After ten years, Tavis Smiley has announced he is ending his State of the Black Union Conferences to devote more time to, among other things,(get this) publishing the memoirs of R. Kelly.
http://dimewars.com/...
For those not aware, this event was a yearly panel of leading (and not so leading) intellectuals, luminaries, and quasi-celebrities, ostensibly to discuss the condition of Black America.
I personally am feeling a mix of nostalgic sentimentality and relief.
Why sentimentality? Because I've watched these conferences on C-SPAN for a number of years and find them terrifically entertaining. Cornel West is always good for a strong intellectual argument, and Micheal Eric Dyson is always good for superfluous multisyllabic utterances with a punchline thrown in for good measure.
Why relief? Because in my opinion this annual panel of--often--pseudo-intellectual drivel is not particularly useful. In the years since this conference began, what exactly has it accomplished, save for selling a few books, and feeding Mr. Smiley's preening, self-involvement? I am also relieved because I find the corporatism of these events fairly off-putting. It was always the Wal-Mart, Wells Fargo, Target "State of the Black Union" presented by a joint venture of Pfizer and McDonald's, or some such.
For any Kossacks that watched in the past, I'm interested: will you miss the "State of the Black Union?"