It all started with the condemnation of low-income Blacks, now it has taken a turn toward the entertainment field, as to why Black youth are acting so crazy. This is the direction Cosby and his supporters have begun to take after some serious reflection and soul searching.

It will not be long before they realize the truth, which is systematic-institutional racism is at the nucleus of the Black crisis. Black America is attacked in many areas, areas that Afromerica covers: Education, community, entertainment, politics, and the rest of the menu.

"Cosby maintains that the tone of his comments changed to compete with media imagery that promotes sex, drugs and black-on-black crime that he feels young people are being bombarded with through music, television and, in particular, rap music. Although these images were prevalent in past generations, Cosby said their acceptance and absorption in the black community is at an all-time high."

He does not place all the blame on poor Blacks for the failures of Black America in the above statement, but he is starting to point toward the media, though he still includes Black parents [we] in the equation.

"No one is calling these people out. We have accepted them," he said. "Like weeds growing, we have allowed this."

Suddenly he rails himself and Black parents for not complaining about what the entertainment field is doing to their children. It seems he is getting closer to the matter.

It is these prevailing images, coupled with improper parenting, Cosby says, that is fueling the increased crime, sexual activity and high school dropout rates among young blacks across the country.

He, and his supporters, will soon discover also, that parents are powerless against the media field and powerless against many other institutions that have anything to do with the way society operates. Finally, he is returning to reality again.

Black America does not need so-called leaders like Cosby who picks on the weak without first examining the problem in-depth. Black America needs leaders that have researched the problem and know where the problem stems from.

Bill Fletcher, president of TransAfrica Forum states, "But it is time to for us to start asking the deeper questions like the ones that Malcolm X and MLK posed -- ones that asked 'Is this system toxic, and do we need to transform this system?'"

Because mainstream America and uncle tom Blacks have made it a social sin to "Blame the White man," at some point they must acknowledge the fact that if there is break down in family and community, it begins with the surrounding structures of society that directs the family and community.

"Although strategies may differ on what needs to be done about blacks' empathy problem, Fletcher said black Americans must take look deeper into structural issues to solve these problems."

Thus, it is not the "white man" per se who is the cause of the troubles of Black America, but his policies, laws, institutions, concepts about life, and his vulgar taste in entertainment. The system is corrupt, and if the system is corrupt, so will the people be.

Source From: http://www.blackamericaweb.com/site.aspx/bawnews/stateof/empathy118

© 2005 by CR Hamilton