byephylicia2

For Disrupting Dinner Parties, Dominique Hazzard writes that Phylicia Rashad’s comments were a missed opportunity to show that it is possible to defend the contributions of the Cosby Show without throwing women under the bus.What we are seeing here is not new. It is a rerun. Black America, denied positive representation on everything from the Supreme Court to our television screens, finally got a piece of what we’ve been craving…. only to find out that the black man embodying our wishes ain’t shit and that success for him is not actually a triumph for black women. But, desperate for that representation, for the preservation of legacy, we decide to side with him anyway– as even inspirational women like Maya Angelou did during the confirmation of Justice Clarence Thomas. We place the responsibility for his tarnished legacy at our feet, and the feet of those he has hurt, instead of at his. This time we have the chance to do better.

Phylicia Rashad had the opportunity to say that the progress of black people in America does not have to happen on the backs of black women, and does not require us to be trampled and gagged into silence. She had the option of defending The Cosby Show, its critical contributions to American culture, and what it has meant to black people, without defending legacy of a man who is almost certainly a serial rapist and who has not even stepped forward to defend his own self. She didn’t take those opportunities, but we can.

Phylicia Rashad, ma’am, I will not forget these women. This is about them, and they will continue to be heard.

Read more at Disrupting Dinner Parties.

Photo: Disrupting Dinner Parties