on this special edition of our world with black enterprise, bill cosby and alvin poussaint take on black america. >> regardless of what the government says, stop waiting around for these people to come and rescue you. they're not going to do it.

last week in part of our conversation with comedian bill cosby and psychiatrist alvin poussaint, we talked about the comedian's controversial crusade to address the problems that have left many in black america lagging socially and economically. this self-help message is chronicled in come on people condition from victims to victors. it is a collection of inspiring stories information gathered over the last couple years as the two have traveled the country to encourage people to do better in their lives. >> now, obviously the man who approached my brother didn't know that he is bill cosby's brother. a guy came up to him, black, and he said, man, what are we going to do about these kids? and russell said, better parenting.

and the guy said, oh, you're talking about that cosby [ bleep ]. look, the old famous saying about harriet tubman, who had to explain to slaves that they were slaves. some of them thought they were doing all right. she had to use a pistol to move these people. >> you have some young people, in fact, who feel they get status by going to prison. they get status by shooting someone. they get status by exploiting women and seeing them as sexual objects. flip-flop the values. &engage in a lot of self-destructive behavior. >> you can stand and argue with me all you want about who unck i am, therefore, you're not going to pay attention to me. but i'm telling you where the road -- the bridge is out, the road is out and where there are problems. and guess what, you know it.

somebody's got to yell in your face. get up and move. >> the economic's passion was evident during a break in taping. he told of a story that he said showed the misguided notion of what black america should really focus on. >> let me tell you something, in the morgue, they don't put in the newspaper who died of an od unless it's a famous person. but trust me, there are more dead people in the morgue because of bad drugs that don't go into the newspapers that some black drug dealer sold to the druggee. >> if the ku klux klan was coming again, what would you do, drag your children under the bed, put things on them. therefore, we're ready for them. what the heck is a crack cocaine dealer. >> it's evident as he said

earlier, dr. cosby has had enough. when we return, we'll get back to our interview with bill cosby and dr. alvin poussaint. >> i don't know how many times i've heard some kid coming out say, i'm either going to be killed or i'm going to kill somebody or i'm going to go back into prison. where can you find ingredients like 100% angus beef, hickory-smoked bacon, red onions, swiss cheese, sautéed mushrooms? where else but mcdonald's? the new angus third pounders. that's what we're made of. ♪ ba da ba ba ba

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we got people raising children who don't want to know anything. say they're not going to live and you won't challenge them. i don't want to flip burgers. i make more money dealing in drugs. listen to me, idiot. nobody asked you to flip burgers for the rest of your life. ask the man from ethiopia. he'll flip some burgers. why? because somehow he knows he's going to become the manager of the place. >> i don't know how many times i've heard some kid coming out say, i'm either going to be killed or i'm going to kill somebody, or i'm going to go back into prison.

we've got 900,000 black men -- >> mostly black men. >> they release 60,000 a month, 60,000 males. about 65% of these males have no high school diploma. >> 80%. >> 80%. so they come back to whatever it is they know and in terms of an education what you do they know. they know where they live. they know who they live with. do they know how to fill out papers? do they have an idea of what job or how to get a job or how to study for a job? no. these are the things that have to happen to these people. >> the economic said many of the ills segments that the black

community faced can be solved by having greater expectations and by using programs that are already in existence. >> there are successful programs where in the city of wilmington they now take kids who have been in the 10th grade for two, three years and put them in another school, not a special class, not a retarded class, but in one where they have to wear a uniform, where their parents have to sign on for a number of dates that they must appear and be a part of the program in wilmington, delaware, where you pass or fail. but the passing grade is 85. now, you can get a whole bunch of people, mr. gordon, who will go ballistic. that's too high. you're expecting -- you know what, it isn't. because they have teachers. and these kids learn plenty

quick how it feels to get an 85 and what a 90 feels like and what a 100 feels. and their self-value rises. >> cosby also said leadership must make sure not to lose sight of their role in correcting these issues. >> i remember watching julian bond. he said something and i cringed. and he was with james brown on the television show, and they were talking about youth or something. and this brilliant man, so well educated, so many stripes from the civil rights movement, so many successes, said something to the effect that he really didn't want to challenge youth or what was going on that much because he didn't want to be seen as an old fuddy-duddy.

and i just winced. i said who is going to tell him he has to? >> it seems to me that often the media's reflection of the times. if you look at the '60s and '70s and listen to the music it was hopeful, togetherness, it was about bringing about change. if you look at today's music, it is something completely different that dr. cosby has already talked about. where did we see the change? is there a pinpoint, a blip on the screen that said, that's where we turned the corner. >> the blip on the screen i identify with some rap artists who first started publicly using the "n" word in rap. now, that goes back 30 years. remember there was a group called nwa that goes way back. and i remember being on a

program with ice t 30 years ago when he was trying to explain to me why it was a positive term and that's why you could use it and so on and so forth. and i think we spiraled down after that and the whole thing opened with pro fanity, massage any and it opened up and captured a lot of the black community and a lot of the black youth. and i think at the same time you had other things going on with changing attitudes towards education. you had more single-parent homes. about 70% of homes now in the black community are single-families headed by women. if you go back to 1950, it was reversed. mostly kids were born into two-parent homes, close to 80% of them. so you had a lot of breaking down of the family. >> so let's give hip-hop its failu failure. where does black middle-class failure, which clearly at some

point we saw a breakdown in some of the things that mr. cosby was talking about that we grew up with that were no longer even touted as the right thing to do in middle class families? >> well, i think we've been quiet in spreading the gospel about our values and what's right and what's wrong. and been a little bit too passive about it. but i think black middle class still has been involved, if you look at all the organizations and so on, all the people promoting self-help. a lot of the people are middle class working in the black community. i'm talking about from doctors to social workers to counselors to, people working in community programs, to people working in fatherhood projects, male responsibility projects. a lot of that comes from the black middle class. we've been trying to do what we can, but we're not doing enough. >> do you think the majority of the black middle class has shouldered its weight in this? >> i think that there's a war.

there always has been. and you are trying to be better than i. you live in the projects and you are walking around with your books and you get kids looking at you, you think you're better than everyone else? it comes down to where you may pretend you're dressing the same way that they're dressing. but, mr. gordon, there's a confusion. we've got to get the people who were behaving in a detrimental way to see and understand where they're wrong. because i think they're absolutely afraid. i think they're frightened. i think they feel helpless. i think the very people who stand up for them per se, well,

you're putting out stereotypes. well, you don't like -- bill cosby doesn't like poor people hasn't done a darned thing to help poor people. >> more with bill cosby and psychiatrist alvin poussaint right after this. >> these people have taken it and they weren't afraid and they ran into hurdles but they had and they weren't afraid and they ran into hurdles but they had it's the chevy open house. and now, with the cash for clunkers program, a great deal gets even better. let us recycle your older vehicle, and you could qualify for an additional $3500 or $4500 cash back... on top of all other offers.. on a new, more fuel efficient chevy. your chevy dealer has more eligible models to choose from - more than ford, toyota, or honda. so save gas... and money... now during the chevy open house. go to chevy.com for details.

every success story has a parent who said, over my dead body. every success story has an old person who walks up to you and says, when you're acting a fool, you know, i worry about you sometimes. >> we're back with bill cosby and alvin poussaint, co-authors of, come on people. how much do you want people to read this as a road map, if you will, as opposed just picking it up as a read. >> it's a road map. we talk about a lot of issues. we give a lot of advice. we talk about people valuing their lives, valuing their

children. so we want people to take the high road. we want people to take care of their health. there's a lot of things happening in the like obesity and aids in the black community and the violence and all the deaths from violence and then the school educational situation. we, you know, people accuse of us of blaming the victim. but people have a choice about all these things and what they do and taking the high road caring about children. and we feel they can do it. >> to those who will say that you don't understand the poor and they don't have the same choices, you say what? >> they do have choices. all of us at some point came from poverty. after slavery. a lot of us moved up and became middle class because we worked at it. we got an education in particular and we made the kinds

of choices and had the kinds of values, family values helping each other made a difference. and that's moving forward. there are still some issues with systemic racism but not like before. and people have to be more concerned about helping each other and not hurting each other. and i think if everyone puts their effort forward that we can make a difference. >> there are people, mr. gordon, who are stuck and they're stopped. it doesn't make any difference whether they're middle income, upper middle income, lower. but when you're lower income and you are stuck and you're dependent upon money coming from someplace else, you're living in subsidized housing, you're living in an area where you're really dependent on people who are supposed to help you and they're not doing it, then you

can become stuck and stopped and you begin to sedate yourself. you begin to sedate yourself in the whoa, is me kind of manner and the kind of food you eat. you gain your weight. you sedate yourself with your friends and the people you're talking to. you sedate yourself with how much money is real money and what you're going to do with it. the kind of magazines you read. the fast payoff to feeling good, to have sex. and what's missing is real love. and our people in that area have to get back to that. loving one's self. understanding how to love ones self. and to love the child you gave birth to or you are responsible

for regardless of what the government says. stop waiting around for these people to come and rescue you. they're not going to do it. you're stuck. you're stopped. this book actually for me say cheerleading session. i think that when people read it they understand, wait a minute, he's talking about me. that's the same situation. that person did it. and when you're ready, you hit the ground running. but we're not getting it any help when we have people telling them to stay there. you stay there. that white man has got you pinned. well, he doesn't. we've seen too many of our heroes, paul robson, harry bellefonty, sidney portier, martin luther king and dorothy

height. these people have taken it and they weren't afraid but they ran into hurdles but they had goals. >> two others to add to that list are bill cosby and alvin poussaint. gentlemen, thank you so much. a path from victims to victors. and i for one appreciate that you both remained on the front lines and fight the good fight for us in spite of the slings and arrows and stones. >> those slings and arrows don't meet a thing. they'll be along later. they'll be along later. they're going to be like that, man. and so we have to work with the people who will wake up. this is a cheerleading session. and i thank you for the time. >> gentlemen, thank you.

that does it for this edition of our world with black enterprise. don't forget to visit our website where you can give us feedback on this show. that's at our world.black enterprise.com. i'm ed gordon. and thanks for making our world i'm ed gordon. and thanks for making our world your world. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com