Bill Cosby is now a convicted rapist.  That is not in question.

What I still find to be in question are his respectability politics, which are still very much with us (and by “us” I mean black people in particular, but not exclusively).

Had he not been a serial rapist and if he was still considered a viable corporate salesman and role model, he still would think beating the shit out of black children is okay.

Yeah, he’s not the only black celebrity who thinks black kids getting their asses whupped is viable parenting.

Now for those of us who don’t remember, or weren’t alive, when The Cosby Show first went on the air, I believe it was the very first episode when Dr. Heathcliff Huxtable basically threatened his son Theo with physical violence for getting low grades.  Yeah, that shit was absolutely present and audiences cheered that horror loudly and vociferously.  Later on in the series, Claire Huxtable, Heathcliff’s wife, does the same thing to Vanessa, their daughter, for dipping into the family booze while underage.  Dr. Huxtable mock restrains her from going any further.  I remember applause and agreement from the studio audience.

So what is up with this shit, fellow black people?  We can’t make the argument that they didn’t know any better.  Remember, Cliff was a doctor and Claire was a lawyer.  They were upper middle class.  They had the educational, social, and financial “advantages” that you’re supposed to want in America, the things that are supposed to make you a “better” person.  Even a respected and credentialed psychiatrist, Dr. Alvin Poussaint, gave his stamp of approval for “positive” black role models via this show.  One of the arguments that are made in and about our black communities is that a lack of options brought about by poverty limit black parents ability to care for children nonviolently.

And yet there that shit was, hiding in plain sight in the media that was supposed to represent our supposed collective aspirations.

Now any other race and/or ethnicity that feels the need to pile on to try and prove how fucked up black culture is, just stop that shit, would you please?  We don’t need anti-black racism to correct this problem, inside or outside of our communities.  Plenty of non-black minorities, white people, and people of multiple identities think nothing of smacking their own kids around.  This is a worldwide problem.

The issue is childism: the “claim by adults to the effect that children are ours to do with exactly as we see fit, or children exist to serve, honor and obey adults.”  That shit is perpetrated irregardless of socioeconomic status and upper-middle class and rich people aren’t off the hook.  In fact, abusive parents with financial means have further options to abuse their kids under the guise of love.

Had Cosby not been the serial rapist and utter ethical fraud that he is, he would probably be considered an example of the kind of man we are supposed to emulate and admire.

Let that sink in for a second.