Is Bill Cosby Right? Or has the Black Middle Class Lost Its Mind?

There isn’t much doubt that the poor black community has trouble these days and has for awhile now. There is violence, poverty, poor housing, poor parenting and the like. However what Dyson does is take what Bill Cosby says like that, “[I]n our cities and public schools we have 50% drop out…And these people are not parenting. They’re buying things for the kid. $500 sneakers. For what? And won’t buy or spend $240 on Hooked on Phonics” and describes the poor environment these people live in, in the first place. Take a place like Detroit, there are horrible school conditions that exist in the inner-city. The public school system is in shambles and people like Cosby expect black kids in these poor communities to take responsibility for their own education. Dyson explains that what Brown was supposed to do was desegregate schools and integrate equal opportunities to people of all races. However today these poor conditions for schools still exist and there are still schools were 70% of the school is of the same race and even some where there is a 90% anti-diversity rate. Dyson does not merely take away all blame from the poor black community, he simply offers a more complex view of the situation than people like Cosby refuse to look at. Throughout the book there are more arguments made to more of the stereotypes that Cosby heaped on the poor black class and Dyson does more of the same defusing of these arguments.
The book is primary analytical in its nature, in that it emphasizes the need for compassion and action by the middle class lecturing down at poor black America in the form of the elimination of the still prevalent institutional racism. Like previously stated, Dyson does not remove blame at all from the poor black folk, as he refers to them throughout the book, but instead he offers a more intuitive way of thinking. He also offers numerical data to defuse stereotypes like black complacency in class because it’s “selling out” or “being white”. The data offered in studies he cites concludes this not to be the case in the lion’s share of data and that in fact more white people are lazy in school as opposed to African Americans. It is things, facts, and arguments such as these that make the book relevant to today in that they offer analytical evidence to suggest that outdated stereotypes that often breed callous behavior toward this sect of the population are often wrong and often the opposite is the case.
The overall intention of the book that is obvious throughout is the fact that contemporary society has often been unchanged from the past racism and segregation in the form of institutional racism. It is also that people such as Cosby who heap criticism, and his show, The Cosby Show that has portrayed black America as being alright if there is a willingness to work is there, have immobilized people in regards to being willing to change society for the thought that it is already far better than it is. There are far more problems in society than can be solved at one time, however the problem of poverty and the inequitable distribution of resources should not be a problem in a country that claims that the “American Dream” is attainable by everyone with a willingness to work hard. Since it is the case that there are disadvantages for the poor, and specifically poor black America, that are not within their grasp to change, there shouldn’t be a slogan like that until widespread change is enacted. Dyson does not feel that violence is OK and elevate responsibility and punishment for those who use it, he does however ask the reader to consider the living conditions first before heaping widespread criticism upon the whole community for the actions of one who used violence.
This course in African American History has shown the evolution of the subject and the actual history of blacks in North America even before slavery when people from Africa were brought here by currents as there is now evidence that the first Africans were in fact not brought by Europeans. The course has taken that history and then worked its way up to today. It has done this not just to retell the history, which is important, but to show the evolution of African American’s place in society. The book takes it a step further in the way that shows how that place in society is still one of disadvantage. There are statistics in the book that point out that still African American mortality, poverty and employment rate are still considerably lower than white America even though people in power would like you to think differently. There isn’t a person that could deny that cultural differences, not just in blacks have divided many in America. However those differences have not justified the unfair practices of the stable institutions in the country. Dyson explains this well in his book when he offers evidence to support racial biases that employers in the private sector have against people with African American sounding names. He cites a study that proved exactly that. This book takes the course to an entirely different level when it describes the continued plight of so many African Americans to this day.
Dyson’s major conclusions that he reaches in, Is Bill Cosby Right? : Or has the Black Middle Class Lost Its Mind?, is that no matter the amount of responsibility the poor black population takes for its continued situation there is no evidence to suggest that that could ever truly affect that position. Dyson also hypothesizes that the black hegemony has determined to separate themselves from the poor black population because of their wanting to have white’s approval and prove them wrong in the fact that black America is incapable of holding a prominent place in society. Dyson also thinks that this prompts the black hegemony to heap hate and discourse on the black lower class instead of offering a hand to help them up. This book made me question my values and stances on a number of issues because of Dyson’s views and conclusions. That is exactly the kind of things a book should do.
The most important messages in the book are definitely the continued institutionalize racism, the inability of blacks to escape or improve their plight because of the truly poor educational conditions and opportunities, and lastly that black culture, as Cosby ranted and raved about, has less to do with the plight of the lower class than the government’s ignoring these facts in spite of the evidence. There isn’t another book I’ve read that compares to the provocative thought that this book incited into me. Dyson’s comparisons and evidence really sparked new thought in me. I have always been on the side racial equality and the like, however I never knew of direction and the heaps of evidence that supported my views. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to test their views on either side of the issue of the position and plight of all Black America.