Background: "Bill Cosby testified in 2005 that he got Quaaludes with the intent of giving them to young women he wanted to have sex with, and he admitted giving the sedative to at least one woman and "other people," according to documents obtained Monday by The Associated Press.
Cosby has been accused by more than two dozen women of sexual misconduct, including allegations by many that he drugged and raped them in incidents dating back more than four decades. "
MONEY was the motivation for
- the justification for slavery (believing other human beings not human being good for free labor)
-the justification for Slavery Part II (a.k.a official Jim Crow in the South and Unofficial Jim Crow in the North)
-the justification for Lynching (theft)
While white newspapers reported the reason for lynching black men was the rape of white women, Ida B Wells learned in the 1890s and 1900s that lynching of black people (mostly men) was about finance and romance but not rape. That is, she found that less than 1/3 of lynchings even MENTIONED the rape of a white woman - and some of these so called "rapes" were actually interracial relationships.
White men running white newspapers were actually using story of rape of white women to cover up the taking stores, businesses, land, and political power. And the cover up was necessary in order to get the North and Europe to invest in a southern United States devastated by Civil War.
Ida B Wells actually published her research in a few books, available to this day. The NAACP would use her methods to research lynching more than a decade later.
On the surface, it appears Bill Cosby is a prime black target for immediate attack if he was raping white women. It seems like he should have been caught long ago, long before he had a chance to rape two dozen. And he was raping white women in years where lynching for rape was hardly unheard of. These are two of the three main reasons why some people insist, despite two dozen accusations, that these rape accusations by white women are, in reality, a high-tech lynching of Bill Cosby.
When attempting to defend Cosby, the high-tech lynch crowd tends to e-race the black women who have also made accusations. But even if the entire field of Cosby accusers was made up of white women, according to Ida B Wells, it wasn't white women who did the most of the lying the first time lynching of black men was a national past time. So there's no reason to assume they are now (shooting of unarmed black people, lying about being raped by Cosby)
Sexism ensures that white women, by themselves, don't have the necessary power. Sexism also ensures that most women are very, very selective about when, where, and to whom they will admit to being a rape victim (<--the third main reason for disbelief. To this day, I doubt that I would UNLESS I could convince myself I would stop another from being raped. )
Even if I, like some others, were to decide that sexism is some sort of fictional issue (like racism is for many white people), I would still have to accept how the basic facts come together. It would be nearly impossible for two dozen women to make up the same story, spread over decades and hundreds of miles --some of them even admitting they are unclear on the details of what happened after waking up half-dressed. In other words, all these women can't be lying.
Not all of them. Not even most of them.
This means Bill Cosby must be lying. That is why I, like many others, knew Cosby had drugged and raped long before Bill Cosby's testimony was exposed.
Still, I don't think that Bill Cosby is a lucky, black unicorn in that he just raped white women while white supremacy looked away while he did it. He's not a unicorn, but he's no ordinary black man either.
He is rich but he is also famous. He's been famous since the 1960s because white people are comfortable with him. And he joked his way through white comfort into a decades long career. Cosby was even allowed to go to the very white playboy mansion, perform there, and ogle white women openly in years where that was shocking and frowned upon if not borderline deadly --for the ordinary black man.
Cosby's fame aside, I still believe that nearly all things racial in this country can be traced to greed for money. And Bill Cosby is no exception to this rule.
In the 1890s, the easiest way for a white person to get a black person's money was to steal it or burn down your black competitor's business. In the 1990s, if you're white, large and in charge, you let that black man continue performing. And if that same black man recites something like the "pound cake speech" you step up and defend your non-monetary interests too.
I haven't done extensive research of the timing of Bill Cosby rape accusations, but from what I recollect about the dates I read in various news articles, it seemed like the rape accusations clustered near the peaks in his career. So with the Cosby admission in our mental back pocket, this might also mean Cosby was making so much money for his bosses that they were willing to protect him.
The circumstantial evidence all leans in the same direction too.
The paleness of his wife might confirm Cosby's preferences in women or be a coincidence. But his making jokes about the rape accusations on stage made me feel like he doth jest and protest too much. Cosby's rape accusation jokes in January 2015, made me feel the same way as I did when I heard O J wrote a book titled, "If I Did It." Stupidity may explain a multitude of sins, but it's still unlikely for innocent people behave this way. Guilty people who believe they are untouchable, however, routinely behave in this way.
And if Cosby believed that he was untouchable, then other people knew. After watching what happened to O J, Cosby couldn't possibly believe that money alone would save him. In order to be a successful serial rapist while not limiting himself to black women, Cosby had to:
1) believe that he was well insulated by white protectors making money off him
2) believe that the black desperation that desires to see other black people succeed when so many are held back would shield him (by the way, when this black desperation is clearly identified, the internal racism sufferers tend to shout "CRABS IN A BARREL!!! at ear shattering decibels to stop all talk of what SUPER RICH black person x has done wrong)
3) depend upon the discounting of women's voices;
4) depend upon the black community's e-race-sure of black female accusers altogether
I wonder if those who continued to go to his shows after two dozen accusations were made are still laughing now?
For me, this isn't finished. I want to know who else knew and when. It took Phylicia Rashad a long time to be dragged kicking and screaming to half-heartedly defend Cosby, a man who is probably responsible for 80% of what she owns because he hired her to play his wife. You don't half-step to defend someone who's changed your life, not if you think they are innocent. And if Rashad suspected him, then other people knew. And the people that knew should pay for their crimes as well. And if it isn't a crime to know of a specific rape and keep it to yourself, then maybe it's time to change the laws so that this failure to report can more easily be identified as "accessory after the fact" behavior.
* * * * * * * * *
I consider this entire current episode in black history as an example of why racism does not trump sexism or vice-versa. What happens to black women was erased again. Anita Hill was ignored and we, for the most part, supported Clarence Thomas's appointment. And now we've held this new-old monster to our breast.
If some still don't care about the rapes so much, care about the fact that this monster told us that we, as black people, are inferior. Care about the fact that we believed him because we mistook black-person-with-success for "good"and "intelligent," yet again -- when acknowledging the rapes could have been used as a reason to flush the opinions of this hypocritical, internalized-racism suffering @$$ down the toilet where they belong.
Bill Cosby feels superior to women enough to rape them. And he feels superior to black people too.
Clarence Thomas feels superior to women, enough to sexually assault them. And he feels superior to black people too. But Clarence Thomas is a gift that keeps on giving for a lifetime appointment.
So, how many more times are we going to ignore what happens black women then be surprised when he or she comes for the rest of us, especially black men? Isn't this much like white people ignoring (then manipulating) "the drug problem" until it finally started killing middle-class white America in the 1980s? What is it going to take for some of us to understand that the superiority that comprises racism and sexism travel along the very same paths and damages us all?
