It's time for the people still clinging to the comedian despite dozens of sexual assault allegations to let go.
There are a whole lot of brothers out there who still see Bill Cosby as a victim. I know, because I hear from these guys in barbershops, in line at the bodega, and even at family gatherings. They hold on to their exalted view of the man who "
redefined blackness" in spite of the more than
60 women who have come forward to accuse Cosby of sexually assaulting them. They cling to "America's Favorite Dad," even though the comedian admitted to
keeping Quaaludes to help him get laid. And now, as the criminal trial for Cosby's alleged sexual assault of
Andrea Constand comes to a close, those who doubt that the man who used to sling Puddin' Pops could have also been an extremely prolific date rapist seem more convinced than ever that this entire sordid ordeal is just another example of white America tearing down strong black men.
We've seen this play out on social media, from fashion and music icon
Kanye West tweeting early last year that "BILL COSBY INNOCENT !!!!!!!!!!" to author and filmmaker Tariq Nasheed going full Hotep last week,
informing his more than 180,000 Twitter followers that the allegations are really a "white supremacist witch hunt."
Simple misogyny is the connecting tissue between most Cosby apologists. It's the reason they can't understand why a woman might not want to come forward with sexual assault allegations against a famous and beloved millionaire with endless legal resources and goodwill, and it's why they don't get that having your way with someone who is incapacitated and can't consent is illegal and incredibly fukked up. But as a black man, the notion that there might be a conspiracy that is "trying to bring the black man down" is something that—even as I absolutely reject it in Cosby's case—I can certainly understand.
As one of Cosby's accusers, black poet Jewel Allison, put it in an editorial for the
Washington Post, Cosby was for a long time the "
image of success" for many black American men, his signature character a "model for self-worth and manhood" in a nation that has gone to incredible, outrageous lengths to vilify and dehumanize us. There is a long list of strong, culturally vital black men in entertainment like
Paul Robeson and
Muhammad Ali who were scorned for their politics and their success and were essentially blacklisted because of the emboldening impact they had on black people.
So Cosby supporters aren't crazy to think that America gets its rocks off dragging strong black men through the mud, because it does. The problem is that Cosby is not one of those strong black men. He has never been a true champion of oppressed black people, because he sees the suffering that we face as a result of our own personal failings, not institutional racism.
