We Are All to Blame

This week a distant cousin of mine, T.P. sent me this email. I'll post it here, so you will know to what I am referring.

" They're standing on the corner and they can't speak English. I can't even talk the way these people talk: Why you ain't, Where you is, What he drive, Where he stay, Where he work, Who you be... And 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. In fact you will never get any kind of job making a decent living. People marched and were hit in the face with rocks to get an education, and now we've got these knuckleheads walking around. The lower economic people are not holding up their end in this deal. These people are not parenting. They are buying things for kids. $500 sneakers for what? And they won't spend $200 for Hooked on Phonics. I am talking about these people who cry... when their son is standing there in an orange suit. Where were you when he was 2? Where were you when he was 12? Where were you when he was 18...? and how come you didn't know that he had a pistol? And where is the father? Or who is his father? People putting their clothes on backward: Isn't that a sign of something gone wrong? People with their hats on backward, pants down around the crack, isn't that a sign of something? Or are you waiting for Jesus to pull his pants up? Isn't it a sign of something when she has her dress all the way up and got all type of needles [piercing] going through her body? What part of Africa did this come from? We are not Africans. Those people are not Africans; they don't know a thing about Africa. With names like Shaniqua, Taliqua and Mohammed and all of that crap, and all of them are in jail. Brown or black versus the Board of Education is no longer the white person's problem. We have got to take the neighborhood back. People used to be ashamed. Today a woman has eight children with eight different 'husbands' -- or men or whatever you call them now. We have millionaire football players who cannot read. We have million-dollar basketball players who can't write two paragraphs. We as black folks have to do a better job. Someone working at Wal-Mart with seven kids saying... you are hurting us. We have to start holding each other to a higher standard. We cannot blame the white people any longer It is not for media or anyone of this time anymore to say whether I'm right or wrong. It is time, ladies and gentlemen, to look at the numbers. Fifty percent of our children are dropping out of high school. Sixty percent of the incarcerated males happen to be illiterate. There's a correlation. Tell the media to stop asking me what I think about people who don't believe what I'm saying or feel that I'm too harsh or feel that I'm just running my mouth because I'm old. Seventy percent of the teenagers pregnant happen to be African American girls. Don't ask me to soften my message." - Bill Cosby Bill Cosby: Poor blacks can`t speak English NAACP leaders stunned by remarks of prominent comedian

I got news for you Bill, it isn't just the poor blacks. It isn't just the poor. There is a steady decline in the proper usage of the English language across the board. It is the flippant attitude of this generation toward tradition, standards, rules, and anything that even resembles decency that is bringing America down. Let's not blame it on the whites or blacks. Let's blame ourselves, whatever, whoever we happen to be. It is our apathy that has allowed this to spirit of laziness and rebellion to run rampant in our cities. It is our lack of concern that allows children to wield guns and knives and form gangs of hate and violence. I have no idea why the NAACP leaders would be stunned by his comments. If they would remove the blinders, they would see the truth in his message. Instead of being offended that one of their own has chosen to speak out against illiteracy in America, they should be on their feet giving him a standing ovation. And yes, I would say the same thing if I were black. By the way, how do you know I'm not?