All Jokes Aside
In nationwide tour, Bill Cosby discusses the role
community colleges can play in breaking the cycle of poverty.
By David Pluviose
WASHINGTON
As part of a nationwide tour, entertainer and activist Dr. Bill Cosby hosted two forums at the University of the District of Columbia (UDC) last month in an effort to spur community action to break the cycle of violence, poverty and hopelessness plaguing many urban minorities. In the first “Call Out” forum, dedicated to foster parents and their children, Cosby discussed the role community colleges play in breaking that cycle, while Prince George’s Community College President Ronald Williams highlighted the numerous two-year programs that can lead to lucrative salaries.
“I think this conversation forced upon us by Dr. Cosby is long overdue,” Williams said. “Probably 60 or 70 percent of the students that I see have in one way or another not succeeded before they’ve come to the college. So in a sense, they’re out there reconstructing their lives in very significant ways, and I see that as a statement of hope.”
Statistics cited by Williams indicate that community colleges educate 55 percent of all Hispanics and 46 percent of all Blacks in the nation. He said community colleges are instrumental to giving impoverished minorities the tools to move into the middle class, and they help Blacks “take themselves from a position of disadvantage and translate that through education into positions of power.”
Cosby’s stop at UDC is one of 18 in as many months. UDC is the district’s sole public higher education institution, offering two-year, four-year and master’s degrees. UDC also has a law school.
“Dr. Williams sits here, and this man is the most important man to you foster parents. Dr. Williams has a school, a community college — I think there should be a statue [of a community college] that should stand next to the Statue of Liberty because the community college is a place where you can bring your tired, your poor,” Cosby said.
