Cosby ties education to remembrances of the civil rights movement
theGRIO REPORT - At 75, the comedian, philanthropist, actor and everyone's favorite dad as co-creator and star of 'The Cosby Show,' is still feisty, opinionated, and determined. Only now, his energy is often devoted to touting causes that have nothing to do with show business...
“Because part of the [civil rights] movement dealt with concerns about the inferior education that American-Africans were receiving at that time,” Bell said, “today, we don’t have the same issues, of outright discrimination like we did in the past, but education was still a key component.”
Bell and his associates, including Miles College President George French, have secured Cosby as chairman of a committee that will host a series of 50th anniversary events in September that will include forums devoted to the issue of education.
“I believe that our historically black colleges and universities have always had the civil rights movement [as part of them] in the involvement of its faculty,” Cosby said.
French said the issue is especially important because of the large percentage of black students who arrive at colleges like Miles College ill prepared for the rigors of post-secondary education.
“And of course, what happens with that is when you have to spend, sometimes the first two years in developmental and remedial courses,” French said, adding that in many cases, those students wind up running out of financial aid. “And then, in their senior year, often times, they have to drop out of college, and not finish for what turns out to be an average [deficit] of about $2,000.”
The group hopes to press the issues of educational preparedness and access during the September commemorative events. And they hope to get President Obama’s attention.
“Let’s see, he’s spent time with Henry [Louis] Gates and a policeman having a beer,” Cosby said of the president, referring to the “beer summit” that was held after Obama criticized a Cambridge policeman for his interaction with Gates after the Harvard professor became locked out of his home and neighbors called 911 after he tried to gain entry. Cosby has his own ideas about the kind of summit he’d like to see at the White House.
“I’d like him to have some Jell-O Pudding, and bring in some educators who are very, very successful,” he said. “I wanna see some movement.”
Follow Joy Reid on Twitter at @TheReidReport.
