Dyson has recently entered into public controversy over statements made by African-American comedian-actor-philanthropist Bill Cosby in a 2004 speech. Cosby, considered by many a role model and patriarch in the African-American community, drew criticism from Dyson for stating that poor urban blacks add to the long-standing social and economic ills that afflict them. Cosby also stated that one of the reasons for the persistence of these ills is due to poor urban blacks' failure to take responsibility for the care of their families and communities. Cosby went on to state that poor urban blacks sometimes exacerbate the problem by depending on society for sustenance and by blaming their difficulties on racism and racially biased social institutions. Dyson stated that Cosby's criticism is an example of Dyson's theory of abuse and criticism by what he calls the "Afristocracy"—or well-to-do blacks (which both Cosby and Dyson are)—upon the "Ghettocracy" or poor urban blacks.^{[citation needed]}

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Published works

• Race Rules: Navigating the Color Line, Reading, Massachusetts: Addison Wesley, 1996. | ISBN 0-201-91186-8
• I May Not Get There with You: The True Martin Luther King, Jr., New York: Free Press, 2000. | ISBN 0-684-86776-1
• Holler if You Hear Me: Searching for Tupac Shakur, New York: Basic Civitas Books, 2002 | ISBN 0-465-01756-8
• Open Mike: Reflections on Philosophy, Race, Sex, Culture and Religion, New York: Basic Civitas Books, 2002. | ISBN 0-465-01765-7
• Why I Love Black Women, New York: Perseus Books Group, 2002. | ISBN 0-465-01763-0
• The Michael Eric Dyson Reader, New York: Basic Civitas Books, 2002. | ISBN 0-465-01771-1
• Is Bill Cosby Right?: Or Has the Black Middle Class Lost Its Minds?, New York: Basic Civitas Books, 2005. | ISBN 0-465-01719-3
• Pride, New York: Oxford University Press, 2006. | ISBN 0-19-516092-4
• Come Hell or High Water: Hurricane Katrina and the Color of Disaster, New York: Perseus Books Group, 2006. | ISBN 0-465-01761-4
• Know What I Mean?: Reflections on Hip Hop, New York: Perseus Books Group, 2007. 407-410
• April 4, 1968: Martin Luther King's Death and How it Changed America, New York: Basic Civitas Books, 2008. | ISBN 0-465-00212-9

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References

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (May 2007)

• Nishikawa, Kinohi. "Michael Eric Dyson." The Greenwood Encyclopedia of African American Literature. Ed. Hans Ostrom and J. David Macey, Jr. 5 vols. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2005.

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External links

• http://www.michaelericdyson.com/knowwhatimean/ Know What I Mean? at Dyson's official website

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