1 I completely agree with and support you. I have asked others to read the articles on the CITY JOURNAL...at http://city-journal.org/ by Kay Hymowitz and Heather Mac Donald addressing issues brought to the fore by Dr. Cosby. I pray that the African-American community awakens to the deceptions it has fallen prey to for so long. It is also interesting to read the comments made concerning the N.J. Star Ledger's article "Where Have all the Black Men Gone" on the Free Republic web site.

2 Michael, I have read Larry Elder's article at townhall.com and glad I missed Dyson on NBC. Over thirty years ago while teaching mathematics in high school, I was told by 15 year old that certain student was not black because both his parents had a college education and that his mother was a math teacher in junior high! Dyson also spoke out against Clarence and Condoleeza. You do not have to add last names! Dyson is Professor at Univ of Penn (a private, Ivy Leage school) and Larry Elder has degree from Brown Univ and Law from Univ of Mich. James M. Barber

3 I saw the comments on your previous post. Haven't read or heard Dyson yet, but apparently it's not something I will look forward to. Your blog has been consistently well thought out, well written, logically consistent and interesting. Keep charging, and if you're right, you're right--and someone who calls you "an idiot" like that one lady might be suffering from a little projection. Illegitimi non carborundum.

4 For a liberal like Cosby to be attacked so viciously, he must really have touched a nerve. Debra Dickerson is an interesting writer, I look forward to her take on the whole controversy.

5 What is WRONG with some black people?! If I want to get an education I'm "white". If I speak properly I'm "white". If I don't want to blame white people for all my problems I'm not "black". If I disagree with the "Soul Patrol" and any of its "followers" I'm not "black". A lot of black people my age are waking up from the Kool-Aid. I agree with you, Mr. King and with Larry Elder and DEFINATELY with Bill Cosby. I see the foolishness he criticized EVERYDAY and it makes me SICK. Why some black people can excuse the mess I see and hear everyday makes me question their sanity. It's disgusting and I refuse to let any future child that I bring into the world fall into that trap.

6 Dyson speaks "The King's English" yet isn't accused of "acting white". He's highly educated and isn't accused of "acting white". There's more of dynamic to the "acting white" charge than what is stated here. But lazy thinking, and perhaps "victimology" prevents people from digging a little further. Black "Soul Patrol"ers have been harder on the "Soul Patrol" than "Black conservatives" have, but funny that never gets mentioned. Remember when Marion Barry said that Jesse Jackson doesn't know how to run anything 'cept his mouth? How about the none-to-silent criticisms of the NAACP from within the Black community. Jesse Jackson, Sr. has slammed rappers, but no press. Sharpton has slammed rappers as well. No press until recently. But "Black conservatives" either don't see it or over look it. I ask: why?

7 Michael....now THAT WILL PREACH.

8 How can a black person not know what it means to be black? That's a good one. I'm going to have to write that down. I guess, since I'm pro-life, I must not know what it means to be a woman?

9 You've got it right my friend. Maybe Cosby didn't use enough tact but his message was true, and that's not something some in the black community was to take responsibility for. It's always easier to play the victim.

10 I can roll with Cosby on most of his opinions. But when he brings up the "black sounding" names slant (along with fellas like Jesse Lee Peterson), he loses me. The "black sounding" names argument is so stupid and damaging that I wish the "goon hand" would be applied liberally to those that mention the subject. Tell the Chinese, Japanese, and Indians to change their names and then we'll talk.

11 I'm nagged by Dyson's reference to "artificial desire." What is that?

12 Using Jesse Lee Peterson's own standard, JLP is a race hustler.

13 I'm really fuckin' sick and tired of hearing these black "intellectuals" bitch, whine and blame whites and racism for their problems. So, let me get this straight, Dyson. It's hard for a black person to get educatued and to become successful, yet you have a phD? Man, I guess "the man" must have let you slip by huh? I mean, do you see whites sitting around and blaming blacks for their problems?

14 I heard the speech Bill Cosby gave back in November 2004, and I just recently read Micheal Dysons book "Is Bill Cosby Right or Has the Black Middle Class Lost Its Mind". My feeling on the whole subject is that I'm split 50/50 on both point of views. On one hand I do agree that some in the black community "lack the good sense god gave them" but to ignore certain political and economic policies that hurt not only poor blacks but all poor people is just down right naive. I think the issue is the judgemental attitudes we have toward one another, I'm not talking about the black elite and black poor but in general. Talking about so and so is not black cuz he votes this way or acts that way, or so and so is ghetto trash because he has no degree or the way dresses, man all of it is bullshit. I can tell you from personal experiance as can others in the black community we are our own worst enemies, I mean all of us, black elite, middle-class, and poor. I grew up poor in the D.C. area from Nigerian immigrants(P.G. County to be exact) where a good majority of the population is black, and i can't tell you how much hell I caught from both sides, and it baffles me to this day how we pass judgement on each other. I mean do you ever wonder how immigrants from certain cultures can come hear not speaking a word of english start whole communities, businesses send thier kids to college and thrive, while we cast stones at each, hell I don't know, maybe I've lost my fuckin mind, but I do know this we are the laughing stock while others are thriving.

15 I think that much of the confusion has to do with the inability of the readers to comprehend Professor Dyson's position. We live in a era and culture where average is okay (look who won the Presidency-George Bush) and look where that has gotten the U.S. If the readers read with comprehension all of Dyson's work, they will see that Dyson has never been one who argues either one thing over the other (self-help vs. holding white supremacy accountable). He has been "both/and" on the issue-self help and hold the criminality of white supremacy. Dyson's point has been that every criminal is held accountable except the white supremacist or institutional racism. Professor Dyson responds to ideas that resonate out of Cosby and others who support Cosby's point because of its lopsided attacked. "They aren't taking care fo their fair share?" As one who doesn't quite understand that position, what fair share is he talking about? Its vague and cliche--it has no relevancy. The problem has been there has never been a voice for the indenfensible black poor person. No one, with some exception, get the attention that Dyson amasses as a public thinker because his abilities are undeniable. I think what makes Dyson's contribution so disturbing to those who find his arguments wrongheaded is that he is heavy weight thinker in the midst of average thinkers. For instance, Debra Dickerson who is a brilliant scholar in her own right, seem to stumble, in fact could not hold her own with Professor Dyson on Booknotes on the vast majority of her points. She appeared to be more like the student who had not done her homework, than a professor. Much of what America has grafted from their biblical exegesis of the sacred text in these days are ideas of the religious right that reign has nothing to do with the poor or justice. This shortsided thinking informs those persons who support the narrow and calous thinking of Mr. Cosby. Jesus stood the poor and for justice; this is Jesus' core message. Who on earth is defending the poor? Joel Ostein? George Bush? Everyone, wake up at one time. Bottom line, Bill Cosby is out of his league. Bill Cosby is only right within a context. Bill may have well said these remarks in front of a bunch of white men(Mass media present at NAACP Meeting). If Cosby came to my church and said these things and couched his points with "I am not nieve about racism becasue it does exist and I am not going let white supremacist off of he hook, howerver, today we are going to talk about taking responsibility" then he would have been on point. Cosby is out of his league.

16 Exsqueeze me but doesn't Mr.Dyson have just as much right to his opinion as anyone else and doesn't he have the same 'freedom of speech' entitlement as you? So where in the hell do you get off criticizing his comments and by the way I feel Mr.Cosby made some good points but he also made some bad ones and I don't exactly see where he is an expert considering he hasn't been in a poor black neighborhood in what 30 odd years. That goes triple for mr. self-righteous,hating,puppet larry elder or 'house negro' star[fading]jones and another thing if you or Mr.Cosby can't take criticism of your comments then don't tell us. If you can't stand the heat then don't open your mouth in a public forum[like this one]Mr.Cosby is entitled to his opinions but so are the ones who disagree and he should be 'called on it too'. I especially didn't like his comments he wasn't letting white people 'off the hook' then why in the hell didn't he mention them then?!! That comment really confused me because if he only meant poor black people then why allow white people to even come into the conversation and if he meant ALL poor people then why single out one group it sounds like backpeddaling bullshit to me and people who backpedal aren't rational 'deep' thinkers they are phonies who can't own up to what they say. Or who can talk the talk but can't walk the walk and to that little shit 'brat' the reason why white people don't 'blame' black people for your problems is because the people you glorify and worship and vote into office and make laws and hold 99.9% of power in this country look just like you so whose to blame there.

17 i listened to several other interviews with dyson and he DOES in fact tackle the issue of personal responsibility of the black poor many many times. He is not condoning "blame whitey" and all the other things you and some of the commenters are blaming him for. I won't fight or argue about this, but instead I'd let dyson speak for himself. In other words I would suggest you listen to all the other interviews you can find on the internet and maybe read the book and see what he says about that. I have since found 2 more interviews you can listen to dyson, one on NPR http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4628960 and one here http://www.leftbusinessobserver.com/Radio.html You are only getting one thing from this ridiculous Roker interview (isn't he a weatherman? why did he interview him?) and not knowing what else he believes.

18 EVERYONE on earth MUST see the movie "Crash". You won't be able to speak for hours. You'll think, you'll reflect, you'll change, you'll grow. No matter what your color, you'll grow.

19 There has been a dramatic increase in the number of divorces over the last thirty years. Experts estimate that at least half of all marriages will end in divorce. Divorce has an effect on everyone involved, especially children if there are children in the relationship. Many times divorces become very hostile, which results in long courtroom battles. These battles are over money, houses, land and cars, but the most sensitive, traumatic and often the most cruel battle is the battle over the custody of the children. Custody battles for children are often long and heated debates over which parent is the better parent for the child. (Of course, the best parent is "both parent's") In the past, custody was always awarded to the mother because of the belief that children needed to be nurtured. In recent years, there has been an upward trend of fathers seeking custody rights to their children. (Still, when it comes to actual distribution of respective shared of parenting time, mothers are given or take on average an amounts of parenting time that is virtually unchanged from what it was in the past) Often parenting plans can be set up with mediation between the two parents but in most cases, the court becomes involved. During custody battles, there is a growing trend of one parent alleging abuse by the other parent. Before 1973, Child abuse was rarely reported to authorities and often it was covered up. In 1963, there were reports of suspected child abuse, but between 1976 and 1993, the total yearly number of child abuse reports grew from 669,000 to over 2.9 million after the child abuse protection legislation went into effect that Senators like Mondale sponsored. The passing of this legislation has also resulted in the increase of allegations of child abuse in divorce battles. In 1975, thirty five percent of all child abuse reports were unsubstantiated, but by 1993, that percentage skyrocketed to sixty six percent. In divorce, when allegations of abuse are made and the police conduct investigations, ninety seven percent of these claims cannot be substantiated. (resulting in wasted state and county resources). It is obvious that many allegations of abuse that are reported in divorce situations are false. and ninety five percent of those accusers are women. With the high amount of divorces, the percentage of those divorces which abuse is reported, and the percentage of which are unsubstantiated, it shows that children are being used as pawns by one parent to hurt or destroy the other parent. These false allegations of abuse, even if proven to be false, can ruin lives and have a devastating effect on the children. Many children believe these false allegations, because the accuser has forced it on them for years. Yes, the courts have started ordering that "No derogatory remarks" be made to or in the presence of the children. However, this order is about as enforceable as visitation orders. Our court simply just can't handle the callous behavior of some parent's, and the legislature has not put laws in place to prevent or punish those making the allegations. In other words, the parent making these claims has "no fear of punishment" from the courts or the current law. Two syndromes have been occurring in rapidly increasing numbers since 1980. The first is called Parental Alienation Syndrome (PAS). Douglas Darnall, Ph.D. States that, many women say that PAS does not exist or it is simply a tool used by male dominant courts to take the children from their mothers. They also contend that fathers and attorneys use PAS as an aggressive defense for physical and sexual abuse. There are three different types of alienators. The first is the naïve alienator who recognizes the importance of and encourages the relationship between the children and the other parent and only occasionally will do or say something that may alienate. This is not done to try to destroy the relationship between the children and the other parent. The second is the active alienator who alienates the children from the other parent by lashing out at the other parent in front of the children. They may even give the children the choice of whether or not the child wants to visit with the parent although the court has ordered rights to visitation. The third type of alienator is the obsessed alienator who does everything in their power to align the children to their side and campaign to destroy their relationship with the targeted parent. The obsessed parent is bitter and angry and tries to completely remove the targeted parent from their lives by vilifying them and set themselves up as a victim/hero. Some weapons that the alienating parent uses are false allegations of domestic violence, sexual or physical or emotional abuse of the child, mental illness on the part of the target parent, or alcoholism/drug abuse/homosexuality on the part of the target parent. This is a form of parentectomy, or the removal or erasure of a parent from the child's life. Sexual Allegations In Divorce The second syndrome that is occurring is called Sexual Allegations In Divorce (SAID). SAID is a false accusation against one parent, usually the father, for molesting the child. In the American society, there is such sensitivity or outrage about child abuse that when an allegation is made, it is presumed to be true. Instead of being innocent until proven guilty, the accused child molester, especially fathers, are guilty until proven innocent. Upon allegation, the courts generally order the removal of the child from the father and at the very best, allows the father only limited supervised visitation until the matter is completely settled. Frank Zepezauer Columnist / Researcher for the liberator, , states that "in some jurisdictions, the accusation can send a man to prison for life. In others, it can incarcerate him for ten or twenty years or more and brand him, for the rest of his life as a sex offender. At the very least, it can immobilize him in custody proceedings by involving him in costly litigation." SAID is often used by women to alienate the father from his children. It is used more often than physical abuse since there is often no physical signs from sexual abuse. A defense attorney in San Jose, California states, "In one fell swoop, she (the mother) can get her husband completely out of her and her children's lives, and assure herself complete custodial control. And in one fell swoop, she can completely destroy the man's life, and any semblance of a normal relationship between him and his children." One may wonder what the alienator would have to gain in making such false accusations or why one parent would try to erase the other parent from the child's life. There are several reasons. Fear of losing their parental identity, loss of family structure, envy, rage and revenge are all viable bases for which one parent will alienate the other parent from the child. An epidemic of lies The use of false allegations in divorce is rapidly becoming an epidemic, which is spreading throughout the world. According to the National Shared Parenting Association (Saskatchewan Chapter), in Canada a Children's Aid Society study showed that of 1200 complaints of abuse, 900 involved custody disputes. Of those 900 allegations, two-thirds (600) were found to be false. Most people do not realize the effects of parental alienation on children and the false allegations of abuse. Many young children whose mothers have made false allegations of abuse will develop false memories of abuse because of leading questions or suggestive counseling. These children are left fatherless. Parentectomy results in children becoming depressed, sometimes reaching suicidal proportions. They often lack self-esteem. Often they will turn against the alienator in later adolescence when they realize they have been "brainwashed" against the other parent. David Blankenhorn Founder and president of the institute for American values, a private, nonpartisan organization devoted to contributing intellectually, and also supporter of fathers count act of 1999 gives statistics of fatherless children. He states that forty percent of American children will live apart from their fathers sometime before they are 18. He also says that drugs, child and adult abuse, poverty, teen pregnancy, gangs, crime and growing prison population are all driven by the separation of fathers from their children. He states, "A man can communicate to his son how to be a good man. The best mother in the world can't do that." "Children who are deprived of their natural fathers, compared to children in two-parent families, are more likely to go to prison by eight times, to commit suicide by 5 times, to have behavioral problems by 20 times, to become rapists by 20 times, to run away by 32 times to abuse chemical substances by 10 times, to drop out of high school by 9 times, to be seriously abused by 33 times, to be fatally abused by 73 times and to have a 44 percent higher mortality rate." These statistics are alarming and horrifying but what is behind all the statistics are hurting children whom long for a normal life and were never given the chance to have that. They long for a healthy relationship, with both their parents. Many times the mother has so convinced the children that their father is worthless, that they have a bitter resentment toward their father, which is solely based on the fabrications of the mother. This can ruin the child emotionally. But it is not only boys that need their fathers in their lives to help them become emotionally stable. "Adolescent girls whose parents divorced during their oedipal years, we postulate that particular coping patterns emerge in response to the absence of the father which may complicate the consolidation of positive feminine identification in many female children and is observable during the latency years. We illustrate both the existence of these phenomena and implication for treatment: 1. intensified separation anxiety 2. denial and avoidance of feelings associated with loss of father 3. identification with the lost object 4. object hunger for males." This also shows the hurt and anger that a child goes through with the loss of the father in their lives. They repress their feelings and act out upon them trying to make themselves whole again but without any hope of doing that because the only way would to be able to undo the emotional abuse that the alienating parent perpetrates on the child. The target parent has literally lost their children. In essence, their children have died. The target parent grieves but continues to love their children from a distance. They are forced to live as if their children are dead. The only hope that the target parent has is that someone will be able to reach their children and explain what has happened and the child will be willing to start a relationship with their lost parent. This alienation from their child can, as one can imagine, cause an increase in suicide rates among fathers. It is financially devastating to those who choose not to take their lives and result in poverty. They must fight long legal battles to clear their names of the crime that they have allegedly committed. This can take thousands upon thousands of dollars as well as years of court proceedings. Many men lose everything they own to fight the court system because not only have they lost their rights as a parent, they have lost their reputation as well but they are still required to pay child support to those children. Even once a man has been cleared of the charges of abuse, there will always be emotional scars from the abuse that their ex-wife and the court system has ravaged them with. As stated earlier, many are branded as child molesters for the rest of their lives even with an acquittal. Mondale Act of 1974 The legislation that passed that began this massive surge of false abuse allegations is called the Mondale Act of 1974 or the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA - 42 USC Sec. 5101). This law was well intentioned to stop child abuse, but it has created an epidemic of false allegations of abuse. CAPTA matches monies to states that comply with their provisions, which are to set up programs for the identification and prosecution of child abusers. CAPTA created a vague and ambiguous definition of child abuse that is left up to the subjective discretion of the caller who reports the abuse or investigator. CAPTA has been revisited many times and has had minor amendments. President Clinton re-authorized the act in the fall of 1996. Most states have what are called Child Protective Service Workers (CPS). These workers, along with law enforcement officers, investigate abuse reports. While the law enforcement officers have been trained to be objective, the CPS have not been and they even are called "validators" which raises a question to their role in an investigation. The CPS has authority to deny a parent the access to the children even if there is a court order that allows him to have visitation with the children. The CPS will send a child for an evaluation. According to the Mondale Act, if an evaluator does not report suspected abuse and the child goes back to an abusive situation, the evaluator can be imprisoned. These evaluators are often either afraid of the consequences of imprisonment if they mistakenly place a child back in the home of an abuser or they may even be a validator as the CPS workers. The indicators that these validators use to determine abuse are actually quite common behavior that even normal children sometimes exhibit. The indicators include, bedwetting, acting out, nightmares, whining, temper tantrums, thumb-sucking, and compliant and fearful behavior. These validators often propitiate allegations of abuse because it puts food on their tables. It is their career and without such allegations, they could be without a job. Although this is a horrifying thought, this is a reason to ignore evidence that shows innocence and only present to the court "evidence" that substantiate the client's claims of abuse. Millions of false allegations In Armin A. Brott's A parenting expert and author of A system out of control: The epidemic of false allegations of child abuse, he states, "In California, for example, the Victim/Witness program will pay directly to a licensed therapist up to $10,000 per child for counseling – as long as the child was alleged to have been abused. An additional $10,000 is available to counsel the child's mother. The only catch: to get their therapy paid for, the child victim and her mother must see a therapist from an approved list. Guess who directs the mother to a therapist who would be best for her and her child? CPS, of course." These CPS workers often ask leading questions that can distort the children's memories. In their reports to the court, they often ignore evidences that would clear the accused, such as lie detector tests and outside therapist evaluations and rely solely on the child's evaluations which have been skewed by the CPS and the therapists that they recommended. In a report disseminated by the National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect (NCCAN) Child Maltreatment 1995 Reports From the States to the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System depicts more than three million reports of alleged child abuse and neglect in 1995 of which two million of were without foundation. False allegations of abuse in divorce are an epidemic that is sweeping the world. Children are becoming heirs to hatred passed down to them from their parents. Because this is all they know, they in turn foster this pain, hatred and deceptiveness in their own adult relationships. The children are crushed under the weight of the system and a parent that is only looking out for his [ or perhaps “her”] own best interests. Look at the rise in crime in recent years. There needs to be accountability set within the legislation that would help stop the false allegations of abuse and the propagation of such allegations by the judicial system through CPS. The Mondale Act does not provide boundaries that would provide for prosecution of those who make false accusations. Where is the protection of the innocent in all of this? The CPS has become a money-making business and not a public service. Their theories that children do not lie about such issues are false. Many times children are coached into believing that something happened when it really did not. It is important to have laws to protect the innocent children from abuse but it is also equally important to protect the innocent adult from a wrongful accusation that could ruin them for the rest of their life. America's judicial system was founded on the principal that the accused is innocent until proven guilty. The CPS has changed the law in this issue to guilty until proven innocent. Those who commit perjury are indicted and imprisoned and there should also be the same punishment for those who falsely allege abuse. This legislation will never change until men and women come together and protest the unjustness of this issue. Most people's attitudes are "it is better to falsely convict than to allow a child to be abused." There is no justice in this. The American Constitution gives us the rights to justice. Only if we decide to speak can our voices be heard. There needs to be an accountability that the CPS has to answer to so that they cannot simply ignore the truth. Therapists should not have to fear making an honest evaluation. We cannot sit by and allow the burden of proof to always be on the father. The burden of proof must be placed once again on the courts and the person who makes the allegations. Children and the target parent will never lead normal, healthy lives until the abuse is stopped. Legislation needs to be changed to protect all the innocent, not just one. Let's be the voice of freedom and justice to change the legislation on the abuse laws so that false allegations cannot be made so easily, destroying the life of one of America's citizens and hurting the most precious thing that God has given us, his children. These are cold and hard facts, and our legislature must pass new laws stopping these allegation and the physical destruction of American families. People enter marriage as if it were a temporary contract, with the attitude "if it doesn't work out, we can always get a divorce". The problem with that is the children and the emotional effects caused to them by these parents’ attitude. Respectfully, IBsnatchin