When Bill Cosby criticized blacks for not making use of the opportunities afforded by the Brown decision, some accused him of airing dirty laundry in public.

* When Bill Cosby criticized blacks for not making use of the opportunities afforded by the Brown decision, some accused him of airing dirty laundry in public. Cosby returned to his theme at a Rainbow/PUSH Coalition meeting early in July. "Let me tell you something: Your dirty laundry gets out of school at 2:30 every day, it's cursing and calling each other 'niggers' as they're walking up and down the street. They think they're hip. They can't write. They're laughing and giggling, and they're going nowhere." Aclass of people is not likely to be redeemed by one man's exhortations, no matter how admirable. Good behavior is the product of good habits, and the good habits of individuals are encouraged by the good behavior of their peers and betters. Other black leaders have to make the case; they should stop wasting time and energy making the bad case of eternal victimization; and American society as a whole has to stop colluding with mischief-makers.