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Bill Cosby, a man being crushed
E. Ablorh-Odjidja, Ghanadot
November 30, 2014
One successful Black man, a man once beloved, is
being crushed by accusations of rape.
At age 77, Bill Cosby, one of the most successful
living entertainers, can still pack theaters.
But all that is about to end. The man constantly
referred to as “America’s number one Dad” is being drowned
by accusations of rape.
One, Andrea Constand is the accuser. Thirteen
others have so far joined the circus, stacking up rape cases
against Cosby that go as far back as 30 years.
The common theme for all the plaintiffs is the
charge of drug-induced rape. Cosby slipped drugs into their
cocktails.
This is a serious charge because it strips Cosby
of any hard defense, while it offers the plaintiff a
protective cover against a possible consensual act.
Charge proven or not, the damage has been done.
The consequence for Cosby is already rippling across the
globe.
In the world of the celebrity, such as the one
Cosby lives in today, the consequences are instant.
The bigger the personality, the more rabid the
consequence, especially when the defendant happens to be
Black.
Sadly, everything about Cosby is being damaged;
his phenomenal rise from poverty in the Philadelphia
projects to huge success on the world stage - in comedy,
television, and Hollywood movies and his philanthropic
activities are all forgotten.
Even the dark part of the murder of Cosby’s only
son Ennis in 1997 is forgotten because of the rape charges.
But Cosby’s success is more than personal. It is
also a core story of Black enterprise, empowerment, and
upward mobility.
He helped change the face of comedy from the
risqué type to that of a wholesome, observational fun on
Black life; such as was seen on The Cosby Show.
He was very decent on stage and therefore was
easily seen as a desirable role model for all, especially
Blacks. But he was
also heard in some instances as being politically incorrect.
These factors have served as the bedrock of his
success; thus, the money magnet that attracted all kinds of
people in need, including hucksters and Blackmailers.
The latest accusations of sexual harassment just
gained momentum. And it started when Cosby and his wife
Camille granted an interview to Scott Martin, NPR (radio)
host on November 15, 2014.
Cosby and Camille had lent 62 pieces of personal
collections of art to the Africa American Art Museum.
The appearance on NPR was an effort to promote the
exhibition of the donated art pieces.
But the host, Scott Martin, chose to bring the
rape issue up in an interview that was supposed to be about
the exhibition of donated pieces of Cosby’s artwork.
Scott Martin, in his own words, had admitted that
the purported rape “had not been agreed to as a potential
topic of conversation before the interview.”
Yet, Martin chose to bring up the purported charge
of rape, despite prior understanding.
Now, wonder whether the faux pas was a case of a
journalist's lack of integrity or a deliberate attempt to
get a scalp. But,
this journalist, by raising the subject, had chosen not to
spare Cosby the embarrassment, when he could have avoided
the subject.
The subject had not been agreed to for discussion
on air. Neither
did the issue of a rape charge fit the theme of the art
exhibition the African American Museum was seeking to
promote on NPR.
But Scott Martin couldn’t miss the opportunity to
embarrass an uppity Black.
The idea that a powerful man in the entertainment
world, so rich and popular, such as Cosby, could only
procure women by drugging them first, should sound
preposterous. But Scott Martin must have to believe that the
world and Hollywood are occupied by only chaste women.
Besides, where was the trill to have sex with an
unresponsive, drug-induced comatose woman, unless the
perpetrator happens to be deranged or a psycho.
Was Cosby such a man?
It could have been consensual and not
drug-induced. That's, at least, another way to approach the
subject.
In the name of common courtesy, Scott Martin could
have skipped the subject.
But so, bent was his need for fame that he had to
surprise Cosby on the air with the topic. The reward for
Martin was immediate.
Soon after the interview, many universities whom
Cosby had been charitable to started dislodging him from the
positions of honor previously granted him.
The same institutions that had benefitted from
Cosby’s previous, pristine reputation and the monies he
granted them have now fled from defending him.
The bitter part of this story is that this charity
on Cosby's part went copiously and mostly to the Black
communities and institutions.
But many in these communities have chosen to remain
silent on the issue, a tragedy of non-support for a fellow
Black.
And there may be a reason.
Cosby has noted the declining state of Black fortunes
in America and offered self-censorship and responsibility as
the remedy. And in fact, have lately drifted away from the
orthodoxy of offering banal excuses on issues concerning
Black failings.
He has taken to speaking about responsibility, and
not victimhood to the community. Regrettably, instead of
acceptance of Cosby as the Jeremiah of old, many in the
community resented his message.
Cosby, in plain words, is now seen as a black
conservative, an anathema of a name for a Black seeking to
influence his community. Thus, there is no rush to defend
him in his hour of need. No demonstrations. No mass
community outrages, unlike those displayed after crises
involving the likes of the Mike Browns of Fergusson.
A community that intuitively rallies to support
its members in all issues, it seems, has abandoned Cosby.
His deviation from Black liberal orthodoxy has
alienated him from his community. His reputation is now at
par with that of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, the
poster face of Black contrarians.
Justice Thomas Clarence, in his vetting for the
Supreme Court (1991) - was viewed with a mixture of contempt
and hostility by the majority of Blacks because he was
deemed to be politically different, an “Uncle Tom.”
Thomas, a Black described his ordeal at the Senate
hearings, mostly delivered by white Democrats, as
“electronic lynching.”
Cosby's treatment by the media is the same now.
However, it is proper to ask whether the rape
charge of Cosby can be connected to the
historical experience of the Black men of the past, who were
lynched just on the accusation. For a mere act like looking
at a white woman, 14-year-old Emmett Till got murdered,
Mississippi, 1955.
One would think that a rape charge made against a
Black man today must bring images of the Emmet Tills and the
same distinctive sting into the community.
Bill Clinton had his problem with a surfeit of
women. Credible women who came out were instantly tarred and
feathered, called conspirators and “trailer park trash,”
never appeared once on NPR, with Scott Martin as the host.
A few years back, David Letterman of NBC's Tonight
Show had his affairs with his female staffers.
Letterman apologized for the affair and all was
forgotten. His
position, earnings, and productive potential remained intact
and continue to be so to this day.
With Cosby, the protective rails are off.
His earnings and pending productions are truncated or
suspended. Even shows in re-run have been pulled. Tickets
for concerts previously scheduled have already been
refunded. No trial yet. But his guilt has already been
established. And
not a single cry of racism from the Black community!
The bitterness of Cosby's punishment will continue
to rankle when one considers that pushing a message of
“responsibility” and asking our youth not to show up for job
interviews "half-ass" has left him abandoned by the Black
Community.
Cosby is the man the Black power structure is not
anxious to support or defend.
But sadly, he is the man it needs.
It was the Black power structure, the
Congressional Caucus, that kept the media at bay, saved Bill
Clinton's political life, and spared him impeachment during the Monica-gate
saga.
This same
power structure prefers not to interfere with the efforts by
Scott Martin, under the guise of objective journalism, to
finish off Cosby.
What if it turned out that the women were wrong?
Cosby's once good reputation is already shot and his
symbol as an American success story erased.
Who would “Wanna be a Cosby?
No use, he is a
drugging rapist and an Uncle Tom.” So, relax, Jeremiah!
E. Ablorh-Odjidja, Publisher www.ghanadot.com,
Washington, DC, November 30, 2014
Permission to publish: Please feel free to
publish or reproduce, with credits, unedited. If posted at a
website, email a copy of the web page to
publisher@ghanadot.com. Or don't publish at all
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