[Phasad1913]

Originally posted by Honeykiss1974
Bill Cosby has done a his fair share for the black community so I think he is qualified to comment on its state. Who do you think should be commenting on it? Only people that live in a poor urban area? Or those that do not make over a certain median income?

Sorry, but I think if you are a person that is trying to better our community and society in general you can comment on it.

And seriously, at what point will we stop waiting on a person to get things started? I think the black church should be at the heart of fixing a lot of the ails of our community instead of waiting for someone else to do it. We should be the one's running after school programs (to keep kids productive and off the street), mini-health clinics in our church basements, drug/alcohol abuse support groups, etc. We need to be the ones to show the love of Christ in action everday by helping those around us.

I agree with this wholeheartedly.

I think the church, and others community institutions, ARE working to make things better on small and large scales, depending on their size/resources. The church's PRIMARY mission, IMO, is showing people the realization of Jesus Christ as Savior, and secondarily showing people how to live more vibrant and impactful lives while we await Christ's return. My church has a community center which houses a K-3 school, an elder day care, and periodically has housed a small business incubator. On top of traditional support ministries for congregants and frankly anybody who comes in the door. That doesn't make us special; as a lot of churches do similar things, which is what we should be doing.

But this constant criticism that everything is a perpetual downward spiral is tired. Poor people making poor socio-economic choices live in every American city. But so do people working to make bad situations better. BOTH these groups existed before Cosby's current world tour. Maybe Cosby's folks should devise a metric so we can chart successes and replicate successful delivery models in other communities.

I respect and love Bill Cosby for his accomplishments and his example of Black success in America. His words are not without some merit. But it's time for this blanket castigation of all things Black lower socio-economic class to stop.

And this.