A single act of courage

I will not watch the Floyd In Session segment in the morning until they get rid of Jamie Floyd. She is so hung up on the race thing that it takes away from the show's purpose, i.e., reporting on active and previous trials. Sure white's were wrong in how they treated blacks back in Rosa Park's days and quite some time thereafter, but Floyd and other segments of the black community, by continuing to rehash old news, will not allow the black community to move forward. Me thinks they purposely continue to stir the race pot for their own personal reasons, but they do great disservice to the black community in their efforts to keep "race problems" alive.

America has finally grown up!!

Wow, amazing response to this article Jami.

Maybe next time you can tell us about Betsy Ross. I hear she was a seamstress too.

I would have liked to have met that lady. We need a whole lot more Rosa Parks in this world.

She committed a chargeable offence, a misdemeanor, did she not?
And now we are all praising her, a convicted criminal!

Tom-

I completely agree with you.
However, your first sentence makes no sense. If they get rid of Jami Floyd it will be entirely impossible to watch the Floyd In Session segment in the morning. Won't it?

I watched Bill Cosby on Oprah Winfrey talking about the behavior of his own race, African Americans I hope you will reconsider your opinion in defending the behavior of criminals and the above statment you make.....

'They're standing on the corner and they can't speak English.
I can't even talk the way these people talk:
Why you ain't, Where you is, What he drive, Where he stay, Where he work, Who you be...
And I blamed the kid until I heard the mother talk.
And then I heard the father talk.
Everybody knows it's important to speak English except these knuckleheads. You can't be a doctor with that kind of crap coming out of your mouth.
In fact you will never get any kind of job making a decent living.
People marched and were hit in the face with rocks to get an Education, and now we've got these knuckleheads walking around.
The 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 they won't spend $200 for Hooked on Phonics.
I am talking about these people who cry when their son is standing there in an orange suit.
Where were you when he was 2 ? ?
Where were you when he was 12 ? ?
Where were you when he was 18 and how come you didn't know that he had a pistol ? ?
And where is the father ? ? Or who is his father ?
People putting their clothes on backward:
Isn't that a sign of something gone wrong?
People with their hats on backward, 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 and got all type of needles [piercing] going through her body?
What part of Africa did this come from??
We are not Africans. Those people are not Africans; they don't know a thing about Africa With names like Shaniqua, Taliqua and Mohammed and all of that crap ... . .. . .and all of them are in jail.
Brown or black versus the Board of Education is no longer the white person's problem. We have got to take the neighborhood back.
People used to be ashamed. Today a woman has eight children with eight different 'husbands' - or men or whatever you call them now.
We have millionaire football players who cannot read.
We have million-dollar basketball players who can't write two paragraphs. We, as black folks have to do a better job.
Someone working at Wal-Mart with seven kids, you are hurting us.
We have to start holding each other to a higher standard.
We cannot blame the white people any longer.'
Dr. William Henry 'Bill' Cosby, Jr., Ed.D.

Miriam-

Bill Cosby is a brilliant man. Mr Cosby grew up during Rosa Parks time. He knows waht racism is truly all about. Not today's complaints of "I can't get a taxi". He obtained a college degree when Blacks weren't often allowed that opportunity. He has enriched many people's lives throughout his career. He is a man all of us should look up to.

But, the African American community has actually condemned Mr. Cosby for belittling his race instead of standing behind them. Black leaders have said he doesn't respect their culture. After all, Cosby's complaint about speaking English, that is officially Ebonics, you know. Speaking that way is a part of the African American culture and it should be respected. In today's world the N word is used indiscriminately by African American's, while it is grounds for dismissal from employment, or worse, if a White uses it. Yet, that word itself, is a part of the White culture. It was created by White's. If you axe me I'll tell you, dat ain't fair.

1943 Savannah, Georgia. A beautiful young white woman (my mother) boards a bus with her infant son and sits in the last unoccupied seat. At the next stop a very old black woman gets on and with much difficulty proceeds to make her way to the back of the bus which was reserved for “colored folk”. All seats were taken in that section also. My mother turned and watched the old woman clinging to the back of a seat, in danger of falling as the bus lurched forward. Mother saw no color that day, just an old woman who was having a hard time standing in a moving bus. Shocked than none of the black men were moving to offer the old woman a seat my mother stood up, her baby in her arms and motioned for the old woman to come sit down. Wide-eyed with fear the old woman shook her head, NO. Mother would not sit down instead she flashed angry looks at the men until one black man stood up and helped the old woman to his seat.
Rosa Parks was a hero yes, but lets not forget the unsung men and women of this great country of all colors who like my mother believed in right and wrong as the same for all people. Not a different standard for different colors. I use the word color because my mother also taught me, we are the Human Race and not races of skin color.

Yes Spider, your little commentary was correct; the black community has spoken against Bill Cosby for the truths he has spoken. Does that mean you have to agree with them? Is it because that group is larger than one man that knows of what he speaks? It is a sad day when parents only arrive at the school to curse a teacher out because their child doesn't know how to act. Wonder if those parents had to map the route to the school?

Carrie-

I do not agree with THEM. It is men, with intelligence and bravery, like Bill Cosby that will someday truly eliminate racism. Mr. Cosby should be considered a hero to the Black community. Someone to be listened to and heeded.
But, in my racist opinion, as long as the Black race continues to blame racism for all of the ills they encounter, they will never have the backbone to accomplish one half of what Bill Cosby has accomplished.
Being proud of your culture is an important thing. But, when your "culture" holds you back, i.e. "axe me, I'll tell you.", you need to shirk your cultural differences and move on and up.

Hey Spider, I don't know who "created" the "n" word but I detest that word as well as some other derrogatory words, "stupid" is another. I get to pay for what my "white" ancestors did. We all should live in today and get out of the past. The other thing I want to say is that if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, sounds like a duck – then it must be a duck.....this applies to us all. Trying to convince the duck that it isn't a duck just cause you don't want it to be a duck is just down right wrong! People of all colors should be judged on their character not talent. Character is not a color it is a way of thinking and acting when no one is around......Until individuals will take responsibility for their own then things will stay the same and never change as history is proof of this. History speaks louder. I was in New Orleans, La one day about 15 years ago, as I was coming out of a hospital one day, I heard from an African American woman calling her son (he looked about 6 years old) sickened me to my guts as she was calling him a no good little MF, she kept on and on. I felt so sorry for that child – I wanted to snatch her up but I didn't. It is so sad that that happened to that child, I can only imagine what he felt and what really goes on at his house. Now he would be grown pretty much and I am sure scarred for. Anyway most people raise their kids the best way they know how.

It was said that Rosa Parks SAT so that Dr.King could MARCH, so that Barack Obama could RUN for president....And now he is.

In my lifetime, 62 years ago and born in the south, Blacks could NOTeven drink form any water fountain, use any restroom, eat where they wanted....unless it said "COLORED ONLY". And lynching was not uncommon.

Just think about the progress ALL of us have made, Now we have the first African American president....And he does not speak in Ebonics, wean his pants half way down his butt, or complain about his lot in life. He worked very hard, studied very hard and now is a REAL role model for today's youth, not like some of the spoiled football of basket ball "stars", some of whom are always in trouble with the law. Dr.Cosby does have a lot to say, but some choose not to hear what he has to say.

Steve in Las Vegas,NV

That's a shame. Because it's people like Bill Cosby, people who tell it straight and have accomplished things in their lives with sheer determination, who should be "role models". Not athletes or artists, that have God given skills that not all of us are blessed with or even politicians, who's personal success is based on telling the voters exactly what we want to hear, even it will turn out to be a lie.

Athletes, artists and politicians are, most often, shooting stars, destined to fade into oblivion, almost as fast as they burst into light.
But men like Bill Cosby, who has succeeded as an scholar, athlete, actor, philanthropist and now is attempting to act as a mentor to an entire race, will shine on, brightly, throughout their lives.

It is so easy for people to say "quit living in past". How can you stop living in the past, when it seems to continue in the present? I live in Austin and it's still racist down here. My niece who is mixed, she gets teased all the time for being black. Thats how life is when your "black" living in Round Rock.