Christopher Farley of Time Magazine has a really, really stale, old-school reaction to Bill Cosby's controversial speech to the NAACP.

Farley the Ostrich writes:

There are still certain things some black people won’t talk about in front of some white people....in private, African Americans are often more critical of themselves than outsiders would ever dare to be.

Last month, Bill Cosby broke the unwritten rule of keeping black dirty laundry in black washing machines...at a multiracial gala dinner in Washington, D.C. commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education decision....

After Cosby’s speech, a number of my friends and relatives, some of whom were in attendance, some of whom heard about the furor afterwards, expressed dismay at the statements — but several were more horrified that he had gone public, not at the opinions themselves.

What’s really needed isn’t a black civil war or more uncivil speech. The real problem may not be that blacks and whites are having separate conversations — that’s been true for 400 years — it’s that comments such as the ones Cosby made could be used as bricks for different groups of blacks to wall themselves off from each other.

No Brother, class-segregated dialogue is as played as race-segregated dialogue. And you're living in (pardon the phrase) the Dark Ages. If you are worried about breaking down walls, don't decide who can talk about what, based on their class or race.

Cosby gives it back to Farley (not for the first time either) in this recent press release.

Mr. Farley made it sound as if I had divulged some secret about which no one knew. But where is the secret? The secret walks and it talks. From the hallways of the school to the street to the corner store and onto to public transportation, the dirty laundry is out there."

"Walk with the dirty laundry one day. Walk through high school hallways and listen to the dirty laundry talk. MF! F! N! And, of course, that famous university, FU! All these words are spoken with the same ease as 'pass the salt.'"

"Walk with the dirty laundry outside the high school and onto the sidewalk. Don't walk fast. In fact, just stand across the street and listen to the language. Get your pad and pencil and jot down what you hear. Count the number of times various expressions of profanity are used. When you get tired of keeping track, just stop and make up a number. Oh, yes. And notice the attitude, the violence, the grabbing of young ladies. Can you hear them calling each other names or does the Boom Box drown out their voices? If you can't hear them, use your eyes. What is the relationship between male and female, male and male, female and female? Is there anger there? Do you see it?"

"Walk with the dirty laundry to the corner store where it picks up a soft drink and a bag of chips. What is the dirty laundry saying in the store? Is it cursing? Is it pushing people?"

"Ride with the dirty laundry on public transportation. Pay no attention to the people sharing a bus or subway with the dirty laundry. Obviously these people haven't heard a thing. Nor have they seen anything. Nor have they wondered why. These frightened people don't exist. The secret is safe with them."

UPDATE: Excellent op-ed in today's Seattle Times on the Cosby furor, by Oscar Eason, Jr., head of the NAACP State Conference (covering Oregon, Washington and Alaska).

Posted by Matt Rosenberg at June 7, 2004 07:09 PM

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