Bill Cosby sets the record straight on teen pregancy

[Cocoa]

He admits he was talking out of his ass, but he keeps talking...

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/040709/laf052_1.html?printer=1

Bill Cosby Sets Record Straight on Teen Pregnancy, in Statement by the Brokaw Company

Friday July 9, 6:34 pm ET

LOS ANGELES, July 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Bill Cosby wants to set the record straight concerning the statistics of African American teen pregnancy that he has cited in his call-to-action for better parenting and education. While still maintaining that the teen pregnancy is at epidemic levels, Mr. Cosby is issuing a correction regarding his previous public remarks that 70% of all teen pregnancies are to African American girls. According to 1997 data, African Americans comprise about 27% of young teenage mothers. But factoring in the fact that African Americans make up a smaller percentage of the U.S. population, the rate of black teenage pregnancy is very high.

Looking more closely at African-American teens aged 15-19, the rate is almost double that of the white population. However, the data also points out that African Americans had the largest decline since 1991 of birth rates for this same group, falling 42% compared to the previous data. Still, this high rate of teenage pregnancy is unacceptable. Fewer pregnant teenagers today marry than did decades ago, leading to a high rate of poor, single-parent African American households.

While some commentators are pointing to the successful decline in African American teen pregnancy as an indication that things are going in a more positive direction, Mr. Cosby disagrees: "If 55% of the people in your community had smallpox, you would call it an epidemic. Yet in the African-American community, we have staggering percentages of dropouts, teen pregnancies, and incarceration of young males, and we fail to acknowledge the epidemic. This epidemic can only be cured by a focus on parenting and education."

[Laughing Mirror]

1. Parenting (whatever that is) and education are fine

Mr. Cosby. But you're not going to get far if you do not combine those two laudable goals with an equitable distribution of wealth in this land. Try going after that!

[jobycom]

3. Not just wealth

We need an equitable distribution of opportunity, such as education, employment, promotion, and justice. If we achieve those, the problems Cosby mentions go away.

He's been rich too long. The African American community has left him behind, and now he's just a rich white guy looking at it from the outside. Each of the problems Cosby mentioned are systemic, not parental. If we don't bring our schools up to par, if we don't make an effort as a nation to provide equal education so that people of similar talents and skills have equal opportunities in life, these problems won't go away no matter how well a parent parents.

[auburnblu]

6. Are you kidding

You make it sound like parents have no impact on their children at all.

[jobycom]

9. No I'm not

When a problem is that widespread, it's ridiculous to blame individuals for it, whether parents or students. There's no reason to believe that black parents (or extended families, in the case of underage parents) are so inferior to white parents that they cause all the problems the black community faces. The problems start with inadequate prenatal care, move to inadequate childcare options, and continue on through education. It's the old cylce of poverty and neglect, and unless that cycle is broken, the problem will be there.

Parents can make a big differenc on an individual's life, and an exceptional parent can lift a child above their circumstances. But to build a national policy on the hope that an entire ethnic background can produce superior parents all at once with the proper encouragement is just ridiculous.

Cosby should be ashamed. I can understand him encouraging parents to be better, and encouraging kids to make better choices. But that will only help a few individuals. The problem of inequality in America are far deeper than parenting skills.

[truthisfreedom]

2. i applaud Mr. Cosby's dedication to the truth. if only our so-called

leaders had the guts to admit their mistakes and be clear about their intentions.

[tlcandie]

15. You know TiF... I'm excited about Kerry/Edwards, but your

pic always makes me think of a revival or something. :hi: Very strange..

[fortyfeetunder]

4. Duh, Mr. Cosby, what about reproductive rights?

A part of that sex ed is reproductive rights, and the ability to obtain contraception and safe health care.

Since you have so much influence in the media these days, why not share some of it talking to your pResident and congresspeople about unlimited access and not making it a crime to prevent pregnancies in the first Cheneying place!

[Bandit]

5. At least there are still a few honorable people left

He made a mistake and apologized for it and corrected himself. He still has a valid point and is not expressing himself just for publicity sake. He is actually concerned. What a strange concept, to be concerned for the children. Bush* wants to torture them to get information from their parents. Having GIs rape 12 year old boys in front of their fathers. America's finest moment under Bush*. I respect Bill Cosby, don't always agree with him but totally respect him.

[jobycom]

11. How does that make him honorable?

He made up a stat on the spot, he was shown that it was so far off as to be completely wrong, and he said, "Yeah, okay, I was wrong, but I still think I was right." There's nothing good or bad about that.

[meg]

7. Remember the paternity charge the young woman made

about Cosby? He admitted and affair with her mother, but was not the father. Is this the same guy offering moral advice to young women?

[fortyfeetunder]

10. Puts him up there with Swaggart and Bakker

Heaven help if Cosby decides to become a "man of the cloth"

[demoman123]

8. Does anyone really care what Bill Cosby thinks?

Does anyone really care what Michael Douglas thinks?
Does anyone really care what Britny Spears thinks?

Discuss among yourselves.

[Merlin]

12. The Naive believe the man don't understand. But he Speaks the truth.

In order to achieve further gains, Cosby clearly understands that the black community must intensify its efforts to instill a more disciplined value system in its youth.

Many say he is lecturing (about 25% of both blacks and whites on this board). I say he's just telling it like it is.

Some on this board do not fully appreciate the incredible damage that hundreds of years of horrible oppression have done to the black family traditions. Black households are largely matriarchal. Not that there's anything wrong with that. But the reason is because there is still not an enduring tradition of male responsibility in the black community. That is partly the result of generations of attempts to literally break the black man and to destroy the black family.

Some naively believe that doesn't matter, because it happened so long ago, and I'm just stereotyping, and yadayada. But it's not so. It takes generations for families to lift themselves by the bootstraps, particularly when they're laboring under continued economic oppression.

Those who say the fault is with the rest of America, e.g. an economic system that keeps the underclass in poverty, fail to grasp the fact that very little is going to change in that area. Yes, a new president may roll back the poverty level somewhat. But in the long run, things will remain pretty much the same.

So in the absence of hope for major league change in economic conditions, Mr. Cosby shines a spotlight on some intolerably sad characteristics of the black community--particularly among the young--and he says the black community must do more itself to solve these problems.

I find his efforts commendable.

[jdj]

16. "enduring tradition of male responsibility"

I'm not sure about this statement, really.

You will find "primitive" cultures in Africa, and Asia, where men do very little work compared to women. So one could state the opposite, that maybe it is endurance of pre-muslim African traditions, including some leanings toward what western societies see as matriarchal tendencies, that are enduring here. Both are probably gross over-simplifications. I personally think what is happening to black men in society today has a hell of alot more to do with white men than black women.

As a white woman, I've come to the conclusion that white women is allowed less personal power and breadth of personality than every other race except Asians, with regard to relationship and family dynamics (I didn't include Muslims because I'm talking about ethnic, not religious, groups). Gloria Steinem once theorized this is because the closer to power women get, the less threatening (Laura Bush) they must appear to be to powerful white men. If they fail to jump through the weak-ass white girl hoops, as, say, Hilary Clinton has, they will never hear the end of it.

I'm confused about this issue in particular with Cosby, because if it's pregnancy, not sex, that is the issue, then he needs to advocate for more access to birth control for teens, and better health care. If it is teenage (or premarital?) sex that is the problem, why is Cosby concentrating on the symptom of sex, pregnancy, rather than the sex, or behavior, itself. And why is he only naming one of the participants as guilty, and only guilty if she gets pregnant? These girls are not impregnating themselves. And that is really sad anyway, because the child is innocent. Is Cosby demanding more young black women have abortions? Or is he just talking out of his ass?

[funkybutt]

13. Why all the outrage abou this comments?

I've seen several media outlets report that many groups have spoken out against Cosby's remarks. I don't have a full transcript of what all he has said, but from what I have read, it's seems to be right on point. Good job trying to make a difference Cosby!

[komplex]

14. Maybe it's me...

But Bill Cosby isn't saying anything different than what other Middle Class African Americans have always said, I know I can't be the only white guy who's overheard "That is ghetto." (Heck he isn't even saying anything that Chris Rock, Eddie Murphy or Dave Chapplle(sp?) have done in their comedy bits).

But systematic changes don't come about all by themselves, they come about because a bunch of individuals get together and do something about it, take the Civil Rights movement for example (yes it's cliched).

Every successful "urban" school has one thing in common, active parents.

[jobendorfer]

17. age of puberty vs age of social maturity and independence

The gap between puberty and social maturity is the largest
that we've ever had, historically. Kids are reaching the
puberty stage at ever-earlier ages (12? 13? on average),
yet our social and economic structure means that you won't
get through high school and college/trade school/military
service and become economically independent until you are
in your early to mid 20s at the earliest.

Whereas a hundred years ago, children physically matured
later (15-16) and could start independent economic life
earlier (16-20).

Two observations:

10 years is a *long* time to keep taking cold showers.

Generally, when a social schema conflicts with biology,
biology wins.

It seems to me that we need to start getting real with teenagers
and young adults about sexuality, reproduction, and what it
takes to make it as a parent. We can't shut down their sexuality,
but we can try to help them get smart about it.

J.