Thumbs Down For Tavis & His Crew
Last night I watched Tavis Smiley’s “We Count: The Black Agenda is the American Agenda” on CSPAN2 and I can say I was not impressed. First of all I can tell you that I could have predicted the outcome before even watching. There was the usual “esteemed” panel. There were some valid points raised. There was an abundance of that good old fiery rhetoric which seems to be par for the course for a Tavis Smiley production. The only difference this time was a significant portion of the over 4 hour long program was spent doing some serious Barack Obama bashing. It was damn near amazing. A question or issue would be posed and Tavis Smiley would interject with the statement “If Barrack Obama were here right now he would say ___________” and the majority of the panelists would respond to why Obama’s predicted response would be incorrect. Again, it was amazing how long this went on. Now before I go any further let me state this. While I do take issue with the fact that so many Black people, particularly Black men were publicly disparaging Obama on television; that is not my biggest grievance. I would like to note that when I went to Tavis’ State of Black America in 2005 the panel did not critique George Bush so harshly. The forum was not dedicated to what George Bush was not doing. His actions were addressed but they were not scrutinized. I think the panelists and anyone who believes Barack Obama or any modern day president will wave a magic legislative wand and instantaneously cure the ills of the Black and the poor are sadly disillusioned which leads to my true grievance. I have made it clear that my stance on politics is that a politician is just that-a politician and most of his or her moves I feel will indeed be-political. But I cannot overlook the fact that I feel the “Black Agenda” panel did Black Americans a big disservice.
arresting officer. However, if you were paying attention to the news you did observe that Crowley’s African-American colleagues stood in solidarity with him at his initial press conference when he publicly declared that he would not be apologizing for anything. This incident was the talk of the nation as it unfolded. A white female neighbor called the police because she felt Gates and his companion looked suspicious. The result was a highly educated and esteemed Black man being arrested by a white police officer at his own home. The media was on it. Tempers flared and for the most part racial lines were drawn. I mean most of us Black folks could relate to the anger and
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