David. He yelled until Jesus stopped and healed him and he could see.

I ask, why did it take a blind man to see clearly that day? He could have used the moment to hold up his cup and beg for money as one of the largest crowds of people came by, but he did what was right. HE put down the beggar's cup and stood up and said what he needed to say.

Most of the problems in life are we are so into what we think is right, we are all set to fight about it before we even hear what the other side has to say. Most times they can agree and we still want to fight about it to prove were right.

As for me, from the outside looking in, Mr. Dyson, I agree with much that you have said also. You and Mr. Cosby agree on much and I'm sure you are both wonderful people. We can not even agree with our spouse on everything, so why should every man or race agree on everything. Just because my view, your view, their view is not as ours, let it be. Do not turn it in to a color thing.

Like I said, we all know there is much hate in this country. White does not agree with white. Black does not agree with black. So I also think that it is ok if black and white do not agree sometimes.

As in the start of my letter, I think one of the reasons I always looked up to Mr. Cosby as one of my heroes in life, was because he never seem to put color in front of how he looked at people. I'm very sure if given the chance, he would have said the same thing about poor white families, but then you know where that would have gone and what that would have started. I think what Mr. Cosby said could be used in all families of any color and any level of lifestyle, rich or poor. Teach the kids love and spend some time showing them we care. Thank you and many blessing to you and all them you love and care for.

Cosby was absolutely correct!! We need more people like Cosby and less people such as you.

I think Michael Eric Dyson doesn't know what he's talking about. He's still waiting for society to change our condition; he's still blaming the pass and racism. I'm 54 years of age and yes there is the pass and there will always be racism. Neither will ever go away. So what do we do, have more single parent homes, more Ebonics so that when our youth try to compete for a job no one knows what they are saying? With all the racism of the pass look at all the great speaker and thinkers we produced, from Booker T. Washington to Duboise to King to Douglass. Who have we produced lately and who's to blame? The pass and Racism existed then as it does now. What's the difference?

Although I do not agree with all of Mr. Cosby's statements, I do agree that he is correct in his overall assessment. Just because you are poor, does not mean you cannot be held accountable for your actions. As for the way we name our children, it has a very negative affect on our ability to succeed in this still racist country. There have been many reports confirming that people with ethic sounding names are not being hired. Their resumes are immediately being tossed in the trash. I can continue but in general I feel that the poorest of us has to make some effort to get out of their situations. A teenage mother in the projects raised me but that did not stop either one of us from receiving a college education and buying homes. I spend time mentoring young people and it is very frustrating when they and their parents are more concerned about getting their hair and nails did or $200 shoes than they are concerned about getting out of their situations.

First, Bill is absolutely right…get off his case and join reality. People like yourself and Rev. Jackson continue to convey to Blacks that it's not their fault and that life's hurdles are high and many, but together we can leap beyond those who would tie us earthbound. When the excuses run out and reality sets in, those of substance will rise to the top and achieve greatness, if only within their selves. Mr. Cosby is one of the individuals. Mike, you're too good a writer to choose sides…

There is no substitute for personal responsibility. There are no excuses. It does not matter how you were raised, or what color your skin is. You are responsible for your actions. No one else. I resent people who try to place the blame for their actions to anyone but themselves. It hurts everyone when people act in the ways Mr. Cosby described then cry "It's not my fault, cause I'm black".

I believe that Mr. Cosby's assessment is correct. I perform maintenance in section 8 public housing. With that said I have seen many things that flat surprise & shock me to the point of placing calls to child protective services and police. On a regular biases I see mothers hit children with whatever was handy (hand, foot, object, etc) hard enough to knock down the child. I see the mother wearing the latest urban fashions, while not having enough food in the home. I know because part of my job is to maintain the appliances in the apartment. Notice I have made no mention of the fathers, simply because they are not around. The fabric of a strong family is woven from parent to child. You attempt to down play personal responsibility, when in fact it is all about personal responsibility. For when you let go of personal responsibility, you have let go of self-respect. Structural forces have absolutely nothing to do how clean you keep your home when do not have a job. Our project will give cleaning supplies to those who want them for free. Care to guess how many want them? It is my opinion that people like you who want to start laying the blame at the feet of someone or something other than those who are responsible, themselves. You insult yourself and the very people that you say you are trying to help. You want an eye opener come work with me for a week. Everything in this world begins & ends with personal responsibility.

Your views appear to be outdated (80's and 90's arguments) without taking account societal and other changes. Bill is 90% right.

I think Bill Cosby is correct. I grew up in Camden NJ, to a very poor family. My father and mother were divorced when I was a baby, so I never had a male role model in my life. My mother was sick so often that it was hard for her to keep a job, and even harder to keep food on the table, and a roof over our heads. Several times we were evicted and had to live in a car. We were on welfare (a crutch for my mother) for most of my young life. My sister got pregnant before she finished school and had to drop out to help support our family. I, on the other hand, stayed in school, kept clean, and out of trouble. I now have a great paying job ($50,000) with three degrees, working on a fourth. I think it is the individual's action that dictates their lives, not the environment. I am not a unique case; several of my friends have similar lives. We made a choice to make something out of our lives, and we did.

I think Cosby is right. While he does not go into the details of why he made his statements, I think he spoke from the heart. I am a black man also. I am not as successful as I would like to be. I do believe there is an imbalance towards our race yet I believe that we can do better in this country. I am an immigrant whose beginnings is a far cry from my current situation. I think too many of us cry about not getting jobs but are not looking. Too many of us choose not to go to school. Too many of just pass blame on the system, cops and white people. While none of the above gave you the gun. I am sure that all the black men that are now in prison are not incorrectly incarcerated. Sure there are some there that are innocent but the majority is there because they committed a crime of one form or the other. I think it boils down to individual responsibility and ambition. I can say that because I have seen it in my country of birth and I see it here too.

I think Bill Cosby is right. We always won't to blame everyone else for our plight but never want to look at the things we ourselves do to contribute to it. When I lived in Baltimore I would go to the school board meetings and PTA meetings and there were always just a handful of parents there. How can we expect others to care if we ourselves do not? If we demanded excellence from our school systems and held them accountable them things could change. The state of black youth and young adults today is a direct result of poor parenting and a lack of knowledge regarding how to get things done. You see parents and children who know all the words to the latest hip-hop songs and all the latest trends but cannot tell you what they did in school that day. Why is no one putting pressure on these designers who market their clothes to our urban youth knowing that most can't afford it. Who is putting the pressure on the entertainers and the athletes to consider what they are portraying? No one because we still support the terrible behavior by buying the records and the jersey of these people who don't care. We are all responsible on many levels. We have gotten away from who we are as a people. This is why every other ethnic group is far surpassing us.

After having read excerpts from Mr. Dyson's book on MSNBC.com I feel compelled to respond.

I am white and like to think I don't have a bigoted bone in my body. I believe the error Mr. Dyson makes, though, is a foundation point upon which many other thoughts are built. That is his belief Mr. Cosby over-emphasizes self-responsibility. In my opinion this is impossible. As a student of existentialism, self-responsibility is the key to life; almost everything that leads to a good life, a meaningful life is built upon this foundation.

Jesse Jackson has done more damage to black America than any other individual. Mr. Jackson needs a significant black underclass in order to have a constituency; without it he has no reason to exist as a political and cultural leader and his position in society would go away. No group, regardless of its ethnicity, religion, etc. benefits from the message "you are not being given a fair chance, and you need me to help overcome this". Some will glean from this message they do not have a fair chance so why try. I was married to a woman who came from a white ghetto in Pittsburgh, PA. This kind of message has been holding back people from that neighborhood for generations. Cynical, disgruntled parents who have given up before they even tried have told their kids the life they're now living is all they have to look forward to. That only "lucky" people or those who have connections get ahead. They are or have neither so they might as well resign themselves to this lower-economic-class existence and aimlessly plod through life. As a result, most do just that. Perception is the greatest part of reality.

What happens to you happens through you. You can choose to be a person of "cans" or a person of "can nots". You can assess your strengths and weaknesses and choose a path in life that complements these or you can choose to not do this.

Let's face it—Black America is grossly represented by men who shirk their responsibilities as fathers. Or High School dropouts who have self-destructed their credit rating. (I have professional experience therein—the only color I care about is green and when I have to say "no" on a credit application I make no money. It is sad to report over 90% of applications from black prospects over the last 20 years have had to be declined). Black America is under represented among entrepreneurs and by college graduates with at least a 3.0 GPA. Sad facts to be sure.

PLEASE—Stop making excuses for Black America. It's like cocaine. It makes you feel good for the moment but not only does it no good in the long haul; it actually masks the problems causing the perceived need for the drug in the first place. It fails to identify the core problems (how can you solve a problem if you haven't defined the problem?), and allows those negative foundations to fester and grow.

Sure, the legacy of Black America is that the smartest blacks were killed in the slavery days, rights were thereafter systematically, institutionally denied, and a culture of despair, self-loathing, and hatred ensued. White America has little of which to be proud. We visited genocide upon Native Americans and engaged in the unnecessary killing of innocent civilians in both theatres of WWII. We spawned a culture of violence within our borders the likes of which the modern world has never seen (America's murder rate is over 400% that of the second worst nation on the planet). We were the last industrialized nation to end slavery. We engaged in institutional racism longer than any other and have by far, the most corrupt government in the industrialized world. Our healthcare system is the greediest and most unproductive, causing terrible problems for lower income Americans, etc. etc. etc.

But it is a mistake to wallow in these sad facts. Today, there are no reasonable justifications for Black America to suffer the aforementioned under and over representations. Without a strong dose of self-responsibility, Black America is assured to continue to be plagued by more socioeconomic problems than are other segments of American society.

Bill Cosby is right. Michael Dyson is just another in a long list of people making more excuses to justify why so many blacks are unable to succeed in America. I must admit I haven't read the full book, just excerpts from MSNBC.com. However, it's clear that you bring nothing new to the table, only the patented "we as blacks are the victims", and whites, the dominant species, keep us from rising up. As a black man, I'm tired of hearing your regurgitated material. At least Cosby is willing to shake things up, ask questions and raise issues! Now Cosby is by no means a saint, as recent news have shed light on his personal life. But, this should not disqualify him from offering criticism, or be misconstrued as hatred of blacks. In fact, I believe he truly loves his people and has been frustrated to the point of lashing out at our faults. Like a father or mother who scolds their child for stealing or failing in school. If your child gets an F in math, you tell them to study harder, to do their homework, to listen in class, to watch less TV. You don't blame the teacher for making the test too difficult, or for giving too much homework. I have more respect for Cosby than I do for you and others that simply want to tell poor blacks exactly what they want to hear, and not what they need to hear!! No one is entitled in America, just ask the thousands of immigrants who come there with nothing, working low paying jobs, getting an education, and succeeding. Michael Dyson is another sycophant, offering more excuses for the plight of poor blacks. We need less of you and more like Cosby, who truly love us, and is not interested in just pushing another book.

I just got done reading your article on MSNBC.com. You are obviously well versed by your writing and your rhetoric. However, in all the cities I have lived in: Orlando, FL, Atlanta, GA, Charlotte, NC, Chicago, IL, and Minneapolis, MN, why when I drive through an African-American neighborhood do I see cars that are worth over $50,000 parked in front of a shack? I'm talking literally at least a $100,000 plus worth of cars parked in front of a house that's not even worth $50,000. Last time I checked I don't live in my car, so I personally would want a nicer house. Oh and the last time I checked, anyone, and I mean ANYONE who really wants to make something of themselves in America can do it and has every opportunity in this country to do so. It's all a big pity party.

I completely agree with Mr. Cosby's statements. It is about personal responsibility…not excuses! The Black community (or any other minority community for that matter) will never be able to achieve monumental success until it looks at the demons inside it (i.e., teen pregnancy, gangs, drugs, and illiteracy). Mr. Dyson's excuses are the same that has been used to explain the lack of progress in minority communities for decades. Enough! Stop the crying and do something about it. If there has not been any progress in America, how do you explain the fact that a Hispanic businessman owns a Major League Baseball franchise, a Black businessman owns a NBA franchise, and another Black businessman will soon own a NFL team? No more excuses!!

I believe both have excellent points, but I would favor Cosby as a catalyst for change. I see Dyson as making excuses and perpetuating a social disaster.

There are a few things that a person can do to put them in a social and economic disadvantage. First, having children out of wedlock (while not guaranteeing failure) is an economic strike against the unwed mother, and a social and economic strike against the child.

Second, by not staying in school and graduating, a child is setting a life's path toward unskilled, low-paying work. You can't say that everyone in the inner city is not graduating from high school. And, while I realize acquiring a solid education in the inner city is a far cry from easy, it can be done. Good educators don't have a lot to work with when it comes to educating children from dysfunctional families.

Third, naming your child "Shaniqua" or "Taniqua" may give them their own identity, but it will be a barrier when trying to fit in with mainstream society. Just in the same way tattoos and body piercing give people their own identity, it does everything to lessen their chances of fitting into mainstream society (re: good paying jobs, career paths, etc.). It also gets into clothing, jewelry, etc.

As you have pointed out, there is institutional racism that needs to be overcome. But people need to give employers reasons to hire them, not reasons to deny them.

BTW, I am a married, white, father of three young children. We live in the Cincinnati City School District, but are sending our children to private Catholic schools.

Being "Black" is both an easily seen physical trait as well as an attitude. I am not black in either sense. However, I AM quite familiar with being poor white. With watching the money, the job preferences, the "special status", both good and bad, that being black gives people. I am familiar with being denied a job because I was white, poor, and relatively uneducated. In many ways, being black has been a "free pass". Your group dressed and talked the way it wanted, and continues to carry the burden of standing out. My group has always known that the only way to get out of poverty has been to "play the game". Dress like I want to be taken for, not as I wish. Watch the language. Don't say too much or at the wrong time. Most of all be personally responsible with where I ended up. Even though I often recognized I wouldn't be there if my name were Kennedy, Bush, or OJ.

If the shoe fits wear it. I'm tired of excuses and overly dramatic, drawn out lamentations for the poor and under-privileged who break the law, don't raise their kids up proper and have no pride in who they are—no matter how little they have. Sorry, I know too many people who have pulled themselves up by their bootstraps, remained good, decent, law abiding parent(s). I applaud Mr. Cosby and I too, cannot stand for acceptance of thugs, drugs and immorality in our community. This goes the same for poor white people too. Yellow, Red, Black…Shame on you for looking to blame other people and not setting and aspiring to a higher moral standard. Life is hard. That's that. God gives us all inner strength. If people opt out for premarital sex, drugs, expensive tennis shoes and jerseys, than that is their CHOICE. Why do some people have to play by the rules and make sacrifices and others do not—because they are poor? Because they are weak? I do not accept that. No one is dealt all the cards…no one has it easy. I'm sick and tired of excuses. Clean up your act or resign yourself to what you are…no better than dogs. Thank you Mr. Cosby.

Holy Cow! You are a preacher! You should know what the black society needs is Jesus. The erosion of the black church's place in black culture and erosion of black progress are inextricably linked!

The spiritual void black men seek to fill with women, music, drugs, crime, and hangin' all stems from an emptiness that none of these things will ever fill. That they turn to violence, petty crime, or drug trading and end up incarcerated is no surprise. They are crying out!

Black Revival is what is needed. I pray for it.

Of course Bill Cosby is right! Bill is the best friend that African-Americans ever had. Listen to him. Learn from him. Cherish his wise counsel. You will never get that from Jesse, Julian, or Kweisi and all those who make a career out of coddling and exploiting the African-American community.

Dear Michael,

I am a white, affluent, educated professional who is descended by only 2 generations from Appalachian coal miners. My success can be directly tied to the sacrifices of my recent ancestors. They gave me a legacy. Their sacrifice has allowed me to be successful. I agree with Bill Cosby. I don't see black people creating legacies for their children and grandchildren for the most part. I see a selfish, materialistic people that want their own "piece of the pie" and screw everyone else even their own children. Where are the legacies of the successful black people in America? Visiting the not so recent past, white European ethnic groups also suffered hatred and bigotry as waves of new immigrants hit America's shores. I am descended from one of those ethnic groups whose people were forced into menial labor. Yet, I see a sad difference between my "oppressed" ancestors and those who are "oppressed" today in the black community. I agree with Mr. Cosby on all his points.

Black people in this country have more opportunities than any other ethnic group at any time in history to prosper and thrive; yet they squander it. I thank my ancestors for not having any of the qualities I see in the black community today and for looking to the future and providing my siblings and me a legacy. They knew their own needs were not as important as the well being of future generations.

While I understand your point of view and agree with certain premises regarding generational angst, I find your approach typical of black culture and ethics. You place too much emphasis on blaming those around you for your problems. While it may be true that disparities abound in education, employment and prejudice, the black response of sloppy language, sloppy dress and belligerency is at once destructive, anti-productive and alienating. Although you make some salient philosophical points, many of them miss the mark in their fundamental logic besides being seriously flawed when considering their usefulness or applicability in modern America. The big difference between your comments on MSN.com and Bill Cosby's is that he focuses on what is observable, modifiable behavior, that would immediately improve America's outlook on blacks and black culture. But even more importantly, the personal responsibility that Bill Cosby advocates can directly and immediately improve the individual black condition, which is the fastest, most efficient and effective way to affect change overall.

Mr. Dyson,

That you uphold the irresponsibility of a good number of black folks in our community is the reason EVERYONE thinks we are the only race that encourages ignorance in our children.

Poor will never equal irresponsible, and those of us with sense knows that Mr. Cosby was speaking to IRRESPONSIBLE behavior in black folks, not their economic plight. Blacks have always been economically disadvantaged, but we never encouraged our children to be ignorant and amoral.

To deny that this behavior exists in our community, and excuse it as "he jus' pickin' on ya'll, don't pay him no mind" is the reason my 6 year old niece will not be able to find a decent young black man to marry in 20 years.