Camille Cosby Comments on Response to Her USA Today Article about Racism in the USA
SATIRICUS
William Cosby & Wife to Comedian Bill Cosby:
Camille O. Cosby, Ed.D, Comments on Response to USA Today Article
LOS ANGELES, July 29 /PRNewswire/ -- The following is being issued by
Camille O. Cosby, Ed.D in response to an article published in the July 8th
edition of USA Today:
"Thank you for all intelligent oppositional or approving responses to my
opinion article in USA TODAY (`Camille Cosby: America taught my son's killer to
hate blacks,' July 8, 1998). It is interesting and revelational that the
subject of racism evokes high-tension pro and con feedback. Clearly, racism is
at the heart of America's past and present histories, and all of us have been
stung by it.
"America's institutions have a fundamental responsibility to be just,
unprejudiced and truthful to all of its people. Racism continues to divide our
country; therefore, constructive dialogue and action are needed for America to
have a healthy populace.
"In response to some of the views expressed, I want to remind the readers
of the following:
-- My son's killer, Mikail Markhasev, was born in the Ukraine, but he grew
up in America. He was a child when he first arrived in the U.S. Also,
Markhasev chose to befriend diverse, ethnic American individuals and a gang who
shared a racist commonality: hatred for Black people.
-- My article's focal point was institutional racism -- that is, entities
in both the public and private sectors which have practiced, influenced and
sustained biased values that Black people are inferior.
-- Unquestionably, my son's death is a painful reality, but my article was
not a knee-jerk reaction to this tragedy. I have written and publicly spoken
about racism for many years. My advanced educational studies dealt with the
sickness of racism. Indeed, racism is not a new topic for me to communicate to
the public. Yes, I have lived it and witnessed it.
"I want to share with you two additional pieces of information. First, I
have had many requests from the public about how they can deepen their
understanding about racism and prejudice as it affects all Americans. For this
purpose, you will see below a short bibliography of books available in our
libraries which address a broad spectrum of perspectives. Moreover, you will
read the truth about America's presidents and leaders and their positions on
slavery and race.
"Lastly, I would like to share with you a `letter to the editor' which I
submitted to the New York Times to raise questions about their coverage of the
Markhasev trial. The Times refused to publish the letter. I hope the issues
this letter raises will also be thought-provoking in examining the influence of
the media upon our attitudes and beliefs."
The following is the aforementioned letter to the editor of The New York
Times:
"On July 16, 1998, The New York Times carried an Associated Press report
about Grand Jury transcripts pertaining to the murder of my son, Ennis William
Cosby. In their editing process, the Times deleted a key piece of information
that reveals the overt, racist nature of the murderer and his motivation. This
omission, I believe, is important for us to consider as the House of
Representatives' Committee on the Judiciary held hearings this past week to
step up enforcement of the `Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 1997.'
"The first line of the Act reads as follows: `The incidence of violence
motivated by the actual or perceived race, color, national origin, religion,
sexual orientation, gender or disability of the victim poses a serious national
problem.'
"The Associated Press reported the testimony of Grand Jury witness Michael
Chang, quoting the killer as saying, `I pulled a gun on the nigger' and `You
know what the nigger told me?' Curiously, the Times, in all of its articles
about the case, chose to exclude the use of this inflammatory epithet. Even
during the murder trial, the Times did not print the full quote from
Christopher So's testimony, `I shot a nigger, it's all over the news,'
sanitizing the word `nigger' with `black man' in paraphrase.
"Throughout the past decade, the Times has printed the word `nigger' in 882
articles, including book reviews, cultural reports, magazine articles and news
accounts, among other categories. For some reason, they opted to not report on
this aspect of the murder of my son. Doesn't the Times, as one of the world's
leading newspapers, have the responsibility to state the full truth to
America's populace about racism relating to all people?"
Signed,
Camille 0. Cosby
Mother of Ennis William Cosby
New York, NY
Suggested Readings for the Understanding of Racism
-- "The Native American Almanac: A Portrait of Native America Today" by
Arlene Hirschfelder and Martha Kreipe de Montano; Prentice Hall General
Reference, 1993
-- "Christopher Columbus and the African Holocaust" by John Henrik Clarke;
A&B Books, 1992
-- "A People's History of the United States" by Howard Zinn; Harper & Row,
1980
-- "The Nature of Prejudice" by G.W. Allport; Addison-Wesley, 1954
-- "Racism, Dissent and Asian Americans from 1850 to the Present: A
Documentary History (Contributions in American History, No. 148)" edited by
Philip S. Foner and Daniel Rosenberg; Greenwood Publishers Group, 1993
-- "The Young Hamilton: A Biography" by James Thomas Flexner; Little, Brown
& Company, 1978
-- "When and Where I Enter: The Impact of Black Women on Race and Sex in
America" by Paula Giddings; William Morrow & Co., 1984
-- "Franklin" by David Freeman Hawke; Harper & Row, 1976
-- "Nixon's Piano, Presidents and Racial Politics from Washington to
Clinton" by Kenneth O'Reilly; The Free Press, 1995
-- "William Styron's Nat Turner: Ten Black Writers Respond," edited by John
Henrik Clarke, Beacon Press, 1968; reprinted Greenwood Press, 1987
-- "Latinos: A Biography of the People" by Earl Shorris; W.W. Norton &
Company, 1992.
-- "Leaving Deep Water: The Lives of Asian American Women at the Crossroads
of Two Cultures, by Claire S. Chow; Dutton, 1998
-- "Native American Testimony: A Chronicle of Indian-White Relations From
1492-1992," edited by Peter Nabokov, with a foreword by Vine Deloria; Viking,
1991