“The sky is falling, the sky is falling, Bill Cosby has a mug shot, the world must be coming to an end,” said Chicken Little, aka many of the black population on social media. It’s like everything, especially in recent years, has to be about skin color and racism, even situations where it doesn’t belong or is not evident. Within the past year alone, minorities have experienced many incidents of unjust treatment, but that does not mean that every case involving a minority is some sort of racial injustice.
Cosby, otherwise known as the father of black television, was charged and arrested in late December for drugging and sexually assaulting a woman over 12 years ago. When the mug shot of this this 79-year-old television role model hit the media, many black people took to Twitter and Instagram in uproar faster than a cheetah chasing a gazelle.
The main consensus amongst the black community is that if Cosby were a white man, he would not have been arrested. There were memes about how Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown’s killers got away murder but that Cosby’s alleged rape resulted in his incarceration. What do the killings of these young black boys have to do with Cosby? Nothing, that’s what.
As a member of the black community, I understand and empathize with those who have lost relatives to police brutality or gang violence, and I want justice just as much as any other person, but, OK, black twitter, you’ve gone a little overboard this time. We have gotten so used to being the victims that as a community, we expect to be victimized. Regardless of anything, rape is wrong. Black, white, yellow, blue, rape is rape.
Cosby’s case is not a matter of race. He currently stands free and has been for several weeks. What people are really upset about is who he is; him being black is just more fuel to the fire.
Cosby has been an important father figure in the black community since the 1960s, and it’s hard for many of us to view someone we grew up watching as a positive figure in a negative light. But had he been just some regular Joe, no one would have heard of this story; it wouldn’t have made front page news, nor would the black community have been accusing the criminal justice system of more racial injustice.
Furthermore, if Cosby were white, no one would have been saying, “What if he was black?” He’s under investigation because of the many allegations against him over a span of 20 years, and this would not be the first time he was in court due to them. Cosby was publically accused in 2002, 2004, 2005 and 2012 but was never indicted. If this was a matter of race, wouldn’t he have been placed behind bars several allegations ago?
Black community, stop being so uptight. I know we have to stand together and stick up for our fellow brothers, but if someone has done something wrong in our community, we especially should be the first ones to tell him or her so.
I’m not saying Cosby is guilty, because who really knows what happened 12 years ago? All I am saying is if your only reason for why Cosby shouldn’t be found guilty is because he is black, then maybe you should rethink that.
