middle-class failure, which clearly at some point we saw a breakdown in some of the things that mr. cosbyalking 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

. >> mr. cosbyw you address the issue and you have done so, but one more time, if you'll allow, the idea of critics who will say or young people who will just simply say that your world is not the world that i grow up in now, and these solutions don't work for this generation, the things that worked for yours. >> we were at the university of massachusetts, amherst, and a young man stood up and he said, you know, you make it sound like all you have to do is wave your finger and tell somebody not to do it and they're not going to do it. he said, that's not the way it is out here in this world. and he went on, and alvin and i both knew he hadn't read the book. >> the book is a collection of inspirational testimonies from the town hall meetings the two have held in black communities across the country. there are also solutions offered to some of the issues that plague black america. cosby asked poussaint to tell the story about a young man they met at one of the call-out sessions in boston. >> he agreed

>> caller: i'm sorry i put you in the group with mr. cosby> guest: no, i'm a great admirer of bill cosby. >> caller: the question, it would be basically there is a void in the middle. in other words,ycq with leader. strong, well thought out ideas articulated. a little bit more left to the either ends of that spectrum. >> guest: here's the thing -- here's where i would differ with you. i don't think cosby -- and i know it's not the case with me would say that there isn't problems in terms of systemic discrimination or systemic racism, you know, stereotypes for black americans, hispanic americans, women in society that people have to overcome a lot of those limits and if you're talking about being a kid -- we were talking earlier about children, justice marshall saying to me at one point, you know, if he had new energy he would have gone on to do more in terms of children's rights in the country -- if a kid goes to bad schools is, caught in a bad neighborhood, a lot of those things just weigh on a child. comes from a broken family it's hard fo