The occasion for this interview is the opening of her new boutique PB & Caviar, in New York's chic Tribeca neighborhood. It is the oddest public relations, marketing tactic I have ever witnessed.
Here's what she has to say:
"I always went to private schools - Bank Street elementary, Columbia Prep - so I was surrounded by people like me. Not so much African-American, but privileged. I don't really have a connection to other people who didn't have my lifestyle. But my dad is very into helping people from his own community in Philadelphia."What the hell???
Word for Word - Aug. 15
"I always went to private schools - Bank Street elementary, Columbia Prep - so I was surrounded by people like me. Not so much African-American, but privileged. I don't really have a connection to other people who didn't have my lifestyle. But my dad is very into helping people from his own community in Philadelphia." -- Bill Cosby's daughter Evin tells Media Take Out.
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"It was so sad to hear about Isaac Hayes. So musically advanced and timeless in his compositions, he was loved and appreciated by so many. He was an enduring symbol of the struggle of the African American man and was a shining example of soul at its best. God bless ... God bless and blessed Isaac Hayes." -- Aretha Franklin
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"I've been pregnant three times by way of bloggers. I've never been pregnant in my life. (And) anything that happens in my personal life is personal. I never actually put anything out there. Nobody's really known who I've dated." -- R&B Singer Cassie tells Complex magazine about rumors, insisting her and P. Diddy are not an item.
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"I'm changing my name because Master. P is who I used to be. I call it my childhood, and P. Miller marks my manhood ... People grow mentally and spiritually through life experiences." -- Percy Miller (aka Master P.)
"I'm doing very well. I feel real good... I thank the staff at 'Elvis Presley' and many, many thanks to my many well-wishers. It's great to know people care about you." -- Morgan Freeman
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"I am not homophobic. I'm not a gay basher. I didn't say anything that was negative, derogatory or malicious. I would never do a commercial if I thought it was going to offend anyone." -- Mr. T responding to allegations that a UK Snickers bar commercial he shot was homophobic.
"I think we have an outstanding candidate. We have the burden now to fully register and vote. There are still maybe 6 to 8 million Blacks unregistered who should not miss this hour, this opportunity. Now that we have a who, let's focus on the what." -- Rev. Jesse Jackson tells Essence magazine.
"Who could have sex the longest! I think that's an event I can do well in. And probably who could stay up the longest." -- P. Diddy says joking about his deal Olympic event.
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"This is not 1968 and the invasion of Czechoslovakia where Russia can threaten its neighbors, occupy a capital, overthrow a government and get away with it. Things have changed." -- Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on the Georgia-Russia conflict.
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And she doesn't stop there:
My own people used to say to me, 'You speak like a white woman,'" said the youngest daughter of Bill and Camille Cosby at her chic new boutique, PB & Caviar, in Tribeca.And that's her choice.
What does that even mean, anyway? Everyone has their way of speaking and living their life. No one should be judging and assuming that because I'm black, I have to speak in that hip-hop way. That's something I prefer not to do.
But it galls me that certain black people drone on and on about how some black folks teased them in school about "talking white." It happened to me. Frankly, I was repeatedly beaten in grade school because of it. But, I was also called a "n*gg*r" and had my nose broken by a white racist when I was nine. So what? Should I not be able to "relate" to black or white people because of some incidents decades ago? What a ridiculous idea.
How sad it is that Bill Cosby who has spent a lifetime on the forefront of Civil Rights battles has raised a daughter so completely out of touch with the full dynamic of the American "peoplescape." And she's proud of it!
1. I also went to private schools, made up predominantly of whites, and lived in mostly white neighborhoods, etc... but it was for those reasons that I craved the familiarity of people who looked like me, not the other way around, as it appears to be in her case. My experiences made me want to get to know *my* people - black people - instead of shun them. I won't be making any trips to her store any time soon.
THE OBENSON REPORT at 5:39PM on Aug 14th 2008