Stand Strong Tavis

Stand Strong Tavis
Expert guest post by Michael Fauntroy

Tavis Smiley Host of State of the Black Union forum, which Obama ducked.

One of the really unfortunate aspects of the current battle for the Democratic
presidential nomination is the apologetic position that appears to be taking
root in the Black community regarding Barack Obama’s candidacy. It goes
something like this: “We shouldn’t press him too much to talk about
Black issues because that might mess it up for the brother.” This color-before-accountability
group-think has led to some sad examples of Blacks turning on each other for
having the audacity to ask Obama to discuss his agenda for Black America. Tavis
Smiley has recently been caught up in a silly battle because he had the temerity
to not accept the company line regarding Obama’s campaign.

Smiley has been subjected to a slew of criticism and threats since he criticized
Obama on the Tom Joyner Morning Show after the Democratic presidential frontrunner
announced that he would not attend Smiley’s annual State of the Black
Union symposium this year in New Orleans. I think the criticism of Smiley is
ridiculous and have a message for him: Stand Strong. (Disclosure: I appeared
on Smiley’s PBS show in September to analyze the Republican presidential
candidates’ forum at Morgan State University).

Smiley has been nothing if not consistent. He has always advocated the importance
of the issues over the candidates and has stressed the need to hold the candidates
accountable when it comes to Black problems. What’s wrong with that? You
better believe that other segments of the electorate will do this with regard
to their unique issues. Latino/a voters will hold him accountable on immigration.
Jews will hold him accountable on Israel. Wall Street will hold him accountable
on business and taxes. And Black people are supposed to just sit in a corner,
be quiet, and hope that Obama will get to our issues? I say no!! This is a hat-in-hand
approach to politics that has gone on long enough. Smiley is right. If we can’t
seek accountability now, then when can we?

Obama has said that he couldn’t appear at the forum because he would
be campaigning. That’s a thin argument when one considers that there is
more than enough time in the day to do both. If Obama wanted, he could have
gone to New Orleans, which is next to Texas by the way, spoken in the morning
and been back in the Lone Star State by noon for a long day of campaigning.
Candidates go from state to state all the time, so this would have been no big
deal. Indeed, simple math reveals just how inefficient Obama’s decision
was. Let’s say he held four campaign rallies during the day, each with
20,000 attendees for a total of 80,000. That’s a fraction of the one million
or more likely to watch the State of the Black Union event live on C-SPAN. The
best use of his time, purely in terms of being seen by the widest possible audience,
was to go to New Orleans. As a compromise, he could have appeared live via satellite
from a convenient location.

Black America has many needs. I think among them is the need for people in
positions of influence to stand up for principles over politicians. If it’s
wrong to ask a Black presidential candidate to address Black people and speak
on Black issues, then we are not doing our jobs as citizens and voters.

Michael K. Fauntroy is an assistant professor of public policy at George
Mason University and author of the book Republicans
and the Black Vote. A registered Independent, he blogs at: www.MichaelFauntroy.com.