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Speaking the Truth in Love
Among the pathologies Cosby decried:

1. Poor Educational Achievement. "I can't even talk the way these people talk, 'Why you ain't,' 'Where you is,'" Cosby said. "I blamed the kid until I heard the mother talk—and then I heard the father talk. Everybody knows it's important to speak English except these knuckleheads. You can't be a doctor with that kind of crap coming out of your mouth." Cosby said many young blacks have "very, very thin" book bags and are "going nowhere."

According to the Education Trust, only 12 percent of African American fourth-graders reach proficient or advanced levels in reading, while 61 percent are below basic achievement levels. In math, just 7 percent of black eighth-graders reach proficient or advanced levels. Gains in reading and math during the 1970s and 1980s began to be reversed in the 1990s. Today, by the end of high school, the reading and math skills of African Americans are at the level of white students in the eighth grade. And while black college enrollment rates virtually match those of whites, only 41 percent of black students graduate in six years, compared with 61 percent of white students. More than 28 percent of whites aged 25 and older have four or more years of college. Only 16 percent of blacks do. While the gap is gradually narrowing and black incomes on average are rising, there is still a long way to go.

2. Sexual Irresponsibility. Cosby blamed music, movies, and television for encouraging young blacks toward sexual irresponsibility. "These young girls have no business having sex," Cosby said. "We've got too many young girls who don't know how to parent, turning themselves into parents. Ladies and gentlemen, our little 8-year-old boys, 9-year-old boys [are] having erections and only acting out what they see and hear on some CD. … It's time to stop!"

The illegitimacy rate among blacks in 1940 was only 19 percent. Unfortunately, the rate among African Americans has reached crisis proportions—more than 68 percent. In others words, two in every three blacks are being born into homes without a married father present.

3. Lack of Parental Control. Cosby, calling for "parent power," railed against black parents who do not discipline their children. "You [are] going to tell me that you are going to drop out of school?" Cosby said. "You are going to tell me that you are going to steal from a store? These things need to be taken care of in the home."

Unfortunately, as the above illegitimacy figures show, although some African American families may model the Huxtables, too many are simply staging areas for mayhem and despair. Boys from fatherless homes are more likely to be out of school and jobless. Girls are more likely to get pregnant and give birth outside of marriage. Boys whose fathers are absent from the home are twice as likely to end up incarcerated. Indeed, according to oft-quoted estimates, approximately 40 percent of black men in their 20s are incarcerated, on parole, or on probation. While blacks constitute about 12 percent of the U.S. population, they make up nearly 44 percent of the state and federal prison population. And it's worth noting that two-thirds of 600,000 inmates to be released this year will commit another crime that gets them arrested again in the next three years.

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July (Web-only) 2004, Vol. 48