Let’s hope the public feud between Tavis Smiley and Rev. Al Sharpton about the so-called “black agenda” has finally run its course. It’s morphed into a mess of charges and counter charges, duel political forums and accusations about integrity.
If this was a reality show, the Smiley-Sharpton dispute about a master plan for black citizens could be called “America’s Top Black Leader” – and it’s just what conservatives like Glenn Beck and Bill O’Reilly want to hear: High-profile black activists squabbling on national radio.
The infighting should end now.
Smiley and Sharpton appeared on “The Tom Joyner Morning Show” in separate segments Thursday to defend their respective positions about defining the black agenda during President Barack Obama’s tenure in the White House.
This radio-driven slugfest started last month after Smiley criticized Sharpton and other black leaders for not pressing Obama about a “black agenda” during a February meeting at the White House with Obama – one attended by Sharpton, NAACP President Ben Jealous and National Urban League President Marc Morial.
Sharpton told TJMS listeners that he retaliated only because he was “attacked” by Smiley.
“Don’t start confusion and then try to be a mediator for the confusion you started,” Sharpton said during his on-air scolding of Smiley.
So, on Thursday, Smiley spoke for 10 long minutes, starting with “a 14-year back story” about his “love” for a black agenda, all while offering home-spun phrases like “weak as pre-sweetened kool-aid” to counter arguments from unidentified blacks that he pocketed loads of money from his books, that he was always out to oppose Obama, and that he didn’t have a plan for black America.
Smiley insisted that a number of black leaders – who he never named – initially supported his book, “The Covenant with Black America,” but have now done a complete “180-degree turn” and walked away from his grass-roots ideology.
And now, because of these alleged mystery turncoats, Smiley feels compelled to host his own political forum entitled, “We Count! The Black Agenda is the American Agenda,” scheduled for March 20 at Chicago State University.
And through all the back and forth drama that Smiley created, he still maintains: “It’s not about me – and it will never be about me,” as he said Thursday morning.
Story from Blackamericaweb.
