The New York Times > Opinion > Guest Columnist: Breaking the Silence: "Why has it been so difficult for black leaders to say such things in public, without being pilloried for 'blaming the victim'? Why the huge flap over Bill Cosby's insistence that black teenagers do their homework, stay in school, master standard English and stop having babies? Any black person who frequents a barbershop or beauty parlor in the inner city knows that Mr. Cosby was only echoing sentiments widely shared in the black community."