Every self-respecting race guy on the planet is feeling called out by Dr. Cosby right about now. And some of y'all think I'm talking about what you might think of as the Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton types, but I'm also talking about what you might think of as your Rush Limbaugh or Jesse Paterson types.

Naturally I'll write something, but what would be more than beating the same drums as everyone else?

I'm working on it. And I want to share the occasional thing I find on the path, stuff I think will lay the groundwork at best and be interesting enough to read at worst. So when you check out the article below you'll find it's about Israel, not Black folks…yet I'm thinking about Black folks as I present it.

The Politics of Self-Criticism: Cosby Gets Cheers, Lerner Gets Threats
By DAVID SIEGEL (06-22-04)

As a Jew who is critical of Israeli policy, I am no stranger to confrontation. Despite the strain I’ve placed on my personal relationships, despite having to stand alone in political debates, I have always been vocal in my defense of the cause of Palestine. A few weeks ago, however, I began to feel as though I was fighting a losing battle. It began to seem natural that everyone sticks by their group, right or wrong, as a simple matter of survival. Who was I to defy this basic law of human relations? This feeling nagged me until June 2, when I picked up an article entitled “Hooray for Bill Cosby.”
Cosby’s comments at the May 17 commemoration of Brown vs. the Board of Education have received widespread attention. “The lower economic people are not holding up their end in this deal,” he said. Referring to a black youth shot to death by police for stealing a piece of pound cake, he remarked “what the hell was he doing with the pound cake in his hand?”

Cosby’s statements implying that the ills of poor blacks are self-inflicted were met with virtually unanimous applause from the media. Dick Myer of CBSNews.com, in his May 26 piece praising Cosby, wrote that he expected to report on the controversy, but found that “there was no chorus of criticism.” DeWayne Wickham of USA Today wrote an article entitled “Cosby Isn’t Alone in Asking Blacks to Own Up to Problems.” Syndicated columnist Brent Bozell III wrote “An Ovation for Bill Cosby.”

What an amazing double standard! When blacks criticize other blacks, they are praised for their “tough love” and for their courage in telling hard truths about their race. When Jews criticize Israel, however, they are ridiculed, labeled “self-hating Jews,” and even threatened with death.

Though I find it disgraceful that successful writers should so unhesitatingly agree that institutional racism is dead, my purpose here is not to address that issue. Rather, I want to contrast media reaction when blacks and Jews, respectively, criticize other members of their race.