Getting it right

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We usually think of Bill Cosby as the jolly, Jell-O-pitching, Cliff Huxtable father figure who never gets agitated about much. But, even the jolly Jell-O Man feels the need sometimes to liberate his inner grouch.

One such moment occurred as he was being honored at a black-tie bash in Washington's Constitution Hall commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Brown vs. Board of Education decision.

Witnesses say he astonished many at the posh affair by launching into a rant-sermon mocking the talk, fashion and spending habits of poor black people.

"People marched and were hit in the face with rocks to get an education, and now we've got these knuckleheads walking around," Mr. Cosby grumbled, according to The Washington Post and Associated Press. "The lower economic people are not holding up their end in this deal. These people are not parenting. They are buying things for kids --$500 sneakers for what? And won't spend $200 for 'Hooked on Phonics.' "

Hold on. He was just getting warmed up.

"I can't even talk the way these people talk: 'Why you ain't,' 'Where you is'. ... You can't be a doctor with that kind of ... coming out of your mouth."

And, as for "the incarcerated?" Fuh-gedda-boud-dit.

"These are not political criminals. These are people going around stealing Coca-Cola. People getting shot in the back of the head over a piece of pound cake and then we run out and we are outraged, saying, 'The cops shouldn't have shot him.' What the hell was he doing with the pound cake in his hand?"

Why is this news? Because Mr. Cosby violated what I call "BPC," black political correctness. We should not hang our dirty laundry out in public, according to BPC, especially in front of white folks -- as if white folks didn't already know when our clothes are not clean.

Instead of candidness in our public self-appraisals, BPC tells us to sound like President Bush does on Iraq: If we've made any mistakes, we can't remember what they are.