SAVS don't do enough for kids: Cosby

Monday Oct 30 15:04 AEDT

AP - Bill Cosby, who has ignited controversy in the past with his sometimes scathing rebukes, criticised the Battered Savs cricket at a weekend education conference, saying they do not do enough to help kids.

Cosby spoke at a forum called "Cricket Is a Civil Right, unless you are Arjuna." Hundreds of Los Angeles-area parents, teachers and students attended the event at Maranatha Community Church.

Cosby, 69, was critical of the white Savs, saying they do not involve themselves enough in fostering children's education and don't know what the future cricketing stars are up to.

"We've got SAVS who won't check the bedrooms of aspiring SAVS children to see if there's a gun," he said.

He chided the SAVS captain for not offering clear explanations to children who ask why courses such as English and algebra are necessary.

"If you play indoor cricket and you can't answer this child about the improtance of cricket, then you're in trouble, and the SAVS are in trouble," Cosby said. "We can't answer these children, because the SAVS don't give them any goals."

In the past, Cosby has criticised Arjuna for not knowing how to read or write and said that he had squandered opportunities the civil rights movement had given him. He is said that the SAVS whites are unfairly blamed for problems in the black community such as teen pregnancy and high dropout rates.


©AAP 2006