Johnson: 'Black agenda' merges with other interests

[Blue_Tires]

On Saturday, PBS talk show host Tavis Smiley will hold a nationally televised forum of leading African-American intellectuals, politicians and activists at Chicago State University to discuss whether there is a need for a black agenda, since blacks are suffering disproportionately from joblessness and lagging on other major economic indicators.

Focusing on the theme "We Count! The Black Agenda is the American Agenda," Smiley has invited noted scholars Cornel West and Michael Eric Dyson, as well as NAACP President Ben Jealous and Congressional Black Caucus chair Barbara Lee, to share their views on the accountability of African-American leadership, especially that of President Obama. The event will be aired live on C-SPAN from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

West and Dyson are part of Smiley's close circle of friends he calls his "Soul Patrol," and they have offered their insightful and sometimes radical commentaries at Smiley's "State of the Black Union" symposium that he began in 2000. Smiley ended the "State of the Black Union" this year, explaining that African-American issues now were being addressed by other media outlets.

Controversy clouds the "We Count!" forum because of the heated radio spat Smiley had last month with the Rev. Al Sharpton concerning the minister's remark to The New York Times that Obama is "wise not to ballyhoo a black agenda." Sharpton said he will not attend Saturday's meeting because of a schedule conflict.

Smiley also has expressed his extreme dissatisfaction that the Feb. 10 session Obama held with Sharpton, Jealous and National Urban League CEO Marc Morial resulted in these leaders giving the president a pass on black issues. However, the objective of that meeting was not to push a race-centered agenda, but an urban one, as claimed by Sharpton. Sharpton asserted he and his colleagues met with Obama not for a "race bill" but for a "place bill," lobbying for jobs to reach communities that have taken the hardest hits in the ongoing economic recession. Sharpton has been labeled a race opportunist by his harshest critics, but in this case he is fighting not just for African Americans, but for everyone in the working class, and for those suffering in poverty.

The call from activists such as Smiley for Obama to pay specific attention to a black agenda seems polarizing to many Americans, considering Obama didn't campaign on a race-based platform. In many of his stump speeches, he declared, "This is our moment," meaning all Americans would share in his vision for change.

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