This Cosby show is undeserved

In recent days, Bill Cosby has been called everything from a racist to a race traitor for the disparaging comments he made recently about low-income African-Americans. Speaking last month at a Washington, D.C., gala commemorating the 50th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education, the normally affable Cosby lashed out at neglectful black parents, illiterate black kids, black criminals, and all who ``are not holding up the end of this deal.''

``These people are not parenting. They are buying things for kids - $500 sneakers for what? And won't spend $200 for `Hooked on Phonics,''' Cosby said. ``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, why you is. '... 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.''

Ever since, Internet message boards and talk radio shows have been peppered with anti-Cosby rhetoric, much of it from other African-Americans. The long-beloved comedian and actor has been accused of betraying his race, cultural elitism, and adding unnecessary fuel to neoconservative fires. And he has refused to apologize. In a statement, Cosby said, ``I think it is time for concerned African-Americans to march, galvanize, and raise awareness about the epidemic, to transform our helplessness, frustration, and righteous indignation into a sense of shared responsibility and action.''

Though Cosby's comments were harsh, they are also right on target. And if some blacks are upset with the comedian, it's probably more for telling tales out of school - airing the community's dirty laundry - than for launching an unjust diatribe. Nothing Cosby said hasn't been uttered by other black people, but usually only among ourselves at dinner parties, on back porches, and in barbershops. Some might not be so bent out of shape if his remarks hadn't found their way into the mainstream media.

Perhaps if Cosby had made his comments on a comedy stage instead of at a tony event attended by, among others, NAACP president Kweisi Mfume and Howard University president H. Patrick Swygert, people would be laughing more and criticizing less. In his classic routine ``Niggas vs. Black People,'' Chris Rock covered similar territory, famously speaking of a ``civil war'' between the two opposing factions within the African-American community.

``I love black people, but I hate niggas,'' Rock said, before excoriating those who commit black-on-black crime, denounce education, and treat welfare as a birthright. When Rock performed this 12-minute bit at the Tacoma Theatre in Washington, D.C., in 1996 (captured live on his 1997 concert CD, ``Roll With the New''), his predominantly black audience roared - not only because the routine is riotously funny, but, as with all great comedy, it is steeped in truth.

In fact, without its bitter veracity, the whole thing would come off only as mean-spirited. Rock received some criticism, but he was mostly hailed for his hilarious and sharply political observations. If anything, Rock's comments, most of which can't be repeated here, were far more vitriolic than anything Cosby said. Yet, since they were delivered as part of a stand-up routine, maybe some people found them only funny, not pointed and thoughtful.

Cosby, meanwhile, has been lambasted as a man who, having achieved his own successes, is now sneering at those still clamoring to get out of dire situations. Perhaps he is a classist, but he's no race baiter interested only in appealing to a narrow constituency. He's been too active in African-American causes for too long to be accused of having anything less than care and concern for the black community.

Had a white person made comments similiar to those expressed by Cosby, without fail he or she would have been strong-armed into an apology (whether or not such amends were made out of sincere regret or hasty self-preservation). Yet we're so knotted by race - and equally vexed by class - there seems to be no room, even for someone as well regarded and respected as Cosby, to criticize his own community, especially those who seem hellbent on underachievement and self-destruction.

If this controversy accomplishes anything, it's to remind us of the need to find the courage to engage in honest, provocative conversations about race. Whether it's on a comedy stage or at the celebration of a civil rights landmark, we should be more concerned with finding resolutions, not lobbing recriminations.

Renee Graham's Life in the Pop Lane column appears on Tuesdays. She can be reached at graham@globe .com