Author |
Message |
Chrishayden "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Chrishayden
Post Number: 400 Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A Votes: 0 (Vote!) | Posted on Friday, July 16, 2004 - 12:02 pm: |
|
America taught my son's killer to hate blacks by Camille Cosby From our institutions to our media, racism and prejudice are omnipresent. I believe America taught our son's killer to hate African-Americans. After Mikail Markhasev killed Ennis William Cosby on Jan. 16, 1997, he said to his friends, "I shot a nigger. It's all over the news." This was not the first time Markhasev had attacked a black person. In 1995, he served time in a juvenile center for stabbing a black man who was standing at a gas station. Presumably, Markhasev did not learn to hate black people in his native country, the Ukraine, where the black population was near zero. Nor was he likely to see America's intolerable, stereotypical movies and television programs about blacks, which were not shown in the Soviet Union before the killer and his family moved to America in the late 1980s. James Baldwin wrote in his book The Price of the Ticket, "The will of the people, or the State, is revealed by the State's institutions. There was not, then, nor is there, now, a single American institution which is not a racist institution. Yes, racism and prejudice are omnipresent and eternalized in America's institutions, media and myriad entities. Here are a few examples: The Voting Rights Act signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1965 will expire in 2007. Congress once again will decide whether African-Americans will be allowed to vote. No other Americans are subjected to this oppressive nonsense. African-Americans, as well as all Americans, are brainwashed every day to respect and revere slave-owners and people who clearly waffled about race. In truth, the enslavement of millions of Africans immeasurably enriched the treasuries of America's government and individuals. Interestingly, several slave-owners' images are on America's paper currencies: George Washington ($1), Thomas Jefferson ($2), Alexander Hamilton ($10), Andrew Jackson ($20), Ulysses Grant ($50) and Benjamin Franklin ($100). Grant was the last U.S. president to own slaves. Even Abraham Lincoln ($5) said, "I do not stand pledged to the prohibition of the slave trade between the states.... I, as much as any man, am in favor of having the superior position assigned to the White race." God and most Christian holy people artistically have been recreated in images of whiteness. This shrewd propaganda undeniably lessens the worthiness of most of the Earth's people. Because of those visual constructs, the churches have a deep problem with race. America's educational institutions' dictionaries define "black" as harmful; hostile; disgrace; unpleasant aspects of life." "White" is described as "decent; honorable; auspicious; without malice." A medical school at the University of Texas in Galveston conducted a controversial study primarily on black babies from 1956 to 1962. The researchers withheld an essential fatty acid from the babies' formulas that humans need for the growth of the whole body and nervous system. Those black babies were used as laboratory animals, and several of the infants died during the course of the study. Previously, this research had been done on dogs. This is just one of several unethical medical studies on African-Americans that has been documented. Also, racism negatively has impacted African-Americans' health. Dr. Alvin F. Poussaint, a Harvard psychiatrist says, "Some research suggests that the high prevalence of hypertension among African-Americans, compared to whites, is related directly to the stresses associated with being a black person, living in a racist society." D.W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation, an undisguised racist film, was recently rated by the American Film Institute as No. 44 of America's top 100 films. This movie depicted black people as subhuman creatures. Gangs, such as the Ku Klux Klan, unite because of racial hatred. A gang will convince themselves that they are racially superior to "outside" groups, which must be harmed or eliminated. Violence is prevalent in America. According to Gavin de Becker's research in his book The Gift of Fear, "The energy of violence moves through our culture.... Our country's murderers rob us of almost a million years of human life every year.... In the past two years alone, more Americans died from gunshot wounds than were killed during the entire Vietnam War." USA TODAY recently published a report from Pride, a nonprofit drug prevention program. Pride's survey shows that nearly one million school kids (grades six through 12) carried guns to school during the 1997-98 school year. Fifty-nine percent were white; 18% were black. More than half also used an illegal drug on a monthly basis. Ennis William Cosby was shot and killed in a middle- to upper-middle-income, predominately white community. The misperception immortalized daily by the media and other entities is that crimes are committed in poor neighborhoods inhabited by dark people. All African-Americans, regardless of their educational and economic accomplishments, have been and are at risk in America simply because of their skin colors. Sadly, my family and I experienced that to be one of America's racial truths. Most people know that facing the truth brings about healing and growth. When is America going to face its historical and current racial realities so it can be what it says it is? Camille 0. Cosby is an educator and producer. Usa Today July 8th 1998
|
Bleekindigo Regular Poster Username: Bleekindigo
Post Number: 26 Registered: 06-2004
Rating: N/A Votes: 0 (Vote!) | Posted on Friday, July 16, 2004 - 12:36 pm: |
|
When is America going to face its historical and current racial realities so it can be what it says it is? NEVER? All African-Americans, regardless of their educational and economic accomplishments, have been and are at risk in America simply because of their skin colors. Sadly, my family and I experienced that to be one of America's racial truths. Somehow, this statement sounds to me like it was not until the murder of her son did Camille and family even consider that they were as at risk as a Till, a King or a Byrd. The statement sounds as if in truth, she is saying--It was not until the murder of Ennis that my family and I realized that our prestige, money and last name didn't take away from the fact that when looked upon by white folks -we were still African Americans, blacks or Niggers. Why is it that they did not realized it to be one of "America's racial truths" before that?
|
Cynique "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Cynique
Post Number: 803 Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A Votes: 0 (Vote!) | Posted on Friday, July 16, 2004 - 01:01 pm: |
|
Well, if Bill Cosby is unhappy about blacks blaming all of their problems on "the white man", then it should follow that his wife can't blame their son's killing on America. There are too many extenuating cirucmstances surrounding this case. Camille is speaking out as a mother in pain. But, lest we forget, her son's involvment with a white woman contributed, in part, to his death. Who do you blame for that? |
Chrishayden "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Chrishayden
Post Number: 402 Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A Votes: 0 (Vote!) | Posted on Friday, July 16, 2004 - 01:36 pm: |
|
Now, Cynique! Involvement? There is no evidence of that. Friends I heard they were. Unless, of course, you have more and will share it with us.... |
Cynique "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Cynique
Post Number: 804 Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A Votes: 0 (Vote!) | Posted on Friday, July 16, 2004 - 03:23 pm: |
|
I didn't say Ennis Cosby was romantically involved with the woman. But, he was involved with her enough to be trying to hook up with her on a lonely highway in the middle of the night. |
Chrishayden "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Chrishayden
Post Number: 403 Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A Votes: 0 (Vote!) | Posted on Friday, July 16, 2004 - 03:50 pm: |
|
As I recall, he was on his way over to her house and suffered a flat and she was out there helping him change it. Merely helping a friend in need. Isn't this what we have striven for? Blacks and whites, free of the impetus of exploitation or jungle fever, working together as friends, neighbors and human beings? The rest of the brothers are being mighty quiet on this. |
Cynique "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Cynique
Post Number: 805 Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A Votes: 0 (Vote!) | Posted on Friday, July 16, 2004 - 04:05 pm: |
|
OK, so Cosby did not choose his friends according to their color, and this was undoubtedly an ethic instilled in him by his parents. This being the case, his mother can't blame America for her son's death. It was an individuual act by a white bigot. |
A_womon "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: A_womon
Post Number: 298 Registered: 05-2004
Rating: N/A Votes: 0 (Vote!) | Posted on Friday, July 16, 2004 - 04:08 pm: |
|
If it weren't for America continually propagating bigotry and white supremecy, these kinds of things would not still be going on!!! |
Chrishayden "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Chrishayden
Post Number: 405 Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A Votes: 0 (Vote!) | Posted on Friday, July 16, 2004 - 04:21 pm: |
|
Cynique: Don't get it, do you? Here was a kid who was not even born in this country. Didn't grow up here. Where in fact did he get this racism if it was not here? It was almost the reverse of what happened when brothers went overseas to fight for their country and people would ask to see their tails. The foreigners told them that the white troops had told them that-- |
Cynique "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Cynique
Post Number: 807 Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A Votes: 0 (Vote!) | Posted on Friday, July 16, 2004 - 04:40 pm: |
|
Come on Chris, don't be naive. You don't have to teach white people to hate blacks. Especially Eastern Europeans. What you and Awomon are tryin to say is that the climate is ripe for racism in America. But the point is - Bill Cosby is going around saying that black folks can't blame the white man for all of their problems. And his wife has, in effect, said that yes, you can. |
A_womon "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: A_womon
Post Number: 299 Registered: 05-2004
Rating: N/A Votes: 0 (Vote!) | Posted on Friday, July 16, 2004 - 07:41 pm: |
|
It's not as simple as "blaming" the white man for our problems, although in the larger scheme of things, since they remain in power, most of our problems are directly related to how America has chosen in the past and continues to choose today, to deal with the canker sore of the nation, racism. you have a nation that has witnessed the turn of another century and yet we have not progressed much past the racist thinking that existed at the turn of the last century! Example: when Bush won in the last "election" do you know that more than 40,000 people of color had their names printed on a list of convicted felons and it was not revealed to the person that they were on the list until they showed up to vote!!!. At that time they were also told that since they were convicted felons, they were not allowed to vote. Many, many, of the people whose name appeared on the list had never been arrested or spent a moment in jail in their entire lives. Nor was proving that you were not a felon an easy task, by the time the person went through all of the red tape to get their name off of the list, the voting had ended. SO how much have things changed if we can still be denied the right to vote, just as our grandfathers, and great grandfathers were, for reasons that are obviously quite specious? And an act of congress can totally undo all of the efforts of all those who fought and DIED for the right to vote. Is this 2004 we're living in? Or 1904? Why would it even be a question of ANY AMERICAN CITIZEN'S RIGHT TO VOTE? |
Cynique "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Cynique
Post Number: 812 Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A Votes: 0 (Vote!) | Posted on Friday, July 16, 2004 - 10:39 pm: |
|
And then there are the thousands of eligible black voters who don't even bother to register. That's where Cosby's argument comes in, why he contends that certain segments among the black population are not doing their part to honor what those who came before them fought and died for. |
Abm "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Abm
Post Number: 487 Registered: 04-2004
Rating: N/A Votes: 0 (Vote!) | Posted on Friday, July 16, 2004 - 11:39 pm: |
|
http://www.negrophile.com/phile/articles/welcome_cosby_contrarianism_neath_the_g ateway_arch.html "...From 1970 to 2000, the number of black elected public officials increased to 9,001 from 1,479, according to the Census Bureau. Helping that happen were low-income blacks, who, unlike upscale blacks, outvoted their white counterparts in 2000, census figures show. That year, a higher percentage of African-Americans in families earning less than $35,000 -- particularly those at the bottom end of the rung -- were registered to vote than whites of that same income range. Not so for African-Americans making more than $35,000. They were registered to vote at a lower percentage in 2000 than their white counterparts, according to the Census Bureau. Those same lower-income blacks -- all those making less than $35,000 in family income -- went to the polls in greater percentages in 2000 than whites of their same income levels, according to census figures. Even African-Americans who were unemployed outperformed their white counterparts at the polls that year. But not upscale African-Americans. Black voters in households earning more than $50,000 went to the polls at a lower rate than whites earning the same amounts, according to census data..." |
Abm "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Abm
Post Number: 488 Registered: 04-2004
Rating: N/A Votes: 0 (Vote!) | Posted on Friday, July 16, 2004 - 11:47 pm: |
|
http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/2000/cb00-114.html African Americans Defy Trend of Plunging Voter Turnout, Census Bureau Reports "African Americans were the only race or ethnic group to defy the trend of declining voter participation in congressional elections, increasing their presence at the polls from 37 percent in 1994 to 40 percent in 1998, according to a report released today by the Commerce Department's Census Bureau. See accompanying table (PDF). Nationwide, overall turnout by the voting-age population was down from 45 percent in 1994 to 42 percent in 1998 -- about 3 million fewer voters in 1998 than in 1994." |
Abm "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Abm
Post Number: 490 Registered: 04-2004
Rating: N/A Votes: 0 (Vote!) | Posted on Saturday, July 17, 2004 - 12:03 am: |
|
Cynique, As you so often do, you raise several valid points. I too can't help seeing the irony of Camille blaming her son's murder on Whites yet her husband blames many of US for our societal ills. Those 2 must enjoy some REALLY exciting pillow talk. I also agree that the "extenuating cirucmstances", especially concerning the reason why he was out in the wee hours of the mornin' making a Caucasian booty call to begin with, have been strangely (conveniently?) ignored/discounted. A part of me can't help thinking that the killer and the woman with whom Enis was in hot-n-heavy pursuit of conspired to rob (or kidnap) him and the situation got out of hand. |
Abm "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Abm
Post Number: 491 Registered: 04-2004
Rating: N/A Votes: 0 (Vote!) | Posted on Saturday, July 17, 2004 - 12:08 am: |
|
BTW: Cynique, please do not deny Bros. Chris his naïveté. Because that so often appears to be his strong-suit. HEHE! |
Abm "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Abm
Post Number: 492 Registered: 04-2004
Rating: N/A Votes: 0 (Vote!) | Posted on Saturday, July 17, 2004 - 12:12 am: |
|
A_womon, Thanks for raising a vital point that has been grossly ignored by most of us. Do you know whether there have been any laws/controls enacted and executed to prevent many of us from being unlawfully denied our suffrage? |
A_womon "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: A_womon
Post Number: 300 Registered: 05-2004
Rating: N/A Votes: 0 (Vote!) | Posted on Saturday, July 17, 2004 - 12:31 am: |
|
Hey ABM, I don't know of any laws/controls per se, however in light of the convicted felon trick, and another trick that I heard was played on the elderly that same year(I only vaguely remember hearing the story and I can't adequately convey the story here) that achieved the same goal, I am waiting for the powers that be to come up with some sort of vote blocking tactics this election...hmmm lets see... let me hear you cite the united states constitution forward and backward and if you miss a word you don't get to vote.... about the white woman Enis' "date" and his killer being involved in some sort of plot together, those were my first thoughts when I heard what had happened. I thought it strange that the murderer would leave a witness without so much as a scratch. |
Chrishayden "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Chrishayden
Post Number: 407 Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A Votes: 0 (Vote!) | Posted on Saturday, July 17, 2004 - 10:29 am: |
|
You're bending, Cynique! You're flip flopping! |
Chrishayden "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Chrishayden
Post Number: 408 Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A Votes: 0 (Vote!) | Posted on Saturday, July 17, 2004 - 10:37 am: |
|
Abm: There are already laws on the books to prevent us from being denied our suffrage. The U.S. Constitution, for a start. But when they feel like violating it, they do--because they know ain't nobody going to do a thing about it. |
Cynique "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Cynique
Post Number: 813 Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A Votes: 0 (Vote!) | Posted on Saturday, July 17, 2004 - 04:56 pm: |
|
Chris says: You're bending, Cynique! You're flip flopping! Cynique says: Not so, Chris. I returned to my original premise, after detouring to respond to your irrelevant arguments. |
Evergreen First Time Poster Username: Evergreen
Post Number: 1 Registered: 07-2004
Rating: N/A Votes: 0 (Vote!) | Posted on Monday, July 19, 2004 - 10:26 am: |
|
Ennis Cosby's death was a tragedy. There has been a lot said about the past--what about the future? As a person in an educational environment, I don't see any reason why professors use the "n" word--supposedly to make an instructional point. I have seen them go too far. When does it stop? When do we say enough? How can we begin to combat the stereotypical negatives associated with African Americans? Should we begin to use "po white trash" in a literary way when the "n" word surfaces in class? |
Chrishayden "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Chrishayden
Post Number: 410 Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A Votes: 0 (Vote!) | Posted on Monday, July 19, 2004 - 11:56 am: |
|
Cynique: You're waffling. I sense your dilemma--you read a powerful, daring, in your face statement by a strong, proud, accomplished African American woman, taking on the powers that be, alone, damn the torpedoes full speed ahead, saying, I daresay, what we all have wanted to say, whether it portrays the full truth or not, on a public forum, and damn the consequences! But then this conflicts with your training, your upbringing--what of personal responsibility? Why was he with a--gasp--white woman--though personally I hold it is better to be with your own kind (I know I'll get it over that one) I did not know that this was a capital offense, justifying being slain the the street like a pig--we thought we wuz beyond that, but we are not. Suppose some white gal took out after you because you are mooning over Viggo? But I digress. It looks like another session with the bourbon and soda to work this one out, eh? (BTW, I saw this Bette Davis movie over the weekend and I thought about you. Why is that?) Evergreen: Indeed, what about the future? The past comes up because so many Ennis Cosby's have been screwed over--slain by punks like Markasev who were not even fit to shine his shoes--how long is this bs gonna keep going on? About professors using the n word, I remember sitting in a lecture in which a white professor asked who gets up first, country boys or city boys, and he said, "Country boys. They get up with the niggas and the chickens" About 100 white folks present, about 4 blacks. He graciously sceduled question and answer sessions afterward in which I confronted him about it, saying that whatever point he was trying to make was lost or not given. One of the soul sisters was there, who, when asked how she felt said, "Ain't no woids gon' hold me down." (This is in a college level Sociology class--I wonder what ever became of her) I think most if not all black people would be willing to put the past away but, doggone it, there's a lot of white folks around who wish it was back like it was when they could just shove ol' MOse in the street if they were feeling cross or go down in the black neighborhood, goose 'em a full grown black man in the butt and ask em where they can get a black girl-- If there is one thing to be thankful for about these droopy pants little kids out here is that they know they can't goose them in the butt, and we all profit from that. Green, it ain't never gonna stop in my lifetime, I know it. It may stop in yours, but I don't think so. One thing is well meaning folks like you keep coming down to black folks like they are the ones who can stop it. It takes two to tango. Why don't you go on some of these white supremecist sites and lecture to them about the poison theyl are spreading. Combat stereotypical negatives? You assume that these people are making a mistake, that if they knew better they would stop. They know what they are doing. When the "n" word surfaces in class--it depends upon the context. If they are reading Hemingway's "The Killers", wherein it is used 9 times on one page about Sam, the Cook and n--, you are just SOL. It ain't gonna stop. Armor yourself. Do something about it when you can and ride it out when you can't. |
Cynique "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Cynique
Post Number: 821 Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A Votes: 0 (Vote!) | Posted on Monday, July 19, 2004 - 12:35 pm: |
|
What are you rambling about, Chris? Why are you having such a hard time dealing with the simple thrust of my post which was that Bill Cosby and his wife, Camille, are contradicting each other. Why are you going off on all these other tangents??? |
Evergreen Newbie Poster Username: Evergreen
Post Number: 2 Registered: 07-2004
Rating: N/A Votes: 0 (Vote!) | Posted on Monday, July 19, 2004 - 01:08 pm: |
|
Chris, As an African-American, I have no desire to go into any white supremacist websites. I directed my question in this medium because I wanted honest feedback about how to deal with this situation. You are right--racism is not going to go away during our lifetimes; however, as an educator, I want to arm our young people with specific ways to cope with instructors who use the "n" word similar to the example you gave in your Sociology class. evagrn |
Chrishayden "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Chrishayden
Post Number: 412 Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A Votes: 0 (Vote!) | Posted on Monday, July 19, 2004 - 01:31 pm: |
|
Cynique: You're torn. Conflicted. Ole Double Consciousness got ya. Evergreen: YOu are an educator. You are probably better fitted than the rest of us to come up with a strategy. What would you do in such a situation? |
Cynique "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Cynique
Post Number: 822 Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A Votes: 0 (Vote!) | Posted on Monday, July 19, 2004 - 02:00 pm: |
|
Give it up, Chris. Your psycho-babbling says more about you, than me. |
Chrishayden "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Chrishayden
Post Number: 416 Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A Votes: 0 (Vote!) | Posted on Monday, July 19, 2004 - 03:14 pm: |
|
Cynique: Kiss me, my fool! |
Cynique "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Cynique
Post Number: 826 Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A Votes: 0 (Vote!) | Posted on Monday, July 19, 2004 - 03:21 pm: |
|
There's more like it, Road Dog. |
Abm "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Abm
Post Number: 496 Registered: 04-2004
Rating: N/A Votes: 0 (Vote!) | Posted on Monday, July 19, 2004 - 03:35 pm: |
|
Uh, Lambd!? You'd bettah hurry back! Cuz Chris is trynah push-all-up on yah honey, playah! |
Chrishayden "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Chrishayden
Post Number: 419 Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A Votes: 0 (Vote!) | Posted on Monday, July 19, 2004 - 03:53 pm: |
|
Lambd can't do nothin' with me. My pimp hand is too strong-- |
Cynique "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Cynique
Post Number: 829 Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A Votes: 0 (Vote!) | Posted on Monday, July 19, 2004 - 05:13 pm: |
|
Hey, Abm, are you talking about me or your girl Kola, the ubiquitous femme fatale whom Chris and Lambd are both so enamoured of? Heh-heh-heh. You're the one who'd better watch out. Wheeee! (I tried, but I couldn't resist.) |
Abm "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Abm
Post Number: 503 Registered: 04-2004
Rating: N/A Votes: 0 (Vote!) | Posted on Monday, July 19, 2004 - 05:44 pm: |
|
Cynique, Uh Oh! See. There you go mentioning the 'K-word'. Why, if I didn't know any bettah maam, I might conclude that YOU are indeed the one most "enamoured" with your African-born nemesis. |
Cynique "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Cynique
Post Number: 831 Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A Votes: 0 (Vote!) | Posted on Monday, July 19, 2004 - 06:03 pm: |
|
Why would you think that, Abm? Do the frequent sly remarks that you make to your nemesis Yukio mean that you are enamoured of him?? |
Abm "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Abm
Post Number: 509 Registered: 04-2004
Rating: N/A Votes: 0 (Vote!) | Posted on Monday, July 19, 2004 - 07:11 pm: |
|
Yukio, HAHA! Well, I don't think that my relationship with Yukio as ANYWHERE is overtly/deliberately confrontational as that of yours and KB. So I reject that premise of your argument. But, okay. Sure, if Yukio was a chick...and cute...I'd probably try to 'hit-it'. HAHA! |
Cynique "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Cynique
Post Number: 836 Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A Votes: 0 (Vote!) | Posted on Tuesday, July 20, 2004 - 12:08 am: |
|
Yeah, and if Kola was a guy I might be interested in her. But she isn't. Women, in general, and Kola, in particular, are not my thing. I was provoking Chris and Lambd, not Kola. |
Chrishayden "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Chrishayden
Post Number: 427 Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A Votes: 0 (Vote!) | Posted on Tuesday, July 20, 2004 - 01:49 pm: |
|
http://www.ucomics.com/boondocks/2004/07/19/
|
|