In his controversial “Pound Cake” speech before the NAACP in 2004,
Bill Cosby criticized and ridiculed fashion trends within the
African-American community: baggy pants, body piercings, etc. Cosby was
also critical of African-American parents who give their children
unusual names, such as Shaniqua and Taliqua.
In Is Bill Cosby Right? (Or Has the Black Middle Class Lost Its Mind?),
Michael Eric Dyson attempts to explain the phenomena that Cosby
criticized in his speech. A lot of this phenomena, according to Dyson,
is an attempt by African-Americans to assert their identity, their
individuality, and their freedom in a world that has historically looked
down on them and held them back. Dyson provides historical background
on this.
While Dyson refers to a study that argues that employers tend to
discriminate against people with unusual names, Dyson says that
African-Americans should not be blamed for being discriminated against:
that the goal should be to eliminate the discrimination, not to blame
the African-Americans who give their children unusual names. Dyson also
points out that white American society has accepted certain prominent
African-Americans with unusual names: Oprah Winfrey, Shaquille O’Neill,
and Condoleeza Rice. Perhaps his hope is that this development will
continue, and expand.
On page 139, Dyson does what he has done elsewhere in the book: he
has compared the Bill Cosby of the “Pound Cake” speech with the earlier
Bill Cosby. Cosby, for example, exercised his freedom in naming his
children according to his hopes and dreams for them: some of the names
that he gave them were not conventional, and they all began with E, for
“excellence.” Dyson asks: “Why can’t poor parents enjoy the same
freedom with their children?”