Mike, I doubt very much that you've grown up under the ongoing legacy of enslavement and subjugation, therefore you don't see any reason to think of yourself as a member of a separate sub-group within this country. Race as a classification is a silly social construct, but nevertheless it's still socially relevent to any discussion of American culture, given our disgraceful history of racism. It will remain relevent as long as black and brown skinned Americans continue to lag behind all the pertinent social, income and incarceration indicators. Until there's a level playing field for all Americans to achieve their highest level of inate growth and prosperity, we'll be required to hold onto these arcane racial and ethnic classifications.

The fabulously wealthy Cosby should be decrying the existence and prevelence of widespread poverty and ignorance in America, rather than singling out one race as his negative exemplar. Poverty and ignorance are not the exclusive provenance of one race, rather it is a geographically and racially diverse phenomena representing America's dirty little secret. And, disturbingly, I see no end to the trend toward expanding the negative consequences of this phenomena either, Cosby's vocal handwringing notwithstanding.