Controversy About "The Black Agenda"

[Smiley and West]

Sharpton vs West Exclusive: West goes behind the scenes of his MSNBC debate with Rev. Al Sharpton.     As we draw closer to the election year, the topic of a Black Agenda, or lack thereof, remains at the center of much heated discourse amongst public intellectuals and political pundits.  Recently Dr. Cornel West and Rev. Al Sharpton – two of America’s most respected Black leaders – engaged in such a debate on MSNBC with Ed Schutlz.  Although the conversation was torrid, the subject of a Black Agenda is gaining more attention. West: There is a context in the nation that a criticism of President Obama is an attempt to support right wing vicious attacks. The recent heated exchange with my dear brother Al Sharpton is not primarily about him, me or even the President.  What’s the focus: How we fight for poor and working people. Tune in to Smiley & West this weekend as I reflect more on the subject.   For Dr. West's Full Statement, visit  www.CornelWest.com

[Cheryl Lynn Owens]

Where's the full viewing?

[Kim Forbes-Gayton]

I would like to see the whole discussion.! Yet, I feel that we're reliving history all over again,  as to who is right, i.e., Garvey vs. Washington; Martin Luther King, Jr. vs. Malcolm X., and now Mr. West and Mr. Sharpton.  Still, BOTH sides have something to contribute in terms of perspective(s): our collective history - which includes who to trust and who not to trust (and why)- along with what needs (and still needs) to be done for the Black Community, which to me, is myriad. There is no ONE way to grapple with , let alone solve our still-lingering problems. Yet, we must learn to work collectively AND FOR the collective,  or any small yet distinct differences will never allow us to act in our collective best interest!

[Walter Simtec Simmons]

I love my Brother Cornell West and Brother Tavis Smiley because it appears that they are truly
sincere in addressing the issues that impact the poor and working people in America.  We should consider the fact that high profile individuals like Brothers Smiley & West have the ability to influence the actions of others that could take constructive criticism down an unintended path.  Everybody have a part to play in making America as good as its’ promise. Let us include the responsibilities of others as well as the president and hold all of them accountable to the positions that they hold.  Brother and Rev. Al Sharpton made a good point when he mention the role he was representing which is somewhat different from the president.  We must all work together and be team players in order to receive positive results from our combined efforts.  Together we stand and divided we fall.

[Ikalean Wilkerson]

I think Dr. West and Smiley see our President as only a BLACK President who they want to do nothing but Black agendas.  President Omama is America's people and must do what he can for the people and as much as he can for the Black community incognito.  I am tired of West and Smiley with there anger directed against the President.  They need to try to find ways to get along and find solutions to the Black Communities problems.  We can't get problems solved with that type of bickering.  As a race of people we just can't seem to come together even with our differences like other races of people.  Why not? 

[Avid Follower]

Thank you Dr. West for speaking out and saying the truth on global TV especially to Rev. Sharpton.  Maybe now we can get something more started! God bless you for having the strength and fortitude to do so.

[Brenda]

As I watched the heated debate between Professor Cornell West and Rev. Al Sharpton, I am vividly reminded of the reason that Harriett Tubman had the shoot to kill order for people who wanted to leave the Underground Railroad.  Too many black people want freedom, but afraid of the cost.  As a supporter of Obama’s presidency and the one to come, I welcome balanced conversations concerning his work, especially holding him accountable.  However, I hold him to the same standard as former presidents. 

 

I now question the scholarship of Professor West and his ilk (Smiley) as they clearly lack the capacity to visualize life beyond their myopic vision.  Further, West might do well continuing his verbal libations that honor Massa’s religion and leaving critical analysis to those who have mastery of US government procedures. 

 

If West is so concerned about the 75% of incarcerated brothers, promote marriage and initiatives that foster healthy morals values.  Hold accountable single brothers who rather play than marry the mother of their children.  Hold accountable single mothers who would rather collect child support and push loving fathers out the lives of their children.  Hold accountable civic leaders who pimp organizations out of funds pretending to provide assist to black communities. 

 

I am so tired of hearing negativity about our President simply because of ignorance.  Thirty seven percent of Republicans do not think that he is American…Isn’t it a little like thinking Martins built the pyramids.  There is no winning!

[Miriam Ferguson]

That would be great Yomi!!!!

Yomi Ace said:

Could someone competent enough to do so remind the rest of us of the exact day, start and end times (PST and EST), and signal frequency (ies) for this SmileyandWest event? Thank you.

[Miriam Ferguson]

Well said Kim....Here we go again....Do either one of them have the answer. We've heard the agrument before and frankly I'm thawed, marinated and sounds like cooked again.

Kim Forbes-Gayton said:

I would like to see the whole discussion.! Yet, I feel that we're reliving history all over again,  as to who is right, i.e., Garvey vs. Washington; Martin Luther King, Jr. vs. Malcolm X., and now Mr. West and Mr. Sharpton.  Still, BOTH sides have something to contribute in terms of perspective(s): our collective history - which includes who to trust and who not to trust (and why)- along with what needs (and still needs) to be done for the Black Community, which to me, is myriad. There is no ONE way to grapple with , let alone solve our still-lingering problems. Yet, we must learn to work collectively AND FOR the collective,  or any small yet distinct differences will never allow us to act in our collective best interest!

[J. Marie]

Hey Brother West, as always you raised some pointed issues.  I believe American has come to a cross-road. While we are politically strapped, as we try to repair our fallen down economy, we are also trying to figure out just who is driving this train?  I also understand where Brother Sharpton is coming from, while he has been a civil rights worker for some time now, he may feel he has no place anymore, and wonders how to be affective in this new "non-color" society.  While we still have a lot of issues to resolve, "segregation", "Jim Crow", and "back of the bus" issues are gone, at least for now.  So he has to start a new movement, and I am sure that there is a truck load of causes to defend, so get busy Brother Sharpton, and keep it moving!

[Scott Russell]

I cannot completely abandon Obama, though I knew going into his term he was not the winds of change in political or economic terms. He's the closet this country offers, a neo-liberal in the American idiom, to a true social reformer. We aren't allowed to have candidates that deliver more than he promised and we can't even really have that. But he is not part of a black agenda, in my humble white opinion. It is history and too bad that there still has to be a separate agenda for African Americans, but not enough of the broad electorate get the history or the shape of the current social struggle. As a piece today pointed out, there are more black men in prison now than were enslaved in 1861. And now DC. How many homes and lives must be sacrificed to keep the wealthy insulated from the harm they cause? And where do we find a man who can stand up to the fiction writers or all genres in congress?

[George Boston Rhynes]

April 12, 2011

[e-mail],http://kvci.blogspot.com, and please google THE QUITMAN TEN in Quitman, Georgia the county where Mary TURNER were Lynched in May 1918.  Please Wake-up to the real "BLACK AGENDA" and Blacks that are NOT heard on Mark Thompson, Tavis, or in Atlanta Major Radio and TV. Stations.....

 

SUBJECT:  The Black Agenda or a Continuation of The Black Joke!

 

I am extremely feed up with our so-called Black Leaders including our Black Radio Talk Show Hosts,Television Hosts and others!  Please!  Befor you stop reading allow yourself to examine what I am about to say.  

 

Our problem does not start or stop with President Barack Obama or any other human being in America and beyond.  Its about all of us and we are tired of the same old speakers on the forums (Black Agendas) who's agenda?  Why not get fresh blood from smaller communities that sacrifice with their own life being threatened as those during the Real Civil Rights Movements but are ignored today!  We don't need The Honorable Tavis or anyone else to always place Black Leaders to address us with answers as if they are the Black God in the SKY!

 

Throughout the South Georgia area we have Black Leaders whose story is never told.  Many have gone to jail and cannot get a job because they are on the firing line daily.  So don't keep placing people before us that have failed to put themselves on the line as many  forgotten leaders in small town America.  We all love the West, Sharp, Jackson, Bev and the rest; but we are tired of Black Folks just hand picking leaders for us.  Those Blacks need to visit the small towns and get some speakers to really give the Black Agenda!  Not go and tell that! 

 

After decades of complaining and seeking help here in Valdosta, Georgia from all Civil and Human Rights Leaders and organizations.  We the people here in South Georgia have NOT received as much as a courteous reply to our many cries and deaths!  I have included a video called “A Chorus of Fear below .” 

 

This video was put together by concerned White People when no National Black Leader would even give us the time of day.  The Honorable Tom Joyner was hand delivered a copy of the following video in Tallahasses Florida during one of his Joke Performances and you know he never responded to it.  He probable did not feel any obligation concerning the content of the video.  But don't condemn him we sent copies around the nation seeking some type of media coverage without any help from the outside world!

 

This video is surrounding the death of a jailed inmate that died from a fall (allegedly) onto the pavement in September 1998 here in Valdosta, Georgia. Moreover after decades of seeking help from Black Civil Orgganizations our community "LOWNDES COUNTY GEORGIA" is leading the State of Georgia in Jail Deaths for whatever reason.  But local Blacks are not good to Black Organizations but to provide capital through their membership in these usely Black Civil Rights Organizations that has forgotten them until their yearly members expires.  

 

Part one Of a Chorus of Fear!

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3930808120854021155

Part two of a chorus of Fear!  http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=932407478921834517

 

Also, see: 

http://kvci.blogspot.com

 

There were over two, 500 citizens that marched on our local jail without a single outcry from any of our so-called Black Kinship Leadership.  We wrote letters, called, sent videos out and traveled to Atlanta to talk on radio and television but nobody came into Valdosta to help!  Yet little stupid people keep sending n their membership to National Civil Rights Organizations for WHAT? Today we are leading the State of Georgia in Jail Deaths for whatever reason but guess what I personally handed several talk show hosts a copy and they did not ever respond.

 

Please watch, listen, and see why our Black and White so-called leaders would not take up this cause?  If we can ignore what is happening in small towns across America and then claim to be giving a Black Agenda Report-----it is nothing but a flat out lie that we can do without in 2011. 

 

 

GEORGE BOSTON RHYNES

Retired United States Armed Forces Military Vietnam Era

A concerned citizen and brother of all humanity

[Penguin Board of Directors]

For one, power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. As such, the likes of Dr. West are right when they insist, and we reason and then join them in insisting, that all leaders at whatever level are held accountable for living up to their own end of the bargain.

To be sure, I believe in capitalism (with a human face). I do not believe human beings deserve to be condemned to living perpetually on welfare and all manner of disguised, patronizing hand-down. We need to live and live with respect and dignity; if the life is to be worth its weight in gold. We have the brain; we have the brawn. All we demand is a level-playing field; the same opportunity like everyone else to realize our potential to the fullest. Do not dare tell me to go and set up my own business and work my way up your mounted ladder while you busy yourselves siphoning the commonwealth to pad your easy lives propped up on near-moronic parameters. That was the core of MLK's message. That was not different from the core of Malcolm X's. Cornell West is saying precisely the same thing. We cannot continue to allow hijackers of the commonwealth to hold the rest of society to ransom. They have no meritorious basis for cornering the wealth of the nation for themselves, their families, and the army of cronies, clowns and jesters milling around them. It is not as much a race war as it is a class war. On an all-or-none basis, it is a class war; not a race war. Yes, Dr. West and the rest of us must always put leaders on the defensive to justify choices they make and the continued relevance of those choices for the people who elect them; regardless of who those leaders happen to be. Otherwise, those who insist that the claim to people's power is a charade cannot be faulted.