If you’re a member of Generation X – admittedly, a rather nebulous distinction – you’re bound to remember Denver native Joseph C. Phillips.
Phillips played the buttoned-down Martin Kendall, husband of Denise Huxtable (Lisa Bonet), on “The Cosby Show.” He’s piled on countless roles since and is currently featured in Fox’s “Vanished.”
Phillips, when he’s not acting, has emerged as one of the most articulate voices of dissent in the African-American community. And after reading his new book, “He Talk Like a White Boy: Reflections on Faith, Family, Politics and Authenticity,” I understand why.
He was born and raised in Denver; his father was a noted pediatrician in town, and his mom a fifth-grade teacher. The family lived in Park Hill and then in southeast Denver, where, “if we weren’t the first black family in the neighborhood, we were the second.” He graduated from George Washington High School in 1979.
“He Talk Like a White Boy,” however, begins at Place Junior High School, where, as a precocious overachiever, Phillips first realizes the world is more complicated than he first thought.
“I don’t remember what the class discussion was about, but after an undoubtedly brilliant and insightful observation on my part,” Phillips writes, “a black girl from across the room raised her hand and announced to the class, ‘He talk like a white boy!”‘
That moment, he claims, was not only the beginning of his junior high school career, it was the beginning of his life.
“Every moment after that was different from the moments before,” he tells me. “I had no idea what she was talking about. I had never been called an Uncle Tom before that time. I had always been encouraged to raise my hand and answer questions. After that, I discovered that I was ‘acting white.”‘
With a laugh, Phillips explains that his years at Place were the some of the “most miserable” in his life. As a young student, he was not only ridiculed by other black kids, he was ignored by the white kids – “kids I had been in Cub Scouts with and played Little League ball with.”
He found himself stuck in the middle.
After graduating from high school, Phillips attended a California college, then he was off to New York University’s theater program. His independent thinking on political issues developed slowly. At first, he ran with the “rampant collegiate views” of the time – “Mainly, I hated Ronald Reagan” – though, in the quiet moments by himself, he asked, “What do I really believe in?”
Soon he realized the “founding principles” were a pretty good guide. For this he’s been called a “black conservative” – a label around which he tends to place skeptical quotation marks.
“There is plenty of diversity of opinion and thought in the black community. The question: Is there diversity of what is published, who is interviewed, or who does the talking?” Phillips explains. “And for a long time there has not been that diversity. There has been one voice. It’s an exciting time now because that is changing.”
And fresh, diverse voices are emerging in the African-American community, according to Phillips. Better yet, people are listening. “I count it as a real progress that I was a commentator on Tavis Smiley’s radio program for 3 1/2 years,” he says. “One of the things I’m most proud of is that Tavis Smiley – Tavis Smiley of all people – wrote the forward to my book.”
Phillips believes he’s often called conservative because he refuses to view racism as the No. 1 issue in black life – to view life itself through “race-colored glasses.”
Moreover, Phillips isn’t crazy about the idea of being branded with labels.
“They prevent us from having a conversation. Once we move past the labels, we speak to each other,” he says. “We speak about things that are important: our love of family, the importance of faith, our love of this great country. These are things that bind us together.”
Phillips will be signing books at the Borders across from Park Meadows at 6 tonight.
David Harsanyi’s column appears Monday and Thursday. He can be reached at 303-954-1255 or dharsanyi@denverpost.com.
