Is Bill Cosby Right? Or has the black middle class lost its mind?

Bill Cosby has successfully pissed off a lot of people since his first introductory rant against lower class black America at the NAACP Brown v. Board of Education anniversary dinner in April 2004. But perhaps he has pissed off no one more than self titled “hip-hop intellectual” Michael Eric Dyson who has dedicated his latest book, Is Bill Cosby Right: or has the black middle class lost it's mind? to crucifying Cosby as a rich, ignorant, race traitor-sellout, which is all a bit much to bear in reference to America's favorite TV dad.

As can be inferred from the title, this book is about as surface as it's eye-catching cover work which features Bill Cosby's head cut out and used for the “o” in Cosby. Clearly, Dyson is cashing in on the controversy and doesn't make much of an attempt in the 240 pages to ever truly address or intellectually discuss any of the issues of self-sabotage, anti-intellectualism and underachievement that undeniably face black America. Instead Dyson spends the majority of the text personally attacking Cosby calling him “mean-spirited” and “hurtful” and nearly suggesting he be cast-away in to black American exile (to join the likes of Clarence Thomas and Marion Barry, of course).

After a brief introduction in which Dyson recaps Cosby's speech, he’s off taking on Cosby word for word. It can only be described as childish taunting the way Dyson continuously assaults Cosby throughout the book.
“Perhaps Cosby has forgotten what it was like to be young, black, and poor, or to be hungry for even more capital in the wake of a real first taste of money and then comforts it can bring.” (p. 83).

Take that Cosby, you just don't understand cause you're rich. Or at least that seems to be Dyson's point as he whole-heartedly defends every criticism of Black America Cosby makes. One for one, Dyson goes through Cosby's speech and attempts to clear it all up for us.

Dyson vehemently defends Black English as a legitimate dialect, which should not be undervalued against some supposed white “standard” citing the great Ebonics debate as proof. “The Oakland teachers realized, as do most black folk, that we must code-switch, or as Cosby phrased it, speak one variety of English on the streets and another in the home, on the job and the like.” (p.77)

However true this may or may not be, Dyson makes no room for the possibility that many children who speak Black English are not code-switching. They know only the dialect they speak and are unable to fluently switch between to benefit themselves in school or on a job. This type of blind defense goes on as Dyson explains away baggy pants as over policed black bodies hiding in their clothes, cites eccentric names as remnants of African cultural retention, combats academic gaps by twisting statistics of one sociological study, and excuses poor parenting by a completely unnecessary attack on Cosby's personal life.

“Despite his landmark television show, and despite writing the best-selling book Father hood, Cosby's relationship to his daughter reflected the tensions that beset millions of other families, rich and poor, suburban and inner-city, and black and white-and brown, red and yellow, too” (p.151). And Dyson doesn't spare the details as he diligently chronicles Cosby's troubles with his daughter Erinn, the murder of his son Ennis and the allegations that he bore an illegitimate child. Dyson has done his homework, he has found and dug up every aspect of public and at one time private life that Bill Cosby ever had. Unfortunately when it comes to solid and convincing research on the issues, the book is severely lacking.

Because Dyson chooses to address only Cosby's remarks and none of the surrounding discussion from the intellectual black community, the book is a sad case of attacking the messenger and missing the message. As an ordained minister with a PhD in religion, one would think Dyson would be the first to acknowledge that the messenger often falls short of the glory (hence Moses and the many other prostitutes, thieves and murderers Jesus walked with in the bible).

Dyson's most compelling point to Cosby is essentially don't just blame the poor people --a point that many of his contemporaries would agree with. The biggest flaw in Cosby's arguments is that he fails to recognize that the under achievement of black Americans is certainly no longer just an issue facing the lower class, and, in fact, many studies show that more middle and upper class black are underachieving regardless of the opportunities provided them by their economic status. That acknowledgement would make quite an interesting topic for a book, but sadly, Dyson merely mentions this at all, probably because he is too busy denying that underachievement really exists and instead wastes countless pages chronicling Bill Cosby's every word making sure to prove him an old and sadly-mistaken hypocrite.

The good news, this book is probably one of Dyson's most well-written and substantiated books which is disappointing since it falls short of being a gossip ridden memoir with an occasional scholarly quote strategically placed to make you think that you are reading a somewhat academic text. You will certainly learn a lot about Bill Cosby from this read, as to whether he is right or not, you may have to wait for another author to answer that.

Leigh Davenport