Cosby to the Rescue: Violence in Schools

I don’t admit to being proud of this, but I watched Oprah yesterday.* That’s another post for another day.

The great Bill Cosby was on with Dr. Alvin Poussaint, co-author with Cosby of ”Come On People: On the Path from Victims to Victors”.  His appearance was on point with the controversial speech Cosby—sorry, that’s Dr. Cosby—gave at a 2004 NAACP gala that celebrated the 50th anniversary of the landmark Brown v. Board of Education court case.

In it, Cosby presented a bitter and truthful but evidently divisive stance on the staggering crime/murder/drug/prostitution/poor grammar epidemic among young African-Americans.  Not all African-Americans, to be clear; though the statistics Cosby provided that homicide is the leading cause of death among African-American males ages 15 to 29, and that 28 percent of black men born today will go to prison in their lifetimes (according to the U.S. Justice Department), don’t help matters.  It starts with parenting, continues with education, and flourishes with the power of choice and reason.

(The full report on Cosby and Poussaint’s appearance yesterday can be found on Oprah.com.)

What struck me isn’t how revelatory this declaration is, nor the solutions Cosby and Poussaint suggest (like the story of the teacher who personally visited the home of every student the summer before the fall semester began).  What got me, really, was the teaser on the 5 p.m. WIVB newscast that followed the Oprah telecast.

As soon as the credits finished rolling, a newscaster announced that a teacher was injured breaking up a fight among female students at the Buffalo Academy for Visual and Performing Arts.  This follows the news that three teachers and a security guard was injured at Riverside High School on Tuesday—again the result of a fight among female students.

I’m not naive to think this (and worse) kind of violence and otherwise non-learning goes on at schools, inside and outside the city.  But it was an alarming story to hear directly after an hour of pretty inspirational stories and thoughts from America’s Dad on the subject.  Seemingly “non-violent” fights such as these (which is to say, without the use of weapons) don’t squelch the concept that there is work to be done.

I learned a great deal from Dr. Cosby, Dr. Poussaint, and Winfrey.  I’ll quote Cosby’s favorite quote of the hour:  “It’s not what they’re doing to us.  It’s what we’re not doing.

*I don’t dislike Oprah, for the record.  I don’t love everything about her, but I’ll be the first to praise her philanthropic and supportive stances on issues like violence, poverty, sexual crimes and cultural literacy.  Great show yesterday.

Photo courtesy Oprah.com.

Posted by on 10/18 at 09:49 AM