Bill Cosby Slammed for Comments in New Orleans
by Jim Kouri, CPP
At a rally attended by Revs. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton on Saturday, comedian and actor Bill Cosby urged residents of hurricane-ravaged New Orleans, Louisiana, to “cleanse” themselves from the city’s history of crime, violence, drugs and teen pregnancies.
Cosby has come underfire by the civil-rights establishment for comments across the US in which he’s told young blacks to turn away from influences in rap music, stop violence and underage sex, and focus more on education and morality.
Cosby told the crowd, “It’s painful, but we can’t cleanse ourselves unless we look at the wound. Ladies and gentlemen, you had the highest murder rate, unto each other. You were dealing drugs to each other. You were impregnating our 13-, 12-, 11-year-old children. What kind of a village is that?
At the rally in N.O. — a city devastated by Hurricane Katrina last August — Cosby told 2,000 people in front of the Convention Center of his desire for the city’s society to have an “extreme make-over.”
As is usual, Cosby is being slammed by most civil-rights leaders and black pundits who claim his comments hurt “the cause.” They’ve attacked his speeches as being insensitive and wrong.
“They don’t like it when [Cosby] puts the blame on pathological behavior in the black community rather than the shop-worn tactic of blaming “whitey” for the problems in black neighborhoods,” claims Mike Baker a political analyst.
“The crowd and the speakers expected the usual ‘George Bush’ bashing and racism allegations. Cosby gave them a mirror and they didn’t like what they saw.”
According to the latest crime statistics for the embattled city, violent crime is on the rise once again. Some can be attributed to illegal aliens coming to New Orleans for jobs or outsiders looking to exploit the still chaotic environment, but much of the crime is occurring within the black community.
While people such as Rev. Jesse Jackson has voiced concerns over Cosby’s speeches, in the past Jackson himself has chastised African-Americans in poor neighborhoods for what came to be known as “black-on-black crime.”
Jim Kouri, CPP is currently fifth vice-president of the National Association of Chiefs of Police and he’s a staff writer for the New Media Alliance (thenma.org). He’s former chief at a New York City housing project in Washington Heights nicknamed “Crack City” by reporters covering the drug war in the 1980s. In addition, he served as director of public safety at a New Jersey university and director of security for several major organizations. He’s also served on the National Drug Task Force and trained police and security officers throughout the country.  Kouri writes for many police and security magazines including Chief of Police, Police Times, The Narc Officer and others. He’s a news writer for TheConservativeVoice.Com. He’s also a columnist for AmericanDaily.Com, MensNewsDaily.Com, MichNews.Com, and he’s syndicated by AXcessNews.Com.  He’s appeared as on-air commentator for over 100 TV and radio news and talk shows including Oprah, McLaughlin Report, CNN Headline News, MTV, Fox News, etc. His book Assume The Position is available at Amazon.Com. Kouri’s own website is located at http://jimkouri.us
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Jim Kouri, CPP is currently fifth vice-president of the National Association of Chiefs of Police and he's a staff writer for the New Media Alliance (thenma.org). In addition, he's the former editor for the House Conservatives Fund's weblog. Kouri also serves as political advisor for Emmy and Golden Globe winning actor Michael Moriarty. He's former chief at a New York City housing project in Washington Heights nicknamed "Crack City" by reporters covering the drug war in the 1980s. In addition, he served as director of public safety at a New Jersey university and director of security for several major organizations. He's also served on the National Drug Task Force and trained police and security officers throughout the country. Kouri writes for many police and security magazines including Chief of Police, Police Times, The Narc Officer and others. He's a news writer for TheConservativeVoice.Com and PHXnews.com. He's also a columnist for AmericanDaily.Com, MensNewsDaily.Com, MichNews.Com, and he's syndicated by AXcessNews.Com. He's appeared as on-air commentator for over 100 TV and radio news and talk shows including Oprah, McLaughlin Report, CNN Headline News, MTV, Fox News, etc. To subscribe to Kouri's newsletter write to COPmagazine@aol.com and write "Subscription" on the subject line. | More from Jim Kouri, CPP
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It’s really nice to see black americans like Mr. Cosby address the problems that black americans face that DOES NOT involve the white race, i.e. black-on-black crime. I am filipino and as one of many that immigrated to the U.S., we here rarely resort to blaming “whitey” for our problems. Playing the racial card is so tiresome and the practice is being worn out and hopefully before I die, phased out as an excuse completely. Notice what happened to Cynthia McKinney, although I think that her so called apology was meant to appease members of her party. Slavery was over eons ago, America will always be known as a diverse land and it is that reason why we are probably the greatest and at the same time, the most reviled country in the world. I don’t know of any other country that affords all its people freedoms and limitless opportunities that only other countries can dream of. It’s time for voices that stand out to demand that each ethnic faction face their own internal problems and at the same time, work with people of different races, color, and religious backgrounds to make the UNITED STATES a cohesvive and unified country. It’s time for voices like Mr. Cosby’s to wake up not only the black America but the rest of white America … and Asian America and Latino America. He is the voice that I will listen to. Not Mr. Jackson’s, Ms. MckInney’s or Mr. Sharpton’s.
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