BILL COSBY ... IS ... DR. HUXTABLE

Blog by  +Wanda Dorn      #wandascafe

BILL COSBY... IS ... DR. HUXTABLE

Today, I read yet another article about Mr. Cosby and three other women covered by Naturally Moi Magazine, a good magazine, but I hope it's the last I see anywhere of such articles.

My concern is the effect this media circus has and will have on women and men who are true victims of the quid pro quo power crime of " Sexual Harassment".

Until Gloria Allred and the women who have accused him prove otherwise, Bill Cosby "will" remain innocent, and on my list as one of several entertainers whom Blacks should applaud around the world, especially those in the entertainment industry.  If it were not for the Huxtables and A Different World, we would still be maids, cooks and sprinkled-in color on the screen.  His work paved the way for Scandal, Murder 101, Blackish, and so many others.

When the Cosby show began, a White friend, like a best friend, had been to my home, and had visited my Black friends whose homes were even larger than my newly constructed large home was - some hanging off cliffs; Black friends with university degrees, medical degrees, etc., yet she said "The Cosby show, that's a White show".  Among other - "let me educate you" - things I said to her, "Do my friends act any different that the Huxtables"?  That's why his work is so important ... he changed the face of television as well as the image of the Black family and the Black community at large.

I stole this photo from Mr. Cosby's
Wikipedia page - hope he doesn't mind
because it's a beautiful masterpiece

There was a time the media shielded Hollywood and government insiders; fortunately that time has passed.  However, since many media and public members are acting as judge and jury, and treating this as a Salem Witch trial akin to mass hysteria at first,  I simply ask that we hold ourselves to the same standards a Judge would require of jurors in a court of law.  

Having spent many years as an officer of the court, I believe I can say with certainty that the court operates on facts, not opinions nor emotions.  Witnesses have to be sworn in under penalty of perjury.  Perhaps that's why the women are speaking to the media and not in a court of law under oath to tell the truth ... unless you just want to believe unsubstantiated claims.  

The women state they didn't file charges for fear of their careers.  From where I can see, none had careers of any great substance back then, and none has one now, so what did they have to loose? It is difficult for me to believe not one of these women had the backbone to go to the police?

Statute of limitations has passed?  Why not file a civil suit?  Gloria Allred, where are the civil cases so the women can have their day in court?  Almost anything can constitute a Cause of Action for a civil suit.  It's a no-brainer. 

I have been in and around entertainment, the legal system, education, and trained models for many years. We've all heard of the casting couch, or "let me get next to him so he can help me with my career" game.  Why would a teenager allegedly be alone with him without parents at Playboy?  I worked at Playboy in Chicago, and teenagers were not allowed without their parents, but I wasn't there ... Why would a woman go to his hotel room, his dressing room, or visit a married man's wife's home alone with him ...  these are not the places where auditions are held.  

"Has anyone checked the bank accounts of the women lately", paraphrasing someone in an article I read somewhere? One of the women allegedly owes ten thousand dollars in back taxes. 

I hold in high regard those of his colleagues who have the professional etiquette to refrain from playing judge and jury, and as one aptly said that he won't "Kick a man when he's down".  Some, like comedian Kenan Thompson, has no problem jumping on the negativity bandwagon.  Samuel Jackson said, "Where there's smoke, there's fire".  In court, a defendant is not tried based on smoke, fire, nor prior guilty conduct.  Its based on sworn-in witnesses and substantive evidence pertaining to that, and only that case currently before the court.  Mr. Thompson and Mr. Jackson may find themselves in the same or similar predicament one day. 

How many times have Black men in particular, in positions of power, been slandered or falsely accused where many have rushed to judgment, to be proven wrong later. 

Those with opinions, what you say could cause you to be subpoenaed, as a witness should one of the cases be brought to trial.   If the women have witnesses to their accusations, and those witnesses have not reported "the crime", are they are guilty of aiding and abetting before and/or after the fact, and could they be prosecuted?

Wanda on dais with Dr. Alvin Poussaint
 consultant to the Bill Cosby Show
Judge Steve Stevens standing

I appeared as a guest on Mr. Cosby's show You Bet Your Life, and visited his home for a political event, I'm so honored to have been in the presence of someone who has done so much for so many.

I cannot say whether or not any of the women's accusations are valid, but until I hear sworn testimony, I will hold myself to court and legal standards, which are... "Not guilty until proven guilty". 

Until then, and no matter how it turns out, Bill Cosby is still 
the Black screen-image-preception-changer Dr. Huxtable!

3/20/15