Bill Cosby talks 'No-groes,' black men raising kids

Bill Cosby opened up about some of the issues that are affecting the black community in America and gave input on how to solve them in an interview with CNN anchor Don Lemon on Saturday.

When asked to reflect on the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington and what kind of African American leaders the country needs now, Cosby pointed to graduates and women.

“I think it has to come from the universities,” he said. "I think, women, strongly because when you see 70 percent, in research, that says they are the leaders of the household, what we need is for people to realize I want to raise my kid. I want to go back and get my three kids. I want to take on that responsibility. I want to love my children.”

The 76-year-old actor added that he'd also like to see more people raising their children.

"One of the great pictures that reaches me, because it is special is to go to, the Essence fair and walking around to see a black male with his child on his shoulder. That means something," he explained.

Cosby added that he'd like to see more people going to college, adding that community college is always there for those who cannot afford going to a prestigious school. "Okay, you backed up and didn’t do well," he said. "You quit school but now you find you need that high school credential. Go to the community college.”

"At age 19 and a half, I knew I didn’t want to do certain things," the actor recalled. "It is not what they weren’t doing to me, it’s what I wasn’t doing. It’s a very simple thing.”

Cosby also noted that there is a flaw in the way juvenile inmates are treated as he sees a rising trend on medicating them versus counseling them while they're doing time.

“If you drug these people, and then you release them, and there’s no prescription for them to get to take to do the same thing, and they go back to the same place,” he said, adding “Now, about this time, this is when you hear the no-groes jump up and say ‘Why don’t you talk about the good things?’”

“Because the good things happen to be taking care of themselves pretty well,” he answered. “We are trying to help those geniuses, those not geniuses, people who deserve, because they are human beings on this earth, in the United States of America, we are trying to get them in a position so they will understand and want to.”

Asked why it is so hard for people to understand that, Cosby explained that they probably feel embarrassed and went on to tell a story about a conversation he once had with Sammy Davis Jr.

“We were in playing in a routine, and I told him I knew something. He said no you don’t. I said yes, I do. I said it. He said no, that’s not the way it goes. I said the same thing louder. He said, ‘Bill, saying it loud don’t make it right.’”

“And so, every loud voice you hear yelling about something,” he explained, “and saying ‘Well you just -- you lost us. You became a millionaire,’ the reason why I’m giving you this information is because I was living in the projects. I was not taking care of myself in terms of managing my education, and once the door opened and I saw quote, unquote, the light, I started to become very successful.”