Cosby-- OPED

Chicago Tribune
Copyright 2004 Chicago Tribune

Date: Sunday, July 18, 2004
Edition: Chicago Final
Section: Perspective Page: 3 Zone: C
Source: By Jamal Watson.
Illustration: PHOTO


Black middle class caught in between
It feels the need to speak out against Bill Cosby's criticism of the underclass but he is saying what it has stated privately



They felt that they had to offer some kind of public defense.

To them, Bill Cosby's criticism was simply too harsh, too over the line, to sit in silence. In fact, the failure to speak up, they thought, would seriously jeopardize their own middle-class standing in white America.

And so--one by one, these black middle-class doctors, lawyers, religious leaders and academicians, took to the airwaves to explain away the pathology of a small, but lethal, segment of black America. They wanted to convince white folks that Cosby had gotten it all wrong--that the drug dealing, the gangs, and the school-dropout rate of these wayward inner-city black youth weren't as bad as America's favorite television dad made them appear.

Privately, of course, they had been talking about the problems of "these people" for years.

At social dinner parties, civil rights conventions and sorority and fraternity events, they bemoaned the fact that the black underclass is in serious trouble.


Part of the problem

The conversations always take into account that systematic and institutionalized racism is part of the problem. Racist public policies, poor schools and a failure to invest in urban areas have contributed to the crisis that the black underclass faces. And yet the black middle class itself is proof of the opportunity possible in America. Those middle-class people sharing their thoughts over a glass of wine are products of the sacrifices of the civil rights movement and have steadily watched their numbers triple in size since 1968. Among themselves, they could admit distress that a growing segment of the black underclass had fallen by the wayside and had simply failed to take responsibility for their actions, including their education.

Still, in the days after Cosby's comments--in which he rightly chastised some poor black parents for not doing an adequate job of parenting--these middle-class blacks publicly went on the defensive. They attacked the messenger, accusing him of airing dirty laundry, even though recent polls indicate that a large number of poor and working-class black Americans actually agree with Cosby's tough talk.

The response of the black middle class to Cosby's comments highlights the complicated duality of black middle-class life in America. On one hand, this group--to which I claim membership--has developed a growing disconnect to a segment of the poor black underclass who have found favor in calling themselves derogatory words of ugliness or routinely spending hundreds of dollars on sneakers and clothing, refusing instead to invest in college--a step that would likely help them improve their economic status.

On the other hand, in an effort to "keep it real" and maintain solidarity with the inner-city roots that many of us hail from, too often we run to the defense of black people without asking questions, simply because they are black. We fear that our failure to defend African-Americans at all costs will force some to call into question the authenticity of our blackness.

This form of identity politics is deeply troubling and plays a role in further ghettoizing the black community. To outsiders, it appears that we are simply supporting bad behavior.


Torn between 2 worlds

Regularly, I feel torn between the two worlds that I frequent. I feel it each evening when I watch the 6 o'clock news and pray that the person who committed the heinous crime wasn't a member of my race. If my hopes are dashed, for a few seconds after the person's mug shot flashes across my television screen, I feel that the actions of the accused will adversely affect me in someway or another and further make it difficult for African-Americans as a whole.

Coincidentally, many of my black friends who work in newsrooms across America had similar feelings after the fraudulence of Jayson Blair, the former black New York Times reporter, was discovered. Somehow, they were convinced that Blair's deceptive behavior would inevitably set things back in journalism for African-Americans.

The problem is "race," as Robin Kelley, a cultural critic, noted author and professor of African-American Studies at Columbia University, points out.

"We've been raised to think like a race, and as such we have this collective responsibility for the race," Kelley said. "The black middle class feel that they need to be responsible for the poor and feel like they need to be connected to them in some way or another."

And so we worry. If only we had tutored more at the local elementary school or moved back into the neighborhood after we graduated from college, we think. Maybe then, the black underclass would be less stigmatized. But isn't this a form of elitism? It's the belief that only black middle-class residents can solve the woes of the black underclass. While we definitely need social programs to help combat poverty, there is a responsibility of parents--no matter what their economic level--to raise and provide for their children. Black middle-class residents should replace their sense of guilt and shame for America's black underclass with a resolve to tell the truth about themselves, even if the truth is unpleasant.


Seen only in extremes

Another part of the problem is that, as middle-class blacks, we don't understand the working class, as Kelley puts it. We see them only in the extremes: as those who need to be helped by us, or those who are viewed as the victims of some form of oppression. Kelley's solution: a think tank formed by Cosby to explore the reasons why some poor blacks are failing to take responsibility for their actions.

"Cosby is right about a lot of what he said. Some of this is about behavior and taking responsibility," said Kelley, "but how do you teach young people how to be good citizens, good members of society? We have to investigate the core problems."

The African-American middle-class should consider positioning itself in the middle of the road by acknowledging institutional racism and the role that plays in the problems of the black underclass.

The worst thing we can do is to call for the silence of individuals who speak publicly about these issues. Dirty laundry needs to be aired.

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Jamal Watson is an American Society of Newspaper Editors Fellow . He is a doctoral student in Afro-American studies at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

Captions: PHOTO: Bill Cosby calls on blacks to take responsibility for their actions at a Rainbow/PUSH Coalition conference in Chicago on July 1. Tribune photo by Nancy Stone.