Audience members walk out in disgust.
Tavis Smiley has dug in his heel. He really wants us to believe that he is Soul Brother Number One who only wants to look out for "black folks." And guess why? Because black folks look to him for guidance! (ROFLMAO) He really believes that he owns the right to Dr. King and everything about him. He will tell us who should be compared to Dr. King and who shouldn't and in his august opinion, Barack Obama is no Dr. King. And he also wants to protect us from Obama. The President has seduced us in his quest for power. We are infatuated with him and we will get our hearts broken by him and it falls to Tavis to protect us.
I should have guessed when I started seeing his bloated mug on almost every TV show. There is only one reason why the incestuous media gives so much face time to one of its own. Tavis has something to sell. Again! Yes for $17.00 per ticket you can get to see "200 artifacts culled from every period of U.S history and 12 exhibition galleries." And you would never guess the subject of his new project. Why, it is about "black folks" of course. See, even while Tavis Smiley castigates Obama for slighting African Americans, and casts himself as the only one willing and able to keep Obama "accountable" he is busy trying to coopt the history of our people to so as to enrich himself. And as usual, Walmart has his back. Way to go Tavis!
I have gotten so tired of Tavis warning black people about Obama and his evil intentions. Or telling us how much Dr. King and Obama shouldn't be in the same sentence as Dr. King was a prophet and Obama is a mere politician. (Bear in mind that as great as our beloved Dr. King was, he could never have withstood the scrutiny that Obama went through. But that is another story which has nothing to do with his greatness.) I want to try to unravel the lie being spun by the jealous little hater that Tavis Smiley has become. Or alway was. Remember how he didn't think twice about displacing Ed Gordon at BET? Or how when he got the big scoops, instead of giving BET the chance to benefit, he would go behind their backs and negotiate deals with CBS and ABC?
Tavis Smiley didn't see Obama coming. Afterall Smiley was a big media "star" and Obama was just a State Senator from Illinois. Tavis Smiley had the eyes and ears of Black America. Black America despised Bob Johnson for what we perceived to be BET's shabby treatment of him. Anyway, why should Tavis even look at Obama? Hilary Clinton was going to win the nomination and then the presidency and Tavis just loved The Clintons. The Clintons had done a lot for Tavis. But this is where we learn the true measure of the man. Instead of coming out and support Clinton upfront - as his friend Dr. Maya Angelou had done - he copped out. He proclaimed himself a "journalist" and as such he had to be "objective." Ha! So as to do his best to help his true friends, and because he had begun to realize that he was no longer Soul Brother Number One, Tavis went on a campaign to derail Obama under the pretense of keeping Obama "accountable." He has been warning black and young people about the danger of succumbing to the politics of personality. He has said that Obama needs to talk about the issues having to do "specifically with black folks."
First the hypocrisy of Tavis Smiley. He has a show on PBS. How many of those shows do you think Tavis has devoted to talk about "black folks issues?" Unless it surrounds a book written by an already successful personality, "black folks issues" are not discussed on his show. How many "black folks" do you think he has on his shows? Thirty to forty percent. And when Tavis does concentrate on "black folks issues, he usually ends up enriching himself at our expense. BTW, I can find no evidence that he even attended the inauguration (which is not a sin, I know).
Now let us look at the ways in which Obama has already done for black people, and all people for that matter:
It is cool to be married to a beautiful, strong, black woman.
Black men are seeing a black man treat his wife like a queen. Seeing a black woman treated with respect and affection and love.
Black men are seeing a black man treat his girls like little princesses.
The world is seeing what a real loving black family looks like.
Black boys have a role model par excellence. History is being made right now as all over the country boys have become motivated to do their best.
Black people all over world have been motivated to strive harder and with the sure knowledge that things can change.
But most important: Ever so often, what is called the "Doll Experiment" is conducted. In this experiment young children are given black and white dolls and asked to assign virtues or vices to them. Inevitably, the virtues are assigned to the white doll and the vices to the black doll. It is my firm belief that the next time this experiment is conducted, because the black doll will look like Barack Obama, there will a more equitable distribution of vices and virtues. And if even one child chooses the black doll as good, and honest, and beautiful then we would have taken a giant leap toward eradicating the underlying bigotry and prejudice which often prevent black people from getting loans, or houses in certain neighborhoods or membership on certain boards.
Barack Obama does not need to specifically talk about the "black folks issues." Black folks issues are poor white folks issues. And Native America issues. And Latino issues. And Haitian issues. You fix the broken education system, and the health system, and the housing crisis and you have fixed black folks issues. Barack Obama has already done more for black people than almost anybody else and a whole heap of people combined. But beauty of Obama winning is that it took a rainbow coalition to elect him, starting with those young white people in Iowa. And thus he is the President of ALL of the United States of America.