BILL COSBY Strikes Again, Addresses Black Community in New Book

Bill Cosby has more to say about the plight of black folk. This time, he's finally putting his thoughts into book format,

no doubt as an answer to Michael Eric Dyson's IS BILL COSBY RIGHT? I knew it was just a matter of time before he struck back. Cosby's timing couldn't be better as the black community publicly discusses its internal issues.

According to Publishers Weekly, Cosby's book, titled COME ON, PEOPLE! ON THE PATH FROM VICTIMS TO VICTORS, is touted as "a powerful message for families and communities as they lay out their visions for strengthening America..." and will address "the crises of people who are stuck because of feelings of low self-esteem, abandonment, anger, fearfulness, sadness and feelings of being used, undefended and unprotected." The book's purpose is "to help empower people to make the daunting transition from victims to victors."The description for COME ON, PEOPLE! seems to be a different approach than his notorious 2004 NAACP speech which revolved around his belief that, " the lower economic and lower middle economic people are not holding their end in this deal." Here's a reminder of some of the things Dr. Cosby said:

"I'm talking about these people who cry when their son is standing there in an orange suit. Where were you when he was two? Where were you when he was twelve? Where were you when he was eighteen, and how come you don't know he had a pistol?"

"Those people are not Africans, they don't know a damned thing about Africa. With names like Shaniqua, Shaliqua, Mohammed and all that crap and all of them are in jail."

"50 percent drop out rate, I'm telling you, and people in jail, and women having children by five, six different men. Under what excuse? I want somebody to love me. And as soon as you have it, you forget to parent. Grandmother, mother, and great grandmother in the same room, raising children, and the child knows nothing about love or respect of any one of the three of them. All this child knows is "gimme, gimme, gimme."

"The city and all these people have to pick up the tab on them because they don't want to accept that they have to study to get an education."

It's not what they're doing to us. It's what we're not doing. 50 percent drop out. Look, we're raising our own ingrown immigrants. These people are fighting hard to be ignorant. There's no English being spoken, and they're walking and they're angry. Oh God, they're angry and they have pistols and they shoot and they do stupid things. And after they kill somebody, they don't have a plan. Just murder somebody. Boom. Over what? A pizza? And then run to the poor cousin's house.

"You can't keep asking that God will find a way. God is tired of you."

According to Publishers Weekly, COME ON, PEOPLE! will be co-written with Alvin Poussaint (he wrote the introduction to Cosby's book FATHERHOOD and is the co-author of a book called RAISING BLACK CHILDREN) and is slated for publication in October 2007 by Thomas Nelson, a Christian publisher. Yes you read that right, a Christian publisher.

I suspect Poussaint will help to ensure that the book doesn't read like one long rant. Hopefully Cosby will offer productive and comprehensive commentary, insights, and solutions because anything else would be a waste.

Regardless, I'm sure COME ON, PEOPLE! will be a New York Times bestseller, no matter what it says or doesn't say.