"The Black Community's Dirty Laundry"
We ain't got no dirty laundry. At least no more than the next culture. You know, I am so sick of people talking about Cosby and how he handled and is continuing to speak about poor lower class Black folk. Cosby is correct in what he’s saying. Yes, the first time Cosby openly discussed what he felt, maybe it wasn’t the right venue and maybe the timing wasn’t right, but it was the right thing to say. I grew up in what was considered a poor community. You wouldn’t know that by observing the way I roll now. Most houses were shotgun or unkept, dilapidated cars in the driveways, and most days, people hung out on their porches just looking out. On the 1st and the 15th you could tell that they had received their government checks. Food stamps, government peanut butter, government powdered milk, I’ve been there.
I’ve sat in classes with other Black students who, if you didn’t listen closely enough, you’d have had no idea what they were saying. I’ve encountered the guys on the street corners, have had conversations with them. I’ve grown up with children who were verbally abused by their mothers and fathers (in public places). I’ve been a state case myself. Yes, I was a single Black female mother on food stamps, living in poverty, and trying to make ends meet. My history and my identity with the poor Black community is long and rich. And I’ve seen and witnessed many events, including the sale of drugs and talking to students, who have had to sell drugs to support drug-head dysfunctional parents just to pay the bills. So, I understand and defend Cosby’s statements.
However, what is missing from Cosby’s rhetoric is the fact that Black folk or any other kind of folk for that matter, have to have the “DESIRE” to move themselves from their present situation. One has to want to do better. If the “DESIRE” is not there, then whatever surrounds the situation (money, love, the idea of having something…anything) is lost. We’ve all heard about the Welfare-to-Work cases where people were given the opportunity to change for the better. Well, that doesn’t work for everyone. What is needed is in the Black community is an appropriate education (that thing or those things one learns to learn how to acquire the “better things in life”). And after that, another layer of the appropriate education (financial know-how) is needed to teach them how to keep it, how to take care of it, and how to expand on it.
Some of this learning comes from parents and the other comes from exposure to outside elements (like going to a suburban neighborhood, visiting with family or friends who live there, and then thinking and believing that one can acquire such goods…that such a life is achievable). My first encounter of what life could be like outside my past situation was eating at a full-serve restaurant (not a buffet). This opportunity was provided for me by my mother. After one or two trips, I knew that that was something I wanted to afford. Getting a public school education taught me that I could make a living doing what I love. And getting more education meant that I could make more “honest” money doing it.
Honestly, change can be a difficult bitter-sweet experience. But changing the mindset and attitude of Black folk is what is necessary. Black folk who are 36 or older know where we’ve come from. It’s the younger generation who ain’t got a clue, unless their parents have talked to them. Cosby’s focus should be to change the mindset and attitudes of underprivileged Black folk by providing and employing an appropriate education to them and for them. And this should be the focus of those who side against Cosby. Change is often that thing, which holds us back. Until we open our minds and focus on positive experiences and positive experiences that can be achieved, as a Black community, we’ll never grow (mentally that is). If we don’t grow mentally, we’ll always be that mother in public places using profane language against her kids. We’ll always be the teenage mother pushing the baby carriage with another on the way. We’ll always be a group of drunk druggies on the corner, sitting on wood cartons, under that big tree. We’ll always be that Black child who can’t articulate, so that the listener can understand them. Note that I didn’t say use proper or standard English.