More blacks and Latinos currently reside in a jail cell than in a dormitory room, according to a newly released report by the Census Bureau. The report, which uses 2006 data studying social, racial and economic characteristics of people living in adult correctional facilities, indicates blacks comprised 41 percent of the nation's 2 million prison and jail inmates in 2006.
That high incarceration rate has drawn many high-profile blacks, including actor Bill Cosby and Marc Morial, president and CEO of the Urban League, to point the finger back at the black community.
"We do, in the African-American community, need to instill a stronger value on education," Morial said in a story reported on CNN.com.
So was Bill Cosby right when he blamed blacks' disproportionately high dropout, crime and teen-pregnancy rates on the black community itself in a May 2004 speech to the NAACP?
Here's what our readers had to say:
Support Bill Cosby. I am white and I bought his book on being a father. I was always taught that what I thought, what I said and what I did was a reflection on me and my family. Many poor people have become rich in more ways then [sic] one. We were poor but a strong father was the head of our family of nine. You minded him without question. We six children have not gotten into trouble.
--Barbara Rankin
Dr. Eric Michael Dyson has broken this discussion down better than anyone else. Blacks have always been about "self-responsibility." This is nothing new in the black community, and the way in which media attempts to portray it--including this publication--is demeaning to the daily struggles of African Americans who continue to face racism and structural racism.
The problem with Cosby's rant is that unlike other respected spokespersons in the black community who speak to the systematic imposition of second-class citizenship on black people as part of their message of "self-responsibility," Cosby dumps all the problems on blacks while failing to address the "system," which many of us view as "cowardly." The statistics don't lie, particularly in the application of justice and denial of opportunity. A white youth charged with a drug crime, with no criminal record, is 48 times less likely to be incarcerated that a black youth with no criminal record. Secondly, white men with criminal records are more likely to be called back for a job than a black man with no criminal record and a college degree. RACISM STANDS--don't take the easy road like Cosby. Imagine if MLK had decided to take the easy road?
--Malik Russell
I have not walked in black shoes; that being said, a statement in the Cosby article, "the incessant struggle of competing on an unleveled playing field," has stuck in my mind. I understand the playing field gets unleveled at college and in the working world. But it seems kids get on the wrong track way before then. The level playing field? Is that having two parents in your home that love you and teach you right from wrong? They teach you to be kind, understanding and generous. They teach you to take advantage of opportunities, to not be wasteful. They teach you what to value.
So why would race come into play from birth to age 5? We all start from two parents, whether the parents coexist is their choice, they got together at least once. At age 5 most kids go to school ... some schools are better than others, but most would offer reading, writing and arithmetic, the basics. So these values are free, loving parents and a basic education. The field is still fairly level, isn't it?
By high school, we should all have had the same opportunities, love at home, morals taught at home and school, basic education. Still fairly level?
I am female from a poor white family. My field was as level as my grandparents taught me, my mother died when I was three. My father gave me to her parents; he had little impact on my life. My opportunities at school were the same as the affluent kids with both parents. My encouragement at home was the difference. It was not all I needed but I got by. My field was a bit out of level.
Then there's college or the lack of, and then life hits. And the field gets unbalanced. I do not blame society for my childhood or my unleveled playing field. I stick to the basic right-from-wrong morals I received. I work hard. Blame is not part of my mindset. I think each parent can provide their child a level playing field at least through 12th grade. Keeping a child's playing field level is the parent's job. In that regard I agree with Mr. Cosby.
Society needs to correct the field after high school with college opportunities and a work force that embraces diversity. To blame the "unleveled playing field" for a kid's failure to succeed prior to high-school graduation just does not make sense to me. How far off base am I?
--Lilly Buckwalter
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