Black Psychiatrist's ‘Intervention' Calms Cosby
by BAR
executive editor Glen Ford
"When
presented as a substitute for political action, books like Come On People are
great diversions from the tasks at hand, and weapons to bludgeon Black people."
Harvard Medical School professor of psychiatry Alvin F.
Poussaint has succeed where all other recent efforts have failed: by teaming up
with Bill Cosby to write a new book, Dr. Poussaint has softened the tone of the
entertainer/philanthropist's crusade against the African American poor. The
collaboration adds a sane demeaner, and at least a veneer of previously absent
intellectual weight, to the comedic curmudgeon's road show.
NBC went wild over the volume, as the corporate media does
with all of Cosby's utterances blaming low-income Blacks for most, if not all,
negative aspects of life in their neighborhoods. The co-authors of Come
on People, On the Path From Victims to Victors got top billing, the first act in last Sunday's
edition of Meet The Press, with
Tim Russert, plus free publicity placement of the book's entire first chapter
on the program's web site.
Little wonder that NBC found the Cosby/Poussaint team's work
compelling; the book's title and content flays poor Blacks with the dismissive
"victimhood" language deployed by the Manhattan Institute's John McWhorter
and other propagandists for the Right. What's different, here, is the presence
of Dr. Poussaint, the highly regarded scholar usually associated with
progressive causes. His intervention in billionaire Cosby's downward spiral
into public spectacles of ranting and sputtering is at least a cosmetic
success. Gone were the dark glasses that some observers suspected served to
hide signs of medication - -self or prescribed. The co-authors scrunched
together on the network set, their suit jackets touching, Poussaint's foot
close enough to deliver a gentle kick should Cosby revert to abusive hectoring
and insults against large segments of the The Race.
"Poussaint's
intervention in billionaire Cosby's downward spiral into public spectacles of
ranting and sputtering is at least a cosmetic success."
Host Tim Russert was, of course, true to corporate media
form, digging for quotable bites of bile from Cosby, who has since at least
2004 been more than glad to serve as superstar Black-basher. Poussaint's
mission is to clean up and smarten up Cosby's act, both in style and by
injecting a modicum of substance.
Poussaint leads off stating that "70 percent of Black babies
are born to unwed mothers," a statistical fact. Russert asks, "What's the model
for a two-parent home?" - a lame question whose obvious answer is: a home with
both parents living in it - but whose purpose is to open the discussion of
ingrained deformities in Black social organization, the alleged root of all
ghetto evils. Poussaint, who shares with Cosby a primary focus on Black males,
says "a lot of these [young] males have a father-hunger, and later on in life
this turns to anger." It's a reasoned-sounding observation from a luminary of
psychology. The good doctor notes the "availability of Black men" is central to
any conversation about marriage rates; that, "in some Black colleges, women
outnumber men two to one; and he stresses that, of the 2.2 million prisoners
behind bars in the U.S., 919,000 are Black. "In Baltimore," he says, "75 percent
of Black males drop out" of high school.
So far, we are on a fact track. But then it's Cosby's turn
to respond to Russert's question, "What do we do?"
Cosby starts out well, displaying a calmness and equanimity
that has been largely missing since he unloaded his anti-poor
passions at a Washington anniversary celebration of the Brown school
desegregation decision, three years ago. He admits that racism works in
systemic ways. "Let's deal with what people call systemic racism...and this is
real." Especially in education, "it is there with a very ugly head...." "BUT" -
and here Cosby begins his descent into nonsense - "this is not the first time
my race has seen systemic, institutional racism...lynchings...we knew how to
protect our children, protect our women."
Really? Many women and children were among the thousands
lynched under Jim Crow terror. Cosby was 18 when 14-year-old Emmett Till was lynched in
1955 - grown enough to vividly remember. The problem with 70-year-old Cosby -
an affliction not shared by the 73-year-old Poussaint - is a memory that
appears to reinvent itself on such a scale that it revises the history of a
people as convenience and the rant-of-the-moment dictate.
Then Cosby gets to the heart of his secular ministry:
"People must realize that the Revolution is in their apartment...and then they
can fight systemic and institutionalized racism." That is, tend to your personal problems first, clean up your
character and straighten up your house, and only then even consider confronting
the larger forces that have played the mega-historical role in creating the
conditions of Black life that bring misery to millions of people just like you.
This is vintage Cosby, the message he's been sending for almost forty years.
The no-longer-funny comic has no conception of personal growth and affirmation
through struggle in common cause with others. He perceives his own wealth as a
measure of human worth and mental health, and tells poor people that their
personal faults are the source of most ghetto ills.
"Cosby
revises the history of a people as convenience and the rant-of-the-moment
dictate."
Under Dr. Poussaint's influence, Cosby mixes his main menu
of Black-poor denunciation with a few bows to the real world of racial
oppression. But - and there is always the "but" - he quickly returns to the
theme: forget about social action until you get yourself straight; until I say
so.
Poussaint attempts to redirect the Meet The Press
conversation to substance and context. "The United States has the highest
incarceration rate in the world," he says. There are much higher penalties for
possession of crack than for powdered cocaine. "One hundred percent higher,"
Russert chimes in, wearing that silly grin he puts on when he manages to
contribute an actual fact not supplied by his producers. Poussaint cites the
litany: three-strike laws, mandatory sentencing, "creating a disaster for the
Black community." The learned scientist urges creation of public programs that
"do something for these young people when they come out."
Thankfully, we are back in the realm of public and corporate
policy. Cosby deigns to acknowledge that families cannot control the flow of
destructive commercial culture into their communities. "It's the guy in the
boardroom" who pushes gangsta rap, he declares. Cosby tells a story (literally
true or not) about a music executive who demands that an underling provide a
song with a rape theme, insisting, "Rape is good."
Russert again attempts to depict a vast divide among African
Americans, quoting Black Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson: "We
seem to be stuck...we need a new language. There is no monolithic Black America with
the same values."
Poussaint resists the bait: "No, the Black community is not
monolithic." But some things "affect all of it." For example, the race-based
justice system exemplified in Jena, Louisiana, strikes a deep chord among all
African Americans. At some levels, there is a commonality of Black suffering.
"If you are low-income, you catch more of it. What separates us is more of a
socio-economic divide. If you are a high school dropout, you are more likely to
be poor and go to jail.
"Many people in the Black middle class are involved in
programs to help the [poor] Black community," says Poussaint. He mentions 100 Black Men and others.
Thanks to the Black psychiatrist from Harvard, who served from 1965 to
1967 as Southern Field Director of the Medical Committee for Human Rights in
Jackson, Mississippi, according to his bio, "providing medical care to civil
rights workers and aiding in the desegregation of health facilities throughout
the southern United States," Russert wasn't getting the raw anti-Black meat
that could have previously been expected from Cosby, the one-man show.
The
comedian, possibly sensing that his longtime spiel was being diluted by his
partner's facts and social conscience, once again urged that political activism
be put on indefinite back-burner until the ghetto cleanses itself. Build on
those things "that you can control, and then you can fight institutional
racism," He urges. It's so simple, in Cosby's mind: "If you say, My child is
going to do more time for selling crack [than for selling powdered cocaine],
you tell your child, Don't sell it."
Nancy ("just say no") Reagan would be proud.
"Thanks to
the Black psychiatrist from Harvard, Russert wasn't getting the raw
anti-Black meat that could have previously been expected from Cosby, the
one-man show."
Tim Russert wants Cosby to respond to educator and author
Michael Dyson's contention that Cosby overemphasizes personal responsibility,
to the detriment of political action. Dr. Poussaint jumps in, as if to prevent
Cosby from going on a rant. There have "always been questions of personal
responsibility" in the Black community," says Poussaint, "but I think there are
systemic issues that need to be worked on, always." The Cosby rant that
Russert anticipated did not materialize. Who knows how long Cosby will be
careful not to go into improvisational mode on the book-selling circuit,
especially if his busy psychiatrist co-author isn't around to put on the
brakes.
Cosby, according to the Chicago Tribune's Clarence
Paige, eschewed activism back in the Sixties. As Paige recalls: "It was 1968,
but he didn't want to talk about black power, Black Panthers or cultural
revolutions. He wanted to complain about why so many young blacks of my
generation were wasting the great opportunities that hard-won civil rights
victories had brought us."
Paige now tends to be in Cosby's corner, he says. Cosby
continues preach from same soapbox as he did forty years ago. In May, 2000, he exhorted
students at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, not
to dabble in campus politics, or challenge the orthodoxy of those in power at
the institution. Shut up, until after you've made your career move:
"Those of you going to grad school, listen to me carefully...
I know you have an idea of how you want to make a change in the world. That is
not what grad school is for. Do what they tell you to do and then when you
graduate, do what you want to do. That is what grad school is for. If you're
gonna argue with the professor you're going to not get a good grade, you're not
going to graduate in grad school. Okay? So take your young idea, study what
they want you to study, kick tail and then when you get your turn to write your
dissertation then you tell it the way it ought to be told. It is not for you to stand up and argue... You get an A on all
the tests and then, make your move."
If the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)
activists Dr. Poussaint assisted, more than four years ago, had heeded Cosby's
warning, Jim Crow terror would have enjoyed a much longer life.
The Book
Come on People, On the Path From Victims, or at
least the first chapter, is
filled with simplistic homilies and is frequently condescending in tone. At
times, one has the impression it was written for 12 - 15 year olds. Cosby's
often-carping voice is unmistakable, while Poussaint makes his presence felt in
the more substantive passages, especially regarding the criminal justice system
and youth. But overall, there is little to learn from the book other than what
happens when a noted Black psychiatrist struggles to make a bitter old man with
a severe case of the rants seem calm and reasonable.
"We learn
what happens when a noted Black psychiatrist struggles to make a bitter old man
with a severe case of the rants seem calm and reasonable."
NBC poured the hype on thick for the Cosby-Poussaint
venture, publishing Chapter One on the Meet The Press website and
pulling quotes under various subject categories - tons of free publicity. Right
up top, NBC featured the authors' reaction to criticism:
On critics: "Many of those who accuse us are scholars and
intellectuals, upset that we are not blaming everything on white people as they
do. Well, only blaming the system keeps certain black people in the
limelight but it also keeps the black poor wallowing in victimhood."
There's that word, "victimhood," the assertion that African
Americans are, in today's world, more tormentors of each other than by people
in power, an absolution of whites for past and present crimes and for failing
to construct even a semblance of a social contract with the historical "Other."
And who are these "certain black people" in the limelight?
The authors have a whole book to name names, but prefer to assign words,
thoughts and intentions to anonymous malefactors. That's cowardly and
dishonest. If you can't name, don't complain.
Cosby's venom is unmistakable in the scorning reference to
"scholars and intellectuals," spit out in the manner of Rush Limbaugh. One
wonders how Poussaint, the noted scholar and intellectual, allowed this sneer
to pass. The slur against intellectuals and scholars is more ironic, in light
of Cosby's insistence that he be addressed as "Dr. Cosby," in deference to his
PhD (1977) in education from the University of Massachusetts.
Naturally, NBC highlighted what Cosby-Poussaint had to say
on "victimhood":
"It is time to think positively and act positively.
Black communities and families must provide our youth with the love and
guidance that keeps them strong and on that positive path. Blaming white
people can be a way for some black people to feel better about themselves but
it doesn't pay the electric bills."
Who ever said simply complaining pays the utilities -
although fighting the utility companies is a venerable American pastime? Again,
the book makes up both antagonists and "victims," putting words in their
mouths. Cosby's drool is all over it.
"The book
makes up both antagonists and "victims," putting words in their mouths."
Only in those sections in which Poussaint's voice rises
above Cosby's banalities does some glimmer of public-policy discussion appear.
Here's one:
"The Dellums Commission
in Washington DC on which Dr. Poussaint served as honorary vice chair, issued a
2006 report that recommended, among other initiatives, the repeal of mandatory
sentencing, an increase in the minimum wage, and a restriction of
zero-tolerance policies in schools.
"We must listen to these voices of wisdom and fight for
state and local governments to help us salvage as many black men - and women -
as possible. This includes financial support for programs providing counseling,
education, and job-training skills. Men need a good steady job that gives them
a chance in life; otherwise, they end up back in jail or on the streets. Such
men can become permanently alienated from the world, which can be hell on the
community and heartbreaking for the children."
The words, "Listen to these voices and fight..." are chapter's
only nod to at least some vague concept of confrontation with the
powers-that-be.
Despite Dr. Poussaint's reasoned statements on the
racially-skewed criminal justice system, the following two sentences reveal a
frightening authorial mindset:
"To be sure, the justice system disfavors black males, and
some are in the system who should not be. But tragically, too many of our sons
deserve to be right where they are."
Does anyone deserve to suffer myriad cruel and
unusual punishments, to be vulnerable to rape or conditioned to become the
rapist? Whoever wrote those words or allowed them to remain in the manuscript
harbors a bestial opinion of Black people. The best that can be said, is they
might not be aware of what actually happens in prison - a willful ignorance
that does not remove their guilt.
The plural pronoun in our next bite from the book
indicates Dr. Poussaint and Dr. Cosby are of the same mind:
"We're not saying there is no discrimination or racial
profiling today, but there is less than there was in 1950. These are not
‘political' criminals. These are people selling drugs, stealing, or shooting
their buddies over trivia."
What do they mean, there is less racial profiling today
than in 1950? Hyper-surveillance of Black communities, the spring that winds up
the "intake" process for the entire "scoop up the Blacks" machine, has
exponentially increased since the mid-Twentieth Century. So have the ratios of cops-to-citizens,
especially in the South, thanks initially to massive infusions of federal law
enforcement monies in the Sixties. Whole communities are designated "drug
zones" in which everyone is suspect, where plainclothes squads pounce
without warning, and constitutional rights barely exist. The authors have
confused the arbitrary harassment of past generations of African Americans with
recent decades of a systematic public policy of selective Black mass
incarceration - which begins with hyper-surveillance and profiling on a
community-wide scale. That's why the prisons are full of Blacks.
"The
authors have confused the arbitrary harassment of past generations of African
Americans with recent decades of a systematic public policy of selective Black
mass incarceration."
A high Justice
Department official recently admitted that the increase in the U.S. prison
population since 1975 "...wasn't really about crime. It was about how we chose
to respond to crime." Hyper-surveillance, a form of mega-profiling, has
achieved levels of Black imprisonment undreamed of in 1950 or 1960 or 1970. As
BAR's Bruce Dixon writes in the October
10 issue, "Government, the state itself has been refashioned into a
punitive and carceral machine whose main function is to contain and control
this unworthy, dishonored and dangerous poor and black population."
Finally, here's a
folktale, doubtless conjured up by Cosby, offered to somehow help present-day
poor Black people deal with pregnancies outside marriage:
"[S]ex, we don't need to tell you, has been around since
Adam and Eve. So has shame. We knew that if one of us got a girl pregnant, not
only would she have to go visit that famous ‘aunt in South Carolina,' but young
Romeo would have to go too, not to South Carolina maybe, but somewhere. It
would be too embarrassing for Romeo's family for him to just sit around in the
neighborhood with a fat Cheshire cat smile on his face. And there was
something else we understood: that girl likely had a daddy in the home. And
he'd be prepared to wipe that grin off Romeo's face permanently."
Oh, so that's how it was in the good old days when Black
folks had their full quota of shame. Some of us who were conscious during the
Jim Crow era don't remember it quite that way, although surely such scenarios
unfolded in some places and at some times other than in Cosby's TV and movie
script-laden, revisionist recollections.
More to the point, the burnished anecdote of times past is
near-useless as a guide to either personal behavior in the present, or
organized community action. Are all those aunts in South Carolina going back
into the business of sheltering pregnant girls from public eyes?
"Cosby's
burnished anecdotes of times past are near-useless as a guide to either
personal behavior in the present, or organized community action."
Chapter One is flecked with gems like these:
"Black males and females must take the time to talk about
their relationships with each other and with the children."
"And please, whatever you do, don't let the gangs raise
your children."
If everybody gets married, and the young people stay in
school and avoid sex, then Sarah Jane won't have to get sent off to South Carolina
in shame to have her and Romeo's baby.
On its face, this kind of wistful pablum is too irrelevant
to do much harm. But when presented as a substitute for political action, and
endorsed by hostile corporate forces intent on destroying the last vestiges of
the Black Freedom Struggle (from which Cosby was actively estranged), books
like Come On People are great diversions from the tasks at hand - more,
they are weapons to bludgeon Black people and "culture."
Bill Cosby forgets no insult and makes up everything else.
So let us not forget his recent history, and the scope of rehabilitation that
has been required since Cosby's explosion of cruel, blanket insults against
less fortunate Blacks, in 2004.
Bill Cosbyisms
Cosby on the Black poor:
"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 won't spend $200 for
'Hooked on Phonics.' "
Cosby on Black youth culture:
"People putting their clothes
on backwards: Isn't that a sign of something gone wrong? ... People with their
hats on backwards, 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 to the crack and got all type of needles
[piercings] going through her body? What part of Africa did this come from?
Those people are not Africans; they don't know a damn thing about Africa."
Cosby on civil rights:
"Brown versus the Board of
Education is no longer the white person's problem. We have got to take the
neighborhood back. We have to go in there - forget about telling your child to
go into the Peace Corps - it is right around the corner. They are standing on
the corner and they can't speak English."
Cosby on literacy:
"Basketball players -
multimillionaires - can't write a paragraph. Football players -
multimillionaires - can't read. Yes, multimillionaires. Well, Brown versus
Board of Education: Where are we today? They paved the way, but what did we do
with it? That white man, he's laughing. He's got to be laughing: 50 percent
drop out, the rest of them are in prison."
Cosby on poor Black women:
"Five, six children - same
woman - eight, 10 different husbands or whatever. Pretty soon you are going to
have DNA cards to tell who you are making love to. You don't know who this is.
It might be your grandmother. I am telling you, they're young enough! Hey, you
have a baby when you are 12; your baby turns 13 and has a baby. How old are
you? Huh? Grandmother! By the time you are 12 you can have sex with your
grandmother, you keep those numbers coming. I'm just predicting."
Cosby on the sons and
daughters of poor, Black, unmarried mothers:
"...with names like Shaniqua,
Taliqua and Mohammed [!] and all of that crap, and all of them are in jail.
Cosby on Blacks shot by
police:
"These are not political criminals. These are people
going around stealing Coca-Cola. People getting shot in the back of the head
over a piece of pound cake and then we run out and we are outraged,
[saying] 'The cops shouldn't have shot him.' What the hell was he doing with
the pound cake in his hand?"
Dr. Alvin Poussaint has had a calming effect on Bill Cosby,
for the time being. But the core Cosby still keeps struggling to break out in
the new book and in interviews. To the extent this keeps Cosby in the public
eye, an enthusiastic indicter of the culture and lifestyles of the Black poor,
Dr. Poussaint becomes, not the troubled comedian's reasonable and coherent
alter-ego and counselor, but his Black-bashing enabler.
Glen Ford can be contacted
at [email protected].