Black people are not monolithic.

 

That’s the statement we give when people try to pigeonhole us. We want to be free to be the fully diverse community that we are. Different cultures. Different morals. Different values. Recently, this become evident by the reaction our community has had to Ebony’s jaw dropping cover of their November issue.

 

If you haven’t seen it by now it features a picture of the nuclear Black fictional Cosby family we all grew up with under shattered glass. The key headline: the family issue(s). The visual is jarring. The by-line are thought provoking.The reactions are all over the board, as one would expect from a large group of people. There is a range from the polite “golf clap “of applause to fire burning anger.

 

Some see this as a trolling marketing strategy to sell more magazines. Some see it as standing up for (black) women who are constantly beat down and told to remain silent. Some see the dream of the perfect family being shattered. Others (many) see it as a betrayal and further connecting dots that don’t need to be made. As I’m sure you’ve seen the conversation is lit on every social media platform:

 

From Instagram:

https://instagram.com/p/83nOcJSxgR/

From Twitter:

Screen Shot 2015-10-17 at 1.27.30 PM

You know what all this reminds me of? The odd divide over #BlackLivesMatter.

 

For every person who believes that the injustice against people of colour by the police is important to discuss -you have the “what about black on black crime” contingent.  People who want to believe that they are remotely on the same levels.

 

Whether you believe the 40 plus women, the depositions of HIS OWN WORDS IN COURT or not – the divide on this is bigger than a magazine cover. We unite (kinda) when the hurt is done by an outsider – but let one our childhood heroes be accused of the unconscionable, we don’t know how to take it. We defend the indefensible. We turn blind eyes. We develop amnesia. We turn up the volume and turn down the civility.

 

What’s that common saying about proof and belief again?

 

The Cosby Show was a staple in my house growing up. It was ground-breaking programming that I could watch with my family. Rooting for the legacy of The Cosby Show is no different then when we root for Black Quarterbacks in the NFL or Black actresses to win Emmys and Oscars. We want them to do well for so many reasons.

 

Maybe it’s because I know how to separate fact from fiction that I don’t take this as personally as many. Maybe because I see men that leave so many of our sisters pregnant to raise children alone as a bigger affront to the black family than taking the mask off an actor from a TV show.

 

Unfortunately, by rights of the name of the show – it is tainted. It wasn’t called The Huxtable Show – it’s called The Cosby Show. To quote Marlo from The Wire: My name, is my name. By his own admission – Cosby has tainted everything to do with his name. We can still watch the show, in fact it may be something I watch with my own son some day – the same way I watch the NFL or step in the name of love. But I will do so not with the same heart and naive eyes of the child who confuses fiction for reality.

 

No matter how you nostalgic you are about The Cosby Show, it would behoove us all – to try and separate Cosby from Cliff, the way Ebony is encouraging us to do.

 

We aren’t all ever going to be on the same page as a community, but it would certainly be nice if we tried. ou acheter vibromasseur