Come on, People: On the Path from Victims to Victors

by Bill Cosby, Alvin F. Poussaint

Addressing the problems facing many communities in America, one of the most influential performers of the last half century and a veteran of the civil rights movement encourage people who are stuck because of feelings of low self-esteem, fearfulness, and anger to move forward in their lives. 100,000 first printing.

Genres: Nonfiction, Sociology, Politics, Race, African American, Current Affairs, Self Help

265 pages, Hardcover

First published October 9, 2007

About the author

William Henry Cosby Jr. is an American retired comedian, actor, and media personality. Often cited as a trailblazer for African Americans in the entertainment industry, Cosby was a film, television, and stand-up comedy star, with his longest-running live-action role being that of Cliff Huxtable in the sitcom The Cosby Show (1984–1992). He also released several stand-up comedy albums and was a popular spokesperson in advertising for decades. Cosby was well known in the United States for his fatherly image and gained a reputation as "America's Dad". Since 2014, dozens of allegations of sexual assault have been made against him.
Cosby began his career as a stand-up comic at the Hungry I nightclub in San Francisco in 1961, and primarily performed observational comedy in a conversational style. He released numerous standup specials starting with Bill Cosby Is a Very Funny Fellow...Right! (1963) and starred in the comedy film Bill Cosby: Himself (1983). Cosby still holds the record for winning the most Grammy Awards for Best Comedy Album, with seven wins. His acting career began with a starring role in the NBC secret-agent show I Spy (1965–1968), which broke new ground for African Americans when he made history by winning three Primetime Emmy Awards for Best Actor in a Drama Series, becoming the first black actor to do so.
Cosby made his film debut starring in Man and Boy (1971) followed by Hickey & Boggs (1972), Uptown Saturday Night (1974), Let's Do It Again (1975), A Piece of the Action (1977), Leonard Part 6 (1987), and Ghost Dad (1990). He produced and starred in a series of television sitcoms such as The Bill Cosby Show (1969–1971), Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids (1972–1985) and The Cosby Show (1984–1992) as well as its the spin-off A Different World (1987–1993), The Cosby Mysteries (1994–1995), and Cosby (1996–2000). He hosted Kids Say the Darndest Things (1998–2000). During his prolific career he advertised numerous products including the Jell-O ice pop treats Pudding Pop.
Over 60 women have accused Cosby of rape, drug-facilitated sexual assault, sexual battery, child sexual abuse and sexual harassment. Those allegations gained traction 2014 after a set which made mention of them by fellow comedian Hannibal Buress went viral. Numerous allegations followed with Cosby maintaining his innocence and repeatedly denying the allegations made against him. Despite receiving numerous awards and honorary degrees, several of them were revoked following the allegations. Reruns of The Cosby Show and other programs featuring Cosby were pulled from syndication. In 2018, Cosby was convicted of aggravated sexual assault against Andrea Constand. He was imprisoned until the conviction was vacated in June 2021 by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania on the basis of Cosby's 5th Amendment and 14th Amendment due process rights having been violated. In 2022, Cosby was found civilly liable for having sexually assaulted Judy Huth when she was 16.

Reviews

[Minty McBunny]

I haven't actually read this book. I just have to say that the title, combined with the cover art is a bad idea. A comma would have made all the difference in the world.

[Bence · Rating 1 out of 5]

I must say that I had high expectations for this book. I thought that finally a black person was addressing black issues with directness and intellect, and I wanted to see what he had to say. After all, Bill Cosby is not just a respected comedian and actor, but also a highly educated person with his Ph. D., right? Wow, was I severely disappointed. This book was written in such a pedantic and condescending style that it was insulting. And it was nothing more than circular reasoning at best. In other words, the same two or three ideas were repeated chapter after chapter. Although there were vague allusions to research, nothing was cited or documented. Also, many grandiose claims were made, but once again no evidence was cited to support those claims.

All of this led me to question Bill Cosby? Did he actually earn a Ph. D., or was it one of those honorary gestures universities give exceptional supporters? I am guessing the latter after reading this book. Also, I question if he actually earned an undergraduate degree or was it one of those affirmative action handouts. In either case, My conclusion for this book is to not waste any time reading it.

[Keith Bussey · Rating 3 out of 5]

At the time I read this book, I was willing to hear Bill Cosby's thoughts on how he feels the downtrodden within the African American community can keep pushing for a better life. I based my interests on the fact he, along with the other cast members of the Cosby Show, played a role in how black Americans are treated and view in this country. What saddens me is his undeniably misogyny in how he drug and rapped so many women. A man who treats other human beings that way has no place in critiquing the behaviors of others. No place. The difficulty here is assessing the legitimacy in what he shares with the tarnishing of the Cosby Show legacy with his abuse of women.

[Sean Liburd · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bill Cosby and Alvin F.Poussaint offers a lot of great advice to the Black community about empowering themselves instead of remaining in a state of victimhood. This book is filled with stories of many who has managed to overcome their circumstances in order to enrich their lives. The one missing ingredient that Bill and Alvin failed to address is the underlying reason why the black underclass exist and why it is so difficult for some to pull themselves out of victim hood.

[Kathleen · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read five pages then put it down. Read five more then go do laundry.

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is my second book that I 19ve read from Dr. Bill Cosby and I must sat, It was a thousand times better than the 1st one that Ive read ( I am what I ate, and I'm frightened!). This particular book reminded me of the speech that he gave at the Brown vs. Board of education 50th anniversary. The book mainly discussed the plight of black men from issues like poverty, bad health, violence, education, and the way we raise our children but failed to offer a viable solution to fix these problems.

[Lori · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book for the African American community or educators. Since I am neither, not much of this book was applicable to me. However, I loved everything that Cosby said and I agree with. However, I didn't finish the book...

[Alleyah Knight]

I think the book is empowering and provides a lot of information into how certain things are carried out. It is also good quality and is a good book to read and learn about the black culture in America.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I bought this book, I didn't realize the target audience is black. But, I read it just the same.

[Arthur · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some silly parts but overall good

[Mark Young · Rating 3 out of 5]

My thoughts on this book are still coalescing.

The main challenge to writing this review is that I am so far removed from the target audience. I am not black, and although I live in bleak financial circumstances in the present I did not grow up in poverty; nor do I have a history of racial prejudices--co-author Bill Cosby is probably the first comedian, maybe the first actor, I admired by name, and I noted recently that the character with whom I identified on Mission Impossible was Greg Morris' Barney, the black engineer. Many of the people I know are on the edge of poverty, relying on various forms of government assistance, although few of them, again, are black. The book is targeted at the problem of generational poverty and the ways in which modern culture and particularly black culture perpetuate it.

It offers what are no doubt good solutions--bringing men back into father positions, getting better educations, starting businesses in impoverished black communities, getting off welfare, getting away from drugs and alcohol and gangs and violence, paying attention to entertainment choices. It is overall an encouraging and positive book with a lot of good ideas and solid support for them. That I see them (coming from the perspective of a well-educated teetotal father on the edge of poverty) as ideas that often fail has more to do with my situation than with their merit. The book is lightly laced with success stories, and it seems an important book that will help a lot of people. The problem with success stories, in my mind, is that they always come from successful people who know what they did but not that what they did has not brought success to everyone else who did the same thing. One need look no further than those occasional interviews with centenarians in which they are asked to what they credit their exceptional longevity--in many cases one has the feeling that they grew so old in spite of the practices they endorse. No one ever interviews dying people to find out what they believe killed them, or why they think those same practices did not keep them alive. The advice of up-from-nothing business tycoons is eagerly sought, but never compared to the advice of financial failures. The solutions offered in this book may be the best ones available, but they are going to disappoint at least some of those who sincerely apply them.

They are also at least sometimes mutually incompatible. It is nearly impossible for anyone today to go to college without going into debt, yet going to college and staying out of debt are, and probably quite reasonably ought to be, two of the major suggestions of the book.

The book addresses a major problem, that of black poverty and its self-perpetuation, and does so intelligently, credibly, and effectively. I am not certain it can reach its audience, though, or to what degree it would make a difference in their lives.

[Fath A · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is written by a black-race author who is sincerely trying to make his people realize the dangerous, troublesome, and the truth reality of his own race. In this book, he wrote tons of advice, suggestions and on going encouragement to improve his race.


Frankly speaking, i'm touched to see how persistent he is to look up to his own race. No matter who you are,you always has responsibility towards you community, your country and your religion.

As i read this book, i got many good values and point to ponder upon. Thanks Bill!

(Not a racism post)

[Amber · Rating 2 out of 5]

I feel as though this is a book of common sense. The audience it is intended for will most likely never read the book. I suppose it brings to attention certain disturbing trends in the African American community, however, it gives very few hard remedies for the problems. Suggestions for stemming gang violence are to love your child, be involved in his/her life, and get them involved in after school activities. Sound advice, but how well it can be applied is a different matter altogether.

[Evelia · Rating 3 out of 5]

A great book that makes you really think about society and life. It was almost too heavy to be read "just for fun", but I would reccommend it for a class.

[Melvin Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

enjoyed seeing this situation through Bill's eyes

[Nanette · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it!

[Winter Sophia Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brutally Honest, Informative Read!

[Pick Rerry]

So lemme get this straight

Rapey McRaperson has a book

called

COME ON PEOPLE

about

not being a VICTIM

This is too much. OJ's "IF I DID IT" (lol) finally has competitiiton

What a world

[Harley Biala · Rating 4 out of 5]

Inspiring. Even though it was written for the black community, I still enjoyed it. It was good.

[✺Zen Orchid ✺ · Rating 5 out of 5]

To Be Done

[Dietrich West-Graham]

Good book made some excellent points.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

An easy read but filled with advice than can benefit anyone if any race.

[Janastasia Whydra · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is a lot of mixed reviews regarding Bill Cosby's and Alvin F. Poussaint's Come On, People: On the Path from Victims to Victors. Some negative reviews include the over-simplistic tone of the book that everything can be solved with good family values. Some positive reviews include raves about the message behind the book that everything can be solved with good family values.

Confused?

After reading this book, I am somewhat torn. I do agree that not everything is going to be simple, but I also do not not think that was the entire message of the book either. Cosby- whose voice appears to be stronger than Poussaint -does acknowledge that society has created a cyclic system that can keep the status quo among the races. However, Cosby also states that as a group of people, each individual can choose not to participate in this cycle and actively fight against the system. Maybe this does sound overly simplified, but it's also the truth and it's called "personal responsibility."

Based on what I read in this book, I would recommend Disintegration: The Splintering of Black America by Eugene Robinson and The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander. Although Robinson and Alexander may not agree with what Cosby and Poussaint has written, Robinson also argues that the "black community" has disintegrated and members of the community should find their way back to each other; and Alexander discusses the impact of low high school graduation rates and high incarceration rates affect the "black community" and well as the individual. I would also recommend At the Dark End of the Street: Black Women, Rape, and Resistance--A New History of the Civil Rights Movement from Rosa Parks to the Rise of Black Power by Danielle L. McGuire because Cosby's and Poussaint's version of the civil rights movement is heavily focused on the male efforts and hardly acknowledges the struggle women went through.

Which leads me to my final thought:

One aspect of this book that I found to be highly frustrating is the way women are discussed in this book. I understand this book was focusing on male youth and making sure to raise good boys into responsible citizens as men, but Cosby and Poussaint had a semi-subtle sexist point of view when it came to girls and women. They thought more attention should be focused on the boys because girls are "naturally" good and well-behaved, instead of understanding little girls are expected by society to behave like little adults and not have a rambunctious or adventurous childhood. Cosby and Poussaint thought women did not fully understand what it meant to have to be "cool" with their emotion like men do, not even bothering to acknowledge that black women are more likely to feel twice as discriminated against for being both "black" and "female," and to lose their "cool" would be twice as detrimental than a black man who is, at least, still a male in a patriarchal society. Finally, Cosby and Possaint believe that black women should start their own businesses because there are not enough men in the community to start families with. Not bothering to acknowledge that women do not have to have children to become productive members of society or even bothering to state women can become entrepreneurs because they are skilled and smart and should share their talents with the world without having to feel pressured that they are only good for a biological function. I will give Cosby and Poussaint credit for acknowledging that society needs to not focus solely on "unwed mothers" anymore, but also on "unwed fathers." Yet, this extra credit is not enough.

[Tony Laplume · Rating 4 out of 5]

What’s truly relevant about Come On, People almost isn’t even the book itself. The book itself provides a lot of useful, familiar concepts. If there’s really any problem with it, it’s a sometimes confrontational tone that doesn’t respect its target audience.

The writers are Alvin Poussaint and Bill Cosby. Yes, that Bill Cosby. And if Cosby commits any sin, here, it’s that he seems to have completely forgotten his gift of communication. Which is storytelling. There are few storytellers of the past fifty years more gifted than Bill Cosby. But he doesn’t tell stories in Come On, People. He begins the book trying to explain why he’s “suddenly a black man.” By that he means that he never made a point to address the black community’s struggles. He represented, in his long prime, what the Civil Rights Movement was meant to accomplish, which was, at the time, radical acceptance into the mainstream of American society.

Of course, Bill Cosby, today, is a pariah. He’s being wiped clear from the pages of history. Many of us are glad to see this happen. Some of us are troubled.

Some of us wonder if, to borrow a phrase from Al Gore, if Bill Cosby was socially assassinated because of an inconvenient truth, because of, well, this book, because he rejected the idea of victimhood that if anything exponentially increased in the decade after he wrote it. If nothing else, this is a book that repudiates victimhood. And as a result, Bill Cosby himself was repudiated.

There’s such a thing as acceptable sacrifices. The things for which Bill Cosby was prosecuted for were talked about for decades. He had reached a point in life where his continued involvement in public affairs was no longer relevant. And he had decided to stake his reputation on the very thing that was least useful to the proponents of victimhood, which is to say, personal, and communal, responsibility.

So this book still exists. You can still read it, and decide for yourself if its ideas were useful, however flawed in written execution. I got my copy recently. I think it’s now print-on-demand, but it’s still available. And you can continue to view Bill Cosby himself however you like, but these are ideas that transcend him, and still have great potential, for radical change.

[drowningmermaid · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've never read a book that had quite this book's problem. This book's problem is-- that it's a book.

What it is, is a sermon (complete with the rolling, repetitive AA preaching style) directed at desperately poor black communities. The trouble with THAT is, pimps and drug dealers typically do not take time to read. Hardly anyone does.

Disappointment #1: False advertising. I didn't see anything on the cover that would indicate what this book really is. It is not a feel-good, pay-it-forward type book of encouragement. It is specifically directed to African Americans (or their caregivers) and is not especially relevant or targeted to any other nationality.

#2: I was really hoping to hear more from him that was personal. His struggles, his hopes... his feelings about the death of his son. This book touches on none of those things.

#3: Some of his word choice, and the battles that he picks, are self-defeating. Calling young black people "young folks" and harping for chapters on end about the base depravity of gansta rap only serves to make him sound grandfatherly and, sadly, irrelevant.

#4 Along those same lines, Cosby assumes a value system that no longer exists. Most obviously, he says that the black culture must be a two-parent culture, and that any boy who fathers a child is obligated to provide for and guide that child. Alas, he entirely fails to justify this mandate with any facts or personal testimonies. He works from the assumption that parenting is an innate good, but, sadly perhaps, this is not the common feeling among my generation.

In all, the work seemed somewhat simplistic, and a throwback to "simpler days." Not very profound, or helpful.

[Sherrell · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book revealed some interesting statistics. For instance:
In some cities, black males drop out rates are
more than 50%.....Say what?

32% of black men born today will go to prison at
some point in their lifetime.

More than half of the 16,000 homicides each year
are committed by black men.

Surely Dr. Cosby and Alvin F. Pouissaint point out the way our poorer communities have gone down the wrong path since the Civil Rights movement, but they also give detailed ideas and techniques on how to uplift this demographic.

They encourage positive reinforcement, increased focus on education, community parenting, and economic independence to reverse the downward spiral of our poorer African American communities.

Both authors exude caring and sincerity throughout the book. You can tell they are personally affected by the plight of African Americans, it is almost as if they are pleading with their intended audience to wake-up and take action in their communities.

Nevertheless, I found the book repetitive, with the authors reinterating the same key principles.

This book seems primarily focused on spelling out parenting techniques and practices.

[Adrienne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this book! Working in the nonprofit arena for a few years, I found that the issues discussed here are not just in the African American communities, but in the White and Hispanic communites also that I heard from in Provo, Utah. As an upcoming new mother, I want to teach my child how to be a contributing member of society who realizes that circumstances do not define us. We all have moral agency to make choices and change what we want to about our lives; it is no one else's main responsibility but our own. As I read, I kept wanting to jump up and shout "Amen" to everything the authors said. It's bold, and not many are willing to speak so boldly anymore. It was eye-opening and very encouraging to me that I can make a difference in my own life and the lives of my children.

[Sharon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I understand that Dr. Cosby has gotten some 'grief" from the African-American community for his frankness in this book.

Well, I really cannot see why. This is not just a manifesto about rearing black youth, but about bringing up young people to be responsible, law-abiding citizens in the face of media (music, films, etc.) that glorify violence and misogyny.

Dr. Cosby's premises about personal responsibility and the importance of making good choices should be taught to all parents, and enforced with all young people. I think we would find the world a much better place if kids are taught the importance of a first job -- yes, even flipping burgers, which some teens today consider "beneath them" despite having no work experience.

This book holds up the mirror of reality and I guess some people do not like what they see. Perhaps they should give the book another read?

[Mike Kowalczyk · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was OK in my opinion. I was anticipating it to focus on the issues in the black youth community and their lack of progress and motivation in changing their unfortunate situations (his words, not mine). In short, I was expecting more of a rebuke because that is the way Bill Cosby portrayed the book in his promotional speeches. Nevertheless, it was an interesting book and the authors made many good points and gave a lot of good advice that should be heeded by every community.
I give it three stars because they handled it as more of a parenting book than an anthropological or sociological account (which is what I was anticipating) and the points seemed to become very repetitive as I approached the final chapters.

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading this book. Cosby and Poussaint make a number of strong points for black communities taking responsibility and not looking for others to help them succeed in life. Forgetting about race, Come On People touches on a number of important issues, such as the importance of family, education, and not blaming others for your whatever situation you are in. The authors most significant theme is for people to stop being victims and take control of their own destiny, as individuals, families, and communities. My only problem with the book is that I started to feel like I was reading the same things over and over again as I moved through the book. Otherwise I found this to be a fascinated book and it made me an even bigger Cosby fan than I already was.