Hope on 2 fronts after conviction of Cosby

“Pull your pants up black people, I was on TV in the ’80s,” Buress said, mocking Cosby’s practice of scolding black youth for passing up valuable opportunities because they were not behaving properly.

“Yeah, but you rape women, Bill Cosby,” said Buress, stirring a mix of laughter with gasps of surprise. “So turn the crazy down a couple notches.”

The episode might have ended there except for the video caught by that audience member.

The video marked a tipping point in the national Cosby conversation. Within days, national media were giving new respect to dozens of women who were coming forward with more stories of Cosby assaulting them sexually.

But statutes of limitation made most of the charges too old to be prosecuted. Then Andrea Constand, an employee at Temple University, charged that Cosby had drugged and sexually assaulted her in 2004. That trial ended in a hung jury last year.

But a few months later came another show-business-related event that has turned the tide for Cosby and numerous other famous and powerful men facing similar accusations: the outing of Harvey Weinstein as a serial sexual predator, a scandal that has borne fruit in the #MeToo movement.

It is hard to say how much the changed atmosphere had to do with Cosby’s conviction on three counts of aggravated indecent assault. But there can be little doubt that complaints of sexual misconduct are no longer dismissed as casually as they used to be.

Cosby probably will appeal his conviction. But his conviction marks a breakthrough, not only for the victims but also for the rest of us who are shocked and disappointed to see the parade of prominent men who have lost their jobs over charges that used to be taken too lightly.

Now reruns of “The Cosby Show” are disappearing from cable channels. Harder to erase, I hope, will be two national conversations Cosby has helped to ignite, wittingly or unwittingly, about helping the poor to fight poverty and helping the victims of sexual predators to find justice.