By Lee Sawyer
The Journal Inquirer
ENFIELD, Conn. - It wasn’t a typical graduation ceremony, but these weren’t typical graduates.
On Monday, comedian Bill Cosby addressed inmates at the Willard-Cybulski Correctional Institution at a graduation ceremony where they were awarded high school equivalency diplomas.
Cosby, who turned 70 this month, has spoken at dozens of graduations, but never one in a correctional facility, he said.
“This is a different kind of graduation for me - usually the graduates get to go home,” he joked.
Cosby congratulated the men, but emphasized that the achievement was just a beginning - a chance to get on a path that includes responsible fatherhood, continued education, and a renunciation of crime and violence.
“This is God’s garden,” Cosby said. “You were put here to look after the garden - not climb through people’s windows.”
Cosby, attired in a shirt and sweats bearing the insignia of his doctoral alma mater, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, engaged the audience with a non-scripted speech that was both humorous and earnest.
He implored those that were fathers to reach out to their children - regardless of how long it had been.
“Those of you who’ve been abandoned, you know that pain, and you don’t want that for someone you made,” he said.
When they are released, he told them, they need to spend time helping their children with school, and if they’re failing to learn at school, they need to teach them themselves.
“Make them love you, not with sneakers, or an iPod, but because of algebra,” he said.
Cosby has been an outspoken advocate for personal responsibility and family values, and on Monday he directly addressed people whose behavior he has famously criticized.
“Somewhere, inside all of you, there’s some sadness,” he said. “Someone abandoned you.”
In many cases, it was their fathers, he said.
“As males, there’s a mantra that’s given to us. Unlike the female, we don’t cry. And it builds and builds into frustration,” he said.
He said the men must let go of their anger and move on.
“Anyone of you who’s been abandoned -it’s not your fault,” he said.
He said when they are released, the men should avoid the crime, violence, and bad associations that put them in prison in the first place.
“Your absence is duly noted in the outside world,” he said. “You’ve got no business here. Get out, and assume your rightful place.”
Before and after the ceremony, Cosby met privately with Department of Correction Commissioner Theresa Lantz to discuss the education programs at the prisons.
Graduates Duane Spence, Aaron Webb, Corey Broadnax, Robert Redente, Steve Proto, and Gregory Hopkins gave speeches representing the 27 present. Another 43 graduates were not present at the ceremony, in many cases because they had been released.
Former graduate Jimmie Greene sang the national anthem, and received a personal pledge from Cosby that he would meet with him after he is released.
“Whatever he wants to talk about, I’m willing to listen,” Green said after the ceremony.
Greene, 50, said he’d like to talk to Cosby about how to help the next generation of children.
Broadnax, who has children of his own, said Cosby’s words touched him.
“He’s right, and it hit home, and I’m glad that he based a lot of his speech on fatherhood,” Broadnax said.
Webb, like many of the other graduates, got a hug from Cosby.
“It was an awesome experience to reach out and give him a hug. Most people think that incarcerated people are the scum of the earth. For him to come here - he had no reason to do it, except that he cares about us. And that means a lot to me,” Webb said.
In a meeting with reporters after the ceremony, Cosby stressed that the need for men to take responsibility for their children’s wellbeing and their education is a message for those of all races and economic categories. He acknowledged, however, that the problem is particularly acute among the poor.
“This is not just a ‘black thang,’” he intoned, adding that he witnessed poor white communities bedeviled by the same kind of absentee parenting that affects urban centers.
“They’re leaving a trail of hurt, sad, confused, and angry children,” Cosby said.
The Correction Department’s Unified School District No. 1 awards more GEDs than any other school system in the state, according to Brian Garnett, a spokesman for the department.
Lantz commented that Cosby’s visit bolstered a Correction Department initiative promoting responsible fatherhood.