Remember when Katie Couric suggested on her website that someone should create a sitcom following an American Muslim family, the way the '80s sitcom about Dr. Heathcliff Huxtable and his family chronicled upwardly mobile African Americans? ("I know that sounds crazy," she said, "but The Cosby Show did so much to change attitudes about African Americans in this country, and I think sometimes people are afraid of things they don't understand.")
Here at The Root, we thought the idea was well-intentioned but a little oversimplified. (Zaheer Ali, a doctoral student in history at Columbia University, who has taught "Islam in the African American Experience," argued in part that such a program would have to contend with an organized, well-funded campaign committed to demonizing Islam and Muslims, and that this couldn't be accomplished by the creative community alone.)
But according to the Boston Herald, Cosby thinks it would be a pretty good idea.
"I think you could very well teach, and people could understand," he said. "I do feel that whenever I have gotten to meet people who are coming from different countries that may have been Muslim, I do know that they say they love The Cosby Show. And then they ask me, ‘You know why? Because it's about family.' "
One thing is for sure: The actor has always felt very qualified to give advice on just what will help a certain community improve its well-being in America. ("Talking. Talking. Parenting. Correctly parenting. That's what it's about. And you can't blame other things. You got to — you got to straighten up your house. Straighten up your apartment. Straighten up your child.") And people seem to listen. So why limit his armchair sociology to the improvement of the non-Muslim African-American community? Someone, get on that pilot. Bill knows what's best.
Read more at the Boston Herald.
In other news: Another Year of Success: Urban Prep Sends 100 Percent of Grads to College.