[...] Still to come this morning, Bill Cosby is making headlines once again. We're talking about what he calls the black community's dirty laundry. "90-Second Pop" is up next on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: A little TLC to start your morning, huh? Good morning. Welcome, everybody. It's a Friday morning edition of "90-Second Pop." Here to play this morning, Jessica Shaw from "Entertainment Weekly" joining us. Also, Toure -- no that's...
SARAH BERNARD, "NEW YORK" MAGAZINE: I'm Toure actually (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
O'BRIEN: That's the black man in the middle would be Toure from "Rolling Stone." Sarah Bernard from "New York". Nice to see you guys, as always.
In fact, let's start with what Bill Cosby said, because it started a whole new round of controversy, I think is fair. So, here's what he said last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILL COSBY, ENTERTAINER: The more you invest in that child, the more you're not going to let some CD tell your child how to curse and how to say the word (EXPLETIVE DELETED) is an accepted word used so hip with (EXPLETIVE DELETED) but you can't even spell it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: What he's saying it's an accepted word as we bleep it out. Bleep, bleep!
TOURE, "ROLLING STONE" MAGAZINE: Right. I mean, Bill Cosby's been becoming this figure lately, and he's totally right to do it. He's brilliant. We look up to him and all of those sorts of things. But there's a deep generational divide that he's not taking into account. I mean, the word "(EXPLETIVE DELETED)" is accepted among this generation, and it is a term of endearment that we use it in that way. So, I mean, like, it's OK, you know.
O'BRIEN: So, what you're saying is he's wrong?
BERNARD, : So, why is it OK to (UNINTELLIGIBLE)?
TOURE: I mean, it's a -- well, language always changes, right? We know this. The word "gay" didn't used to mean, you know, homosexual. It used to mean happy. So language is like a river. It grows. And it's something that we have embraced, you know, and it's like, you know, this is real estate, you know, within the language that people could use to throw at us and attack us. No more. We take it back.
O'BRIEN: OK, but...
JESSICA SHAW, "ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY": There were a lot of other points he was making, though, about...
O'BRIEN: Yes.
SHAW: ... you know, parents being more involved with their children. And I think the thing that was -- really got a lot of attention was that when he said that the black community should not be blaming the white man anymore. And I think he took a lot heat for it when he said it a few months ago, and good for him for saying it again, I think.
BERNARD: I'm not really sure why he's getting so much attention today since he pretty much said the same thing earlier in May at another Brown vs. Board of Education anniversary.
O'BRIEN: Do you think this is, like, a new Bill Cosby? This is going to be his new thing.
BERNARD: Yes.
TOURE: He's always been kind of proud-acting judgment.
O'BRIEN: Not as much as now.
TOURE: Not as much as recently.
O'BRIEN: I mean, it almost -- when I heard this the second time, I thought, 'Wow, I wonder if this is the start of a foundation, a plan of getting together community leaders, of like some big next step.' Because a lot of people -- a lot of the criticism he got was sort of like, oh, easy, to criticize a single mom, black, under-employed. You know, like, what are you going to do for her, is the real question? So, I wonder...
TOURE: It's so easy, though, to say don't blame the white man for your troubles. OK. But the white man is still part of our troubles. I mean, there's an amount that we have to take responsibility ourselves, absolutely. But we can't just act like there's not...
O'BRIEN: This is such a serious "90-Second Pop." Wow!
(CROSSTALK)
BERNARD: How does (UNINTELLIGIBLE) fit into of all this?
SHAW: Right, exactly.
O'BRIEN: And J.Lo.
SHAW: His sunglasses really distracted from the whole thing. So, we should really just talk about his sunglass. [...]
| That's part of the "90-Second Pop" off CNN's "Early Morning" with anchor Soledad O'Brien, Rolling Stone writer Touré and New York Magazine's Sarah Bernard
[...] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: More on entertainer Bill Cosby now and his latest thought provoking comments about African-Americans. The comedian issued both criticisms and challenges for blacks while in Chicago yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILL COSBY, ENTERTAINER: We're going to call each other names of ugliness. Comedians coming on TV. "My mother's is so ugly, you're ugly. Yuck, yuck."
That's all minstrel show stuff. I'm tired of this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: Well not everyone believes Cosby's comments are new or controversial. Radio talk show host Lincoln Ware of WBDZ in Cincinnati has been gauging opinions on the air all morning. And he's also here to respond to some e-mails we've been taking in from many of you viewers throughout the day. Good to see you, Lincoln.
LINCOLN WARE, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: Good to see you.
WHITFIELD: All right, well Bill Cosby's comments, did he just say what many people have been thinking and talking about, perhaps, in more private quarters, and the shock and alarm among some is coming because it's coming from a very public figure in a very public forum?
WARE: Yes, well, when you're Bill Cosby, you walk the walk and now it's time to talk the talk. And, you know, when you're a guy as popular as Cosby, you've got the money that Cosby's got, you can say things like that and get away with it.
For the most part my callers -- most of my callers agree with what Bill Cosby said. I agree with what Bill Cosby said because it doesn't apply to me. The people who disagree with Bill Cosby are the people he's talking about.
WHITFIELD: So, did you get a sense from some of your listeners that there was a feeling of, well, it's about time somebody said it publicly because it's something that we have been thinking and feeling all along?
WARE: Yes, definitely. And we do need work done in the black community. That's true.
But when Bill Cosby says it, a lot of people think that when the white America listens to Bill Cosby, they think it's all blacks that he's talking about. And that's where a lot of people have a lot of problems with the fact that he said that your dirty laundry gets out of school at 2:30.
Now if you're white America, you're listening to that and thinking all blacks' dirty laundry gets out of school at 2:30. So I think that's the main problem a lot of the blacks have with -- when Bill Cosby speaks out and he's chastising the black community, it's not everybody in the black community.
WHITFIELD: Congressman John Lewis was on this program in the last hour really talking about the 40th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act. But he said, just off camera, his comments were, you know what, this was a wake-up call and he thought it was the right time, it was the right form, it was the right person to make these kind of comments.
So, is it your feeling that among some of your listeners, you describe some of those who are very much against what he said that there really is a generational gap here, too, this message hits home with some in a segment of a generation or two out there and it really goes over the head of a few others?
WARE: Right, it hits home. I see it every day. I can drive down the street when school is out and see these kids that Bill Cosby is talking about. I can hear the N-word thrown around like it is a part of their vocabulary in which it probably is for most of them. So I see what Bill Cosby is talking about.
WHITFIELD: He's curt and he's straight to the point. Let's run a segment of his comments, just moments -- we've been running it all morning. But let's listen to it one more time where he really spells out the state of black Americans.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COSBY: We don't have time to argue about who's right and who's wrong. We've got too many children in prison, children in prison. We've got too many young girls who don't know how to parent turning themselves into parents. Ladies and gentlemen, our little 8-year-old boys, 9-year-old boys having erections and only acting out that which they see and hear on some CD. They're acting that out. And they don't know the damage that they're doing when they rape some little girl 9 years old and what they've done to her whole life. It's time to stop it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: Lincoln, he cuts to the chase. Did you get a sense that his message is more, here's a challenge, this is what you parents need to do, young people, this is what you need to do, and less of this is strictly a moment of berating or criticizing?
WARE: Right. He's telling you, this is what you need to do. He hit home when he talked about how many young people are in jail. Just last week we have a 14-year-old here in Cincinnati that has been charged with two murders. A 14-year-old charged with two murders. It's got to end. I drive down the street, you see young girls pushing strollers. I want to believe it's their little baby brother or baby sister, but, no, it's their kid. So, he hits home.
WHITFIELD: All right, another comment from Cosby on parenting advice. Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COSBY: Please, stop it. Stop your cursing. We want to ask the parent, stop yanking that child.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: All right, Lincoln.
WARE: Once, again, I could be in a grocery store and I could hear parents yelling, cursing at kids like they would curse at an adult. What's this kid to get from this? I mean, he's right on point on everything that he's saying.
WHITFIELD: All right. Let's evaluate some of the e-mail that we've been receiving all afternoon now. This from Carl (ph) in Inglewood, California, who writes: "As a black American, I think it's about time that someone of Mr. Cosby's stature spoke out against black degradation. Many responsible people support his words. I believe we are the silent majority."
And Rusty (ph) in San Francisco, California, writes: "Mr. Cosby said what a lot of people have wanted to say for a long time. But the fear of being labeled either unfair or racist has kept many from speaking out." He said a lot of -- this chimes in with what your listeners have been telling you all morning.
WARE: Well, yes. But I don't want anyone from the white community telling me this, which you get a lot of right wingers, you know, you get those conservative Republicans. They're good at saying exactly what Cosby says and they love it. I don't want these guys telling me that. If Cosby says it, OK. But, you know...
WHITFIELD: It's quite simply because the message would not be received the same way.
WARE: Right. Oh yes. It would be received as being racist, yes.
WHITFIELD: All right, Kellan (ph)...
WARE: That e-mail is absolutely right.
WHITFIELD: Kellan writes: "I don't understand why Bill Cosby is so negative in regards to the hip-hop community when he allowed Fubu, an urban hip-hop clothing line, the usage of his 'Fat Albert' characters. Bill Cosby has profited graciously off the very culture that is being blamed for the cultural state of our youth today."
So not everyone is in agreement with what he has to say.
WARE: And the person who wrote that e-mail has some valid points. I don't know -- were the Cosby Kids really good kids? Fat Albert was this -- you know, and some of the language they used, you know, they used a little, you know, Ebonics every now and then. So the person wrote that e-mail may hit the nail on the head.
WHITFIELD: So Lincoln Ware, as we wrap it up, where do we go from here? What is the best advice that you see or the next step to be taken after America has heard these comments from Bill Cosby?
WARE: Could you repeat that again? I lost my...
WHITFIELD: Where do you see us going from here? What's the next step, what is your next advice that you would give after people try to now digest all of these comments that have come from Bill Cosby?
WARE: Well, the people who need to hear what Cosby is saying, are they listening to Cosby? Do they hear what he's saying? I don't think so. The people that you're trying to reach, he's going to have to go out on the street corner and he's going to have to go right into the hood to talk to people for them to hear his message. Speaking to the Rainbow Coalition, you know, during their convention, the people he needs to reach are not going to hear his message. The people who need to hear it. They are not watching CNN now. They're probably watching BET, watching the videos of them shaking their rumps and everything.
WHITFIELD: All right, Lincoln Ware, WBDZ of Cincinnati, keeping it real yourself as well. All right. Appreciate your candid comments this afternoon.
WARE: All right.
WHITFIELD: All right, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Got to love Lincoln. [...]
| That's CNN anchor Fredricka Whitfield and WBDZ radio-show host Lincoln Ware in the "Live From" transcript "Is Bill Cosby Right?"
[...] WHITFIELD: The man known as the Cos is again provoking thought.
Comedian Bill Cosby's latest comments are anything but funny. He took aim again at the African-American community and called on blacks to take responsibility for their own fate.
Bill Cosby spoke yesterday at the annual Rainbow/PUSH Coalition conference in Chicago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILL COSBY, COMEDIAN: We don't have time to argue about who's right and who's wrong. We've got too many children in prison, children in prison. We've got too many young girls who don't know how to parent, turning themselves into parents.
Ladies and gentlemen, our little 8-year-old boys and 9-year-old boys having elections and only acting out that which they see and hear on some C.D. They're acting that out. And they don't know the damage that they're doing when they rape some little girl, 9 years old, and what they've done to her whole life. It is time to stop it.
I couldn't care less about what white people think about me at this time. And I -- and I say that because if they want to take it and say things against my people, let them talk.
What difference -- what are they saying that's different from what their grandfather said? And what are they doing on trying to do to us that their grandfathers didn't try to do to us?
But what's different is what we're doing to ourselves.
And the answer is -- when I saw the prize fight manager, and he said to the boy who was losing, "David, listen to me. It's not what he's doing to you; it's what you're not doing."
Because your -- your strength and your empowerment. The more you invest in that child, the more you're not going to let some C.D. tell your child how to curse and how to say the word "nigger" is an excepted word, you're so hip with "nigger" but you can't even spell it.
Understand your children have to know where you came from, and they have to know about those people hanging and how, when they did hang them on a Sunday, the theme song was "Amazing Grace." That's what they sang when the bodies were hanging.
Your children don't know that. Your grandchildren don't know it. And they don't know Henry Hampton's eyes on the prize. They've got to know it. You've got to teach. That's your job.
And the pledge is, we're going to turn that -- that mirror around and see ourselves in those areas. And I don't want to argue about whether, "Well, it's not just the poor." Everybody guilty. You raise your right hand and become a parent.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: The Reverend Jesse Jackson doesn't see anything controversial about Cosby's comments. Jackson invited Cosby to speak at the conference and said the actor's message is not new to African- Americans.
Jackson spoke on CNN's "AMERICAN MORNING."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REV. JESSE JACKSON, RAINBOW/PUSH COALITION: I think if you go to almost any black church, you'll hear the same message over and over again. If you listen to the foreman (ph) from the NAACP speak, or Julian Bond. Or if you go to hear the president of Morehouse College in North Carolina, ENT (ph), this is a rather common message.
And Bill's point was on the other hand, we find people opportunity and we do not have adequate counselors. He said, for example, he derived the fact that a tax base gives us inferior schools.
But against these odds, how do you buck the odds? You must be more determined, more willing to work.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
| And that's Whitfield again in CNN's "Live From" transcript of "Bill Cosby Makes Controversial Comments about Black Families"
Also: "I don't know if people are missing it or not," "Welcome Cosby contrarianism 'neath the Gateway Arch," "Fighting racial injustice must also include accepting personal responsibility," "Distinguish between romance and reason," "Framing the black art boom" and "Than where you come from"
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