A while ago, Tavis Smiley hosted his "State of The Black Union" forum and invited all of the current Presidential candidates. Hillary Clinton came, John McCain came and missing was Barack Obama. Barack's wife, Michelle, offered to come in his place but, Tavis wasn't having it. He wanted Barack and no substitutes. He began a war or words with Barack that hasn't let up.
Recently, at the 40th commemoration of Dr. King's assassination in Memphis, again, Obama did not show... Clinton and McCain did... and Tavis threw another "hissy fit" (Have I been out of the loop... where was I during the past 39 commemorations?)
Fans of the popular Tom Joyner Morning Show, of which Tavis is a part, have been letting Tavis "have it" recently for his "undermining of black history and destiny", as I have heard it. Because of this, Tavis has decided to leave the Tom Joyner show. I happen to like and respect Tavis Smiley a lot and I really wish he would reconsider. It seems as if his ego has been bruised by the battering he has been taking.
Fellow blogger Jimi Izrael wrote:
"It's taken his treatment of Barack Obama for Smiley's listenership to finally step back and see him for who he truly is... yet another professional negro suiting up to be "King of All Blacks", determined to profit off the pathology of black people by boxing them in with groupthink and impotent black history month-style sloganeering. Smiley's rhetoric is just relevant enough to make black people angry at whites but, not relevant enough to affect change. Truly brilliant thinkers have the ability to listen and consider everyone's point of view without rancor or withering. Smiley reveals himself to be a poser. He's thinks he's smart enough to tell black America what to do but, not smart enough to listen to their criticism. "
I think that this, while it may have some basis in the truth, is a bit harsh. Tavis is a thoughtful and brilliant brother, what my grandfather would've called a "race man" like Adam Clayton Powell, Cecil B. Moore, and Malcolm X. We need more "race men" to speak for those who can't or won't speak for themselves. I don't want Tavis to leave the national radio forum. It pains me that he and Obama are having this difficulty.
One person I was talking to about this said that Tavis should realize that "Obama is campaigning to be President of the entire United States... not just Black America and that he is not going to be able to appear at every black thing." True, but if I were Obama, I would've gone to at least one of those two events. It looks bad when even your white counter parts can make it to something like that and you can't.
That said...I hope that we as black people can learn to put ego aside, look at the big picture, and keep it moving. The "crabs in the barrel" mentality could come back to bite someone in the
butt!
As I've said before, this election is ours to lose...
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