Hendricks 1

Elizabeth Hendricks
Professor Bevill
ENGL 1302-02
5 December 2015
For a Different Future
In an essay for the anniversary of the board of education, Bill Cosby provides a speech to
an audience that was most likely not expecting the argument he presented. Cosby began his
speech with statistics of African American drop out rates and pregnancies. He continued with
slang and future scenarios for the African American race. By presenting the speech in a tone the
audience can relate to, Bill Cosby gives a lecture to urge the parenting and lifestyles of the black
community to positively change.
Bill Cosby claims in his speech that there is a lack of parenting in todays generation.
He agrees that typical African American stereotypes are being lived up to. By using scenarios
that trigger the emotions of the audience over family and relationships throughout his argument,
he is able to communicate and persuade his issue to his assuming audience of African Americans.
His overall argument is to change the future of parenting and lifestyles of the next generations to
prevent drop out rates, single mom pregnancy rates and more from continuing at their current
growing rate. He appeals to these problems by being straightforward with his information,
statistics, and also by speaking to the audience as a member of it himself. This is a smart
approach to bond with the audience and make them feel like one as whole.
Bill Cosby is an African American actor that is popularly known nationwide. He
presented his argument at the NAACP on the 50th Anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education

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in front of an audience. In his argument, Cosby uses religion to target his audience on the issue
he sees developing even more deeply. He claims The church is only open on Sunday. And you
cant keep asking Jesus to ask doing things for you. You cant keep asking that God will find a
way. God is tired of you. God was there when they won all those cases -- fifty in a row. Thats
where God was because these people were doing something. And God said, Im going to find a
way. I wasnt there when God said it -- Im making this up. But it sounds like what God would
do. (1) Everything he says is arranged as a lecture, kind of like a father yelling at his children.
He continues this down to Earth and relatable approach through his entire speech. This is a smart
decision when it comes to grasping and keeping the audiences attention. Since his overall
argument is based on the neglect of parenting such as what he says in this quote, It cant speak
English. It doesnt want to speak English. I cant even talk the way these people talk: Why you
aint where you is go ra? (2) I dont know who these people are. And I blamed the kid until I
heard the mother talk. Then I heard the father talk. This is all in the house. The arrangement can
be viewed more as a teacher in a parent teacher conference, but the audience is the student. No
parent seems to be present. Cosby not only uses examples of scenarios in his speech, but he also
creates a scenario using the audience to create his argument into an eye opening lesson.
Cosbys style uses repetition. He begins five paragraphs with the phrase Ladies and
gentlemen. Also he repeats the statistics of the 50% drop out rate of African Americans. He
repeats that single motherhood is wrong and that a man should not walk out. He also reuses the
information over the lack of parenting is the reason for these issues. Also, Crosby uses words
such as we, I, you, you are, I have, and I will, (1, 2, 3, 4) which develops a community feeling
that forms with the audience. Readers and listeners feel involved in the argument.

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Throughout his speech, Cosby uses emotions to connect with the audience. His technique
of using fallacies such as slippery slope. He uses many scenarios during his speech claiming
since the men are leaving when a woman is pregnant then the child of that woman will do the
same to another, then it will continue to worsen throughout the years. Another example being, for
the few of the African Americans who have dropped out in the past, now a greater portion of the
population is going to drop out as well. He uses these as a logical scare tactic that concludes to a
prediction of the black communities future.
Bill Cosby concludes his point of argument by rewording his previous points into
different words. Instead of claiming No longer is a boy considered an embarrassment if he tries
to run away from being the father of the unmarried child, (1) like he did in the second
paragraph, instead he develops his idea in a more alarming way. He says Youre raising
pimps, (4) in his closing paragraph. This strategy of concluding the speech with straightforward
comments and opinions leaves the initial audience with a heavy choice of lifestyle changes on
their shoulders. By organizing his speech so that the ending was strong and stern, Cosby left no
room for a settlement. Change was the only option given. Cosby leaves an image of what he and
now many others see throughout this generations lifestyle and he ends his argument with such a
messy and scary image that people feel the change begin immediately.

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Work Cited
Cosby, Bill. Address at the NAACP' on the 50th Anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education.
AmericanRhetoric.com. PDF.