There's a great piece in the Baltimore Sun today about Tavis Smiley, the host of the upcoming GOP "debate" at the historically black Morgan State University.
Smiley went on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno to plead his case. He used his twice-weekly spots on radio's The Tom Joyner Morning Show to urge the African-American community to raise a stink, telling his audience, "no elected official, no one running for president, black, white or brown, male or female, Republican or Democrat, ought to be elected president in 2008, if they can avoid people of color, black folk and brown folk ... as these folks are doing along the way." Smiley pledged to put four empty daises onstage, as a constant reminder of the candidates who didn't show.
Tavis Smiley, the one-man-machine who helped put together and edited The Covenant with Black America, maybe the most important book yet on the current socio-economic situation of Blacks in America, is using the snub to raise awareness of the debate to new levels.
No, he hasn't succeeded in getting Rudolph W. Giuliani, John McCain, Mitt Romney or Fred Thompson to reconsider their promised no-shows; all four have cited scheduling conflicts and fundraising pressures. But former House Speaker Newt Gingrich labeled their reasons for passing on the debate "baloney," President Bush suggested GOP candidates ignore black voters at their own peril, and awareness of the debate rose to a level where, regardless of who shows tomorrow night, heightened media coverage and viewer interest is guaranteed. (As many as a half-dozen of the lesser-known candidates, including former Ark. Gov. Mike Huckabee, are expected to attend.)
"We cannot miss this moment, with regard to driving this train," Smiley told his Joyner Show audience last week, "because things are moving, quite frankly, just the way we want them to."
And, yes, it's working. Google News results for GOP Black Debate give up some pretty harsh headlines:
GOP Candidates Snub Black Debate
Why is the GOP scared of black voters?
Even the conservative ABC news says Front-Runner No-Shows at GOP Minority Debates Assailed
If you have time, I recommend reading the whole story on Smiley, who, as someone who went to college despite his parents refusal to pay, is one of the premier voices of the black community today.
Meanwhile, Smiley said this on Letterman:
On "The Tonight Show" last week, Smiley protested the decision by the front-runners. "What does it say when you don't think that black issues and brown issues and issues for red and yellow -- what does it say when you don't think that all of us are valuable in this process?" he asked.
The Latino debate, as you'll remember, was just a blip on the screen. But thanks to Tavis, the whole country is paying attention as the Repugs decide to ignore the black community once again.
Update - As expressed in the comments below, I think that it's important that the Democratic candidates don't simply look at this and decide that the Black community has no choice but to vote for them, because there is a third choice--don't vote at all.
That's why I recommended buying a copy of Tavis' book, Covenant With Black America, above. There is a website for the book as well which contains some sample text. Check it out.