Bill Cosby Talks Black Fathers, Juvenile Medication, 'No-Groes' with Don Lemon [VIDEO]
Comedian and actor Bill Cosby appeared on "CNN Newsroom" on Saturday night where he spoke with anchor Don Lemon about black fathers, the excessive medication of black youth and a new term that he calls "No-groes."
Lately, "CNN Newsroom" has focused on racial issues and problems within the black community. On Saturday's program, Lemon asked Cosby for his thoughts on the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington where the famous "I Have a Dream" speech was given by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Lemon asked Cosby what kind of black leaders are needed today.
"I think it has to come from the universities," Cosby said. "I think women strongly because when you see 70 percent in research that says they are the leaders of the household. What we need is for people to realize I want to raise my kid. I want to go back and get my three kids. I want to take on that responsibility. I want to love my children."
Cosby marveled at an increasing trend of "walking around to see, yeah, to see a black male with his child on the shoulders and holding," which he said he experienced at the Essence Festival.
The comedian urged young people to attend community college, especially if they may be the type of person who struggles with schooling.
"You quit school but now you find you need that high school credential," Cosby said. "Go to the community college....At age 19-and-a-half, I knew I didn't want to do certain things. It is not what they weren't doing to me; it's what I wasn't doing. It's a very simple thing."
Next, Cosby spoke about the medication of young Americans as a substitute for mental counseling. "If you drug these people, and then you release them, and there's no prescription for them to get to take to do the same thing, and they go back to the same place," he said. "Now, about this time, this is when you hear the no-groes jump up and say 'Why don't you talk about the good things?'"
Cosby continued. "Because the good things happen to be taking care of themselves pretty well," Cosby said. "We are trying to help those genius', those not genius', people who deserve, because they are human beings on this earth, in the United States of America. We are trying to get them in a position so they will understand and want to."
Lemon asked Cosby, 76, why he thought it was hard for people to understand that without "lashing out."
"Well, it's because they feel, I think they feel embarrassed," Cosby said. He then connected his opinions to an anecdote about Sammy Davis, Jr.
"We were in playing in a routine, and I told him I knew something," Cosby said. "He said, 'No you don't.' I said, 'Yes, I do.' I said it. He said, 'No, that's not the way it goes.' I said the same thing louder. He said, 'Bill, saying it loud don't make it right.'"
Cosby continued to discuss his time living in the projects and his road to success.
"And so, every loud voice you hear yelling about something and saying 'Well you just - you lost us. You became a millionaire,' the reason why I'm giving you this information is because I was living in the projects," Cosby said. "I was not taking care of myself in terms of managing my education, and once the door opened and I saw quote, unquote, the light, I started to become very successful."