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babylonsister

(171,577 posts)
Mon Jul 22, 2013, 04:18 PM Jul 2013

Tavis Smiley gets President Obama all wrong

Tavis Smiley gets President Obama all wrong
The host ripped the president's race speech for "lacking leadership." But it's Smiley who's out of touch here
By Brittney Cooper


snip//

The most remarkable thing about this speech is that it is the first time that black men’s humanity and personhood have been the subject of a public conversation at the highest levels of government. By stepping into Trayvon Martin’s shoes, President Obama asked the nation to see him, in that moment, first, as a black man, as the kind of national subject who had been subject to racial profiling, to the sounds of locked car doors as he merely walked down the street, to women (many of them white women, I suspect) clutching their purses and holding their breaths while riding the elevator with him.

snip//

In a total of eighteen minutes, the president did what the prosecutors could not manage to do over the course of two weeks of trial, with over a year to prepare. He demonstrated that Trayvon Martin was a vulnerable kid, unfairly followed, who was victimized because he could only bring his fists and his screams to a gun fight. And after Zimmerman murdered him, the system victimized him further, by suggesting as it does for so many black men, that there is plenty of ground upon which to die, but very little upon which to stand.

The failure to see this, the deliberate choice not to see this, makes it incredibly difficult, then, for me to rock with media pundits and strident Obama critics like Tavis Smiley. Essentially, Smiley argued on Meet the Press this week that because President Obama was “pushed to the podium” at the end of a week of protests rather than walking there of his own accord days earlier, he had again failed to provide “moral leadership.” “Kingian leadership.”

Therein lies the problem: Tavis Smiley and others of his generation crave a resurgence of prophetic leadership. And surely we need it. But they would do well to remember that kings, princes and presidents are rarely prophetic. President Obama is not a part of the black prophetic tradition. His response to Rev. Jeremiah Wright taught us that. He is part of an American democratic tradition that works most effectively when “we the people” lead from below.

snip//

Despite all that, I know that when the president stands up in his black male body and stands in as a character witness for a slain black boy, it matters. When the president argues that the nation has a duty to make black men feel valued and included as full citizens, it matters. And it matters, because no president has ever said it quite like that before. This is what American exceptionalism means for black people: that an extraordinary black citizen’s experiences must act as a guarantee of credit-worthiness, as a co-signer, if you will, for the experiences of the ordinary black citizen. This should not be.

more...

http://www.salon.com/2013/07/22/tavis_smiley_doesnt_understand_president_obama/

Brittney Cooper is an assistant professor of Women's Studies and Africana Studies at Rutgers University.

16 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Tavis Smiley gets President Obama all wrong (Original Post) babylonsister Jul 2013 OP
Yes. elleng Jul 2013 #1
Surprised by Tavis Smiley's comments IrishAyes Jul 2013 #2
This started years back he's out of the loop BrainMann1 Jul 2013 #3
Consider it done! IrishAyes Jul 2013 #5
I never really cared for him. grantcart Jul 2013 #4
Please see the above #5; thanks. IrishAyes Jul 2013 #6
BTW, fabulous OP IrishAyes Jul 2013 #7
ol tavis had impeccable timing.. didn't, he? To go on tv and Cha Jul 2013 #8
Yes, Tavis does get it wrong. sheshe2 Jul 2013 #9
This really pisses me off, Cha Jul 2013 #10
Bitter lemon. sheshe2 Jul 2013 #11
Wow... Jamaal510 Jul 2013 #15
Here's a 'smiley' for you tavis: Whisp Jul 2013 #12
Excellent response! JustAnotherGen Jul 2013 #13
Great thread. Major Hogwash Jul 2013 #14
"There is plenty of ground upon which to die, but very little upon which to stand" Hekate Jul 2013 #16

BrainMann1

(460 posts)
3. This started years back he's out of the loop
Mon Jul 22, 2013, 05:47 PM
Jul 2013

concerning our President and while your at it throw in Cornel West.

IrishAyes

(6,151 posts)
5. Consider it done!
Mon Jul 22, 2013, 07:34 PM
Jul 2013

I don't get premium channels or have a DVR, so my exposure to Tavis Smiley has been somewhat limited. Now he's gone on my auto-ignore list. Cornel West I was well aware of since he's more visible, at least to me. So anything he says comes as no surprise.

Oh well. What is, is. I know which side of the boat my oar's on, and it isn't theirs.

grantcart

(53,061 posts)
4. I never really cared for him.
Mon Jul 22, 2013, 07:25 PM
Jul 2013

He seemed to be extremely impressed with his own opinion and how great an interviewer he is and I found him to have passed over a very low bar on both accounts.

IrishAyes

(6,151 posts)
7. BTW, fabulous OP
Mon Jul 22, 2013, 07:42 PM
Jul 2013

I rec'd it, though I often forget to say so because DU is the first board I've joined where that function is available, and by the time I get caught up in the discussion I forget to mention it. That's not a habit yet. I have enough trouble remembering to click on 'add to journal'. While I'm wandering anyway, it makes me wonder if the Pets group can be set to auto-journal, why can't all the groups and forums? Or is that the case and I just haven't yet realized it?

Cha

(305,137 posts)
8. ol tavis had impeccable timing.. didn't, he? To go on tv and
Mon Jul 22, 2013, 08:19 PM
Jul 2013

make a national fool of himself?

The most remarkable thing about this speech is that it is the first time that black men’s humanity and personhood have been the subject of a public conversation at the highest levels of government. By stepping into Trayvon Martin’s shoes, President Obama asked the nation to see him, in that moment, first, as a black man, as the kind of national subject who had been subject to racial profiling, to the sounds of locked car doors as he merely walked down the street, to women (many of them white women, I suspect) clutching their purses and holding their breaths while riding the elevator with him.

I have feeling that the Martin Family doesn' think too much of tavis' posturing for tavis.

Brittney Cooper could certainly see that zimmerman is a racist..

"George Zimmerman and his gun have demonstrated more aptly than any figure in recent times what the acute and severe convergence of systemic and individual racism look like together. And this means that we must organize, we must march, we must legislate, and we must resist. But it also means that the nation must begin to see black people, like Trayvon Martin, and Jordan Davis, and Marissa Alexander, as human beings who are worthy of protection and care."

Mahalo, babylonsistah

sheshe2

(87,272 posts)
9. Yes, Tavis does get it wrong.
Mon Jul 22, 2013, 09:39 PM
Jul 2013
It wasn’t the first time the PBS host blasted Obama for his speech. On Friday, Smiley took to Twitter to criticize the president’s “weak as pre-sweetened Kool-Aid” speech, noting it took Obama “almost a week to show up and express mild outrage.”

Snip

Harvard professor Charles Ogletree disagreed with Smiley, saying that the President has “been talking about race and doing things for race for a long time, and the reality is that … he wasn't pushed to the podium, he walked to the podium.”


http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2013/07/21/tavis_smiley_criticizes_obama_for_race_speech_accuses_him_of_leading_from.html

Cha

(305,137 posts)
10. This really pisses me off,
Tue Jul 23, 2013, 12:11 AM
Jul 2013

she.

That tavis smiley thought it was alright to twit his weak-ass tweet and go on mtp and whine that "President Obama had to be pushed" 'cause he wasn't Fast Enough.

Trying to act like a damn master.. whip whip! .. because of his percieved slight in 2008 when Senator Obama had the audacity to ask to send Michelle in his place to the Black State of the Union.

Aside rant to tavis..

"Actually tavis smiley.. the timing was perfection and so was Pres Obama and that eats you up inside. Get the hell over your bitterness, dude."

TheObamaDiary.com @TheObamaDiary

Nice pic of @tavissmiley on Meet the Press pic.twitter.com/YzUjq6AYE2

http://theobamadiary.com/2013/07/21/rise-and-shine-560/#comments



More blowback tweets at tavis..

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=3311400

Done.. for now

she

sheshe2

(87,272 posts)
11. Bitter lemon.
Tue Jul 23, 2013, 12:21 AM
Jul 2013

I love it.

Thanks for the additional tweets, Cha.

Poor Tavis not so smiley now are we.

Hekate

(94,488 posts)
16. "There is plenty of ground upon which to die, but very little upon which to stand"
Tue Jul 23, 2013, 10:56 PM
Jul 2013

That is a great line. This brilliant statement also from the OP:
I know that when the president stands up in his black male body and stands in as a character witness for a slain black boy, it matters. When the president argues that the nation has a duty to make black men feel valued and included as full citizens, it matters. And it matters, because no president has ever said it quite like that before. This is what American exceptionalism means for black people: that an extraordinary black citizen’s experiences must act as a guarantee of credit-worthiness, as a co-signer, if you will, for the experiences of the ordinary black citizen. This should not be.

Because Tavis Smiley ended up on PBS I was willing to give him a good try, but he long ago wore me out. He went from being "not quite to my taste," to "WTH is he on about with President Obama now?!" He's taken the respectable PBS platform and squandered it, imo, and as we can see he has taken his national platform and made it evident that he is really bitter about this president no matter what he does or says. Some venomous worm is twisting away in Smiley's soul.

Hekate

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