Cosby: It's time to step up

ATLANTA, June 28 (UPI) -- Comedian Bill Cosby turns serious when it comes to discussing what's wrong with American society and how to fix it.

With young people increasingly turning to knives, guns and drugs, it's time for adults to stand up and do something, Cosby said Wednesday in an interview on CNN. And it's not just young, African-American males who need help, he said, it's poor "invisible white people" as well.

Cosby, who helped lead a consciousness-raising rally in Philadelphia this month, said people can't just throw up their hands and say "it's God's will" or think "that's just the way things are" or believe some people deserve to be punished.

He challenged people to go into the schools and neighborhoods to work with young people to help them find a better way to be a part of society.

"We need messengers -- people to talk more, to knock on doors and get things going," he told CNN. "We need honest, hardworking people to say 'I believe in the American people.'"