Bill Cosby and the Problem of Black Dissent

As many blog subscribers may have read, Bill Cosby addressed a NAACP dinner and took the African American community and its so-called leaders to task for failing to speak out against the ghettoization of language, schooling, and the general deterioration of bourgeois values once considered valuable in the"uplift" of black individuals. The response to his comments--clearly within the mainstream of African American opinion judging by polls--was fierce. How DARE he say such things in a public forum? Well, Mr. Cosby did not back down and reiterated his points at Stanford University commencement speech this past week. See the editorial page of the _Wall Street Journal_ for his main points, 25 May 2004: http://tinyurl.com/27hqf

For an excellent discussion of the problem of the black dissenter in this post-Civil Rights era, I highly recommend Stephen Carter's Part II,"On Being a Black Dissenter," in _Reflections of an Affirmative Action Baby_. Written by a Yale Law professors who is NOT a conservative or libertarian, Carter finds it distressing that intellectual discussion is so circumscribed by the"party line." This is NOT what the original civil rights movement was all about, needless to say.

"A mind is a terrible thing to waste," indeed...