Beneath the Spin * Eric L. Wattree
"Accountability." That’s a hugely important word in Tavis Smiley’s vocabulary - that is, until it’s applied to himself. While Smiley has gone around the country hawking a book that he wrote on the subject and has literally forged a living out of lecturing President Obama - and any other high-profile Black personality who views the political landscape differently from himself - on the need to be accountable, he's been blatantly, and shamelessly, shunning his responsibility as a journalist and his accountability to the people in favor of his own self-interest for over a decade now.
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Mr. Smiley has been in direct violation of the Code of Ethics of the Society of Professional Journalists for over ten years now. Theystate the following in part:
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ACT INDEPENDENTLY
Journalists should be free of obligation to any interest other than the public's right to know.
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Tavis Smiley: "Mr. Accountability" Shuns Professional Accountability
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"Accountability." That’s a hugely important word in Tavis Smiley’s vocabulary - that is, until it’s applied to himself. While Smiley has gone around the country hawking a book that he wrote on the subject and has literally forged a living out of lecturing President Obama - and any other high-profile Black personality who views the political landscape differently from himself - on the need to be accountable, he's been blatantly, and shamelessly, shunning his responsibility as a journalist and his accountability to the people in favor of his own self-interest for over a decade now.Mr. Smiley has been in direct violation of the Code of Ethics of the Society of Professional Journalists for over ten years now. Theystate the following in part:
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ACT INDEPENDENTLY
Journalists should be free of obligation to any interest other than the public's right to know.
Journalists should:
—Avoid conflicts of interest, real or perceived.
— Remain free of associations and activities that may compromise integrity or damage credibility.
— Refuse gifts, favors, fees, free travel and special treatment, and shun secondary employment, political involvement, public office and service in community organizations if they compromise journalistic integrity.
— Disclose unavoidable conflicts.
— Be vigilant and courageous about holding those with power accountable.
— Deny favored treatment to advertisers and special interests and resist their pressure to influence news coverage.
— Be wary of sources offering information for favors or money; avoid bidding for news.
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In response to President Obama's remarks on race in the aftermath of the George Zimmerman verdict, Tavis Smiley tweeted, "Took POTUS almost a week to show up and express mild outrage. And still, it was as weak as pre-sweetened Kool-Aid." .
That was a curious remark considering the fact that Tavis Smiley and Cornel West traveled all across the country on a bus under the pretext of being so passionately concerned about poverty in America that they just HAD to take a stand - but of course, that was BEFORE the election, and when they had books to sell. But now that the election is over, and they don't have any new books to sell, they couldn't bring themselves to walk down the street from Tavis' office to support the Black Friday demonstrations taking place all across the country against Wal-Mart - Tavis' major sponsor, a member of ALEC, and the biggest abuser of the working class in America today.
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And not only did they fail to attend ANY of the demonstrations taking place across the country against Wal-Mart, they didn't even issue a comment of support. All we've heard coming from the Smiley/West camp are crickets - and as everyone knows, that's extremely uncharacteristic of Cornel West, who's renown for being willing to trade a kidney for a sound byte. Thus, that just about says it all about those two. All subjective assessments aside, the facts alone suggest that Tavis Smiley and Cornel West are two of the most blatantly self-serving hypocrites that the Black community has ever suffered.
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According to Scott Collins in his article, Tavis Smiley's bumpy 10th anniversary with PBS, in the Los Angeles Times:
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"Such is the life of a public-television personality. Unlike most TV hosts, who simply do their jobs and collect a paycheck from a network, Smiley has to go out and raise most of the money for his program, which costs between $7 million and $8 million a year to produce. PBS generally contributes about $1 million of that sum. The rest comes from corporate sponsors, which Smiley has to round up himself.
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"The sluggish economy and reduced corporate spending have threatened the show's viability. But luckily for Smiley, Wal-Mart, a longtime sponsor, stepped up again, this time with a three-year commitment. (PBS can only offer a maximum of two years on renewals because, as a government-supported entity, it must be periodically authorized by Congress.) But Wal-Mart covers only about a quarter of the costs" (http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/showtracker/la-et-st-tavis-smiley-pbs-20131212,0,6312121.story#ixzz2ndW5CAp5).
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And therein lies the problem - and, the reason for the prescription in the Society of Professional Journalists' code of ethics that "Journalists should be free of obligation to any interest other than the public's right to know." You cannot serve two masters. In the instance above, Tavis Smiley had to choose between the public's right to know, and his personal self-interest, and the public lost - and it's not the first time the public lost to Smiley's self-interest.
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According to Scott Collins in his article, Tavis Smiley's bumpy 10th anniversary with PBS, in the Los Angeles Times:
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"Such is the life of a public-television personality. Unlike most TV hosts, who simply do their jobs and collect a paycheck from a network, Smiley has to go out and raise most of the money for his program, which costs between $7 million and $8 million a year to produce. PBS generally contributes about $1 million of that sum. The rest comes from corporate sponsors, which Smiley has to round up himself.
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"The sluggish economy and reduced corporate spending have threatened the show's viability. But luckily for Smiley, Wal-Mart, a longtime sponsor, stepped up again, this time with a three-year commitment. (PBS can only offer a maximum of two years on renewals because, as a government-supported entity, it must be periodically authorized by Congress.) But Wal-Mart covers only about a quarter of the costs" (http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/showtracker/la-et-st-tavis-smiley-pbs-20131212,0,6312121.story#ixzz2ndW5CAp5).
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And therein lies the problem - and, the reason for the prescription in the Society of Professional Journalists' code of ethics that "Journalists should be free of obligation to any interest other than the public's right to know." You cannot serve two masters. In the instance above, Tavis Smiley had to choose between the public's right to know, and his personal self-interest, and the public lost - and it's not the first time the public lost to Smiley's self-interest.
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A QUESTION FOR BOTH TAVIS SMILEY AND CORNEL WEST
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Mr. Smiley, do you intend to return the Millions of dollars that you reportedly made from herding poor Black people and Hispanics into the Wells Fargo “Ghetto Loan” scam to the people who lost their money and homes? And Dr. West, in your learned opinion, what is the appropriate course of action for your friend and associate to take - in accordance with the "prophetic tradition," of course?
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A discrimination lawsuit filed by the Department of Justice, and several articles, including one seeded on Newsvine entitle, “Tavis Smiley - "Ghetto Loan" Peddler for Wells Fargo,” closely associates PBS talk show host, Tavis Smiley, with the Wells Fargo Bank scam targeting poor and middle-class Black and Hispanic borrowers. The article quotes Kelvin Boston, host of "Moneywise, and Keith Corbett, of the Center for Responsible Lending, as calling Tavis Smiley “the big draw” of the Wells Fargo scam. Specifically, the article states the following:
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“Smiley was the keynote speaker, and the big draw, according to Boston [host of “Moneywise”] and Keith Corbett, executive vice president of the Center for Responsible Lending, who attended two of the seminars. Smiley would charge up the audience — and rattle the Wells Fargo executives in attendance — by launching into a story about how he hated banks, and how they used to refuse to lend him money for his real estate projects in Compton, Calif., and elsewhere... But what appeared on the surface as a way to help black borrowers build wealth was actually just the opposite, according to a little-noticed explanation of the "Wealth Building" seminar strategy, contained in a lawsuit recently filed by Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan.
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“Wells' plan for the seminars all along was to target black borrowers for higher-cost subprime mortgages, not for wealth-building, the suit charged. And the seminars were a part of the bank's overall illegal and discriminatory practice of steering black and Hispanic borrowers into riskier and more expensive loans, the suit said.”
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Subsequent to the law suit, Richard Prince reported in The Washington Independent that Smiley issued a statement indicating that he would sever all ties with Wells Fargo until charges that the company steered minorities into higher-rate loans are resolved. The article went on to say,
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“Wells Fargo sponsored Smiley’s radio show on Public Radio International, and underwrote the annual C-Span-televised “State of the Black Union” conference that Smiley organizes. Smiley’s foundation also distributed Wells Fargo materials to young people at foundation events, he told Journal-isms.
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‘“I cut everything off with Wells Fargo,’ Smiley declared. He said the move cost ‘a lot of money’; he said he did not know how much.”
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On July 12, 2012 Charlie Savage reported in the New York Times that Wells Fargo Bank agreed to pay $175 million to settle the discrimination suit which, according to the Department of Justice, targeted over 30,000 Black and Hispanic borrowers for subprime loans with a higher interest rate than for similarly situated White borrowers between 2004 and 2009.
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“Smiley was the keynote speaker, and the big draw, according to Boston [host of “Moneywise”] and Keith Corbett, executive vice president of the Center for Responsible Lending, who attended two of the seminars. Smiley would charge up the audience — and rattle the Wells Fargo executives in attendance — by launching into a story about how he hated banks, and how they used to refuse to lend him money for his real estate projects in Compton, Calif., and elsewhere... But what appeared on the surface as a way to help black borrowers build wealth was actually just the opposite, according to a little-noticed explanation of the "Wealth Building" seminar strategy, contained in a lawsuit recently filed by Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan.
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“Wells' plan for the seminars all along was to target black borrowers for higher-cost subprime mortgages, not for wealth-building, the suit charged. And the seminars were a part of the bank's overall illegal and discriminatory practice of steering black and Hispanic borrowers into riskier and more expensive loans, the suit said.”
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Subsequent to the law suit, Richard Prince reported in The Washington Independent that Smiley issued a statement indicating that he would sever all ties with Wells Fargo until charges that the company steered minorities into higher-rate loans are resolved. The article went on to say,
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“Wells Fargo sponsored Smiley’s radio show on Public Radio International, and underwrote the annual C-Span-televised “State of the Black Union” conference that Smiley organizes. Smiley’s foundation also distributed Wells Fargo materials to young people at foundation events, he told Journal-isms.
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‘“I cut everything off with Wells Fargo,’ Smiley declared. He said the move cost ‘a lot of money’; he said he did not know how much.”
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On July 12, 2012 Charlie Savage reported in the New York Times that Wells Fargo Bank agreed to pay $175 million to settle the discrimination suit which, according to the Department of Justice, targeted over 30,000 Black and Hispanic borrowers for subprime loans with a higher interest rate than for similarly situated White borrowers between 2004 and 2009.
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What makes it particularly ironic that Tavis Smiley would be associated with this scheme to target poor and middle-class minorities is that Smiley is the primary promoter of what he calls “The Poverty Tour,” along with his friend and associate, former Princeton professor, Cornel West. During the tour, on their joint radio talk show, and on numerous media appearances, Smiley and West have gained a reputation for being President Obama’s harshest critics, indicating that the president is not sufficiently focused, and “accountable,” to the nation’s poor and minority community.
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In a statement by Wells Fargo put out after the bank agreed to a settlement of $175 Million, they said that while not admitting to any wrong doing, Wells Fargo agreed to a settlement of the law suit because the bank felt that it was the right thing to do.
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CNNMONEY quoted Mike Held, president of Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, as saying, "Wells Fargo is settling this matter because we believe it is in the best interest of our team members, customers, communities and investors to avoid a long and costly legal fight, and to instead devote our resources to continuing to contribute to the country's housing recovery."
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The settlement includes Wells Fargo paying the Black and Hispanic victims of discrimination $125 million in compensation, and an additional $50 million in down-payment assistance to borrowers in the affected communities.
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So the question that remains is, if Wells Fargo Bank feels that paying compensating to the poor and middle-class victims of this scam is the right thing to do, shouldn’t Tavis Smiley, the most strident advocate of “accountability” and fervent crusader for the interest of the poor, feel obliged to do the same? Certainly, benefiting from the misery of the poor and minority community would run counter to Mr. Smiley's zeal for the need of the powerful to maintain accountability.
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We’d also like to put that question to Smiley’s friend and associate, Dr. Cornel West. What do you think your good friend and associate should do, Dr. West? What does the “prophetic tradition” dictate is the proper course of action?
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We’ll be anxiously awaiting your response.
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Poverty Pimp, Inc.
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In addition, there's the appearance that news is being manufactured. People like Tavis Smiley, Cornel West, and Boyce Watkins are going out of their way NOT to tell the Black community that the United States Constitution gives sole control of spending to the United States House of Representatives, which is controlled by the Republicans. So the only way that President Obama can spend any money to assist the Black community is to get the Republican House to go along with him.
So the fact is, when people like Tavis, West, and Watkins run around telling you that the proof that President Obama is not working for you is that he refuses to throw his fist in the air, these people are working against you, not for you - and they know it. President Obama is trying to help ALL of the people - and that includes you.
"For many years, I have approached the party and its supporters about underwriting programs to bring together Blacks who are Republican or lean Republican so we can weave them into every facet of the party structure. The answer is always, no! But, twice this year some of these same people have approached me about funding for some election year tricks that they (White Republicans) have conjured up and simply need a Black face to execute the plan. On these two separate occasions, these funders were willing to spend upwards of $20 million to have me organize a national campaign to identify Blacks who would be critical of President Obama."
In the 2000 election George W. Bush won the presidency by winning Florida by 537 votes. The Nader/West coalition peeled way 97,488 votes in Florida alone. So even for those who say that Bush stole the election, if it hadn’t been for the efforts of Nader and West, the election wouldn’t have been close enough for Bush to steal. Thus, all of West’s ranting about what Obama’s not doing is tantamount to a man who’s dug a ditch, and who’s now complaining that Obama’s not filling it in fast enough.
What Tavis Smiley, Cornel West, and Boyce Watkins Won’t Tell the Black Community
In addition, there's the appearance that news is being manufactured. People like Tavis Smiley, Cornel West, and Boyce Watkins are going out of their way NOT to tell the Black community that the United States Constitution gives sole control of spending to the United States House of Representatives, which is controlled by the Republicans. So the only way that President Obama can spend any money to assist the Black community is to get the Republican House to go along with him.
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That’s why it’s so important for the president to hold together a coalition of Blacks, women, gays, Hispanics, and every other segment of the American population. He needs ALL of us to place pressure on the Republicans to loosen the purse strings in order for him to get anything done. So anytime you hear Tavis, West, or Watkins pointing their finger at what President Obama is doing for any other segment of the population, they’re doing you a disservice.
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Here’s how politics works - you support me when I need you, and I’ll support you when you need me. So whenever President Obama does anything for other segments of the population, he’s building up political capital so he can help you. But, he doesn’t discuss what he’s doing for the Black community for a very good reason - as Cornel says himself (when it’s convenient), “Race Matters.”
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These gentlemen know full well that if President Obama runs around bragging about what he’s doing for the Black community, the Republicans are going to use that as leverage to tear his coalition apart. They would tell women, gays, Hispanics, and everyone else in America that Obama doesn’t care about them, and that all he wants to do is help his own people, and that message hurts the Black community. Don’t these so-called intellectuals recognize that? If they don’t, they’re dumb. If they do, that means that they’re purposely trying to mislead the community. The question then, is why?
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But the primary agenda of the people mentioned above is NOT about helping the Black community, or anyone else, for that matter. Their primary interest is to service their own hatred, envy, and greed.
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You see, they've never been able to get past President Obama's rapid rise to prominence in our society. So instead of taking pride in what Obama has achieved like the vast majority of the Black community, they see his accomplishment as diminishing their stature among Black people, and it's killing them. So their primary agenda is not about helping you, or keeping you informed, it's about helping Obama's enemies tear him down, and getting rich in the process.
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What makes this so sickening is, while these “brothers” are telling the people how much they love them, and want to keep them informed, at the very same time, they’re depending on the people’s blind ignorance in order to promote their own agenda. But some of us have been around long enough to have seen this before. This is the exact same tactic used by the “brothers” who were planted inside the Black community by the FBI to sabotage the civil rights movement of the sixties.
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I’ve discussed the issue of agent provocateurs in previous articles with respect to the activities of Tavis Smiley and Cornel West - including the similarity between what’s going on today, and the FBI’s CoIntelPro operation that brought down the civil rights movement of the sixties. But at this point it goes even farther than that.
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I’ve discussed the issue of agent provocateurs in previous articles with respect to the activities of Tavis Smiley and Cornel West - including the similarity between what’s going on today, and the FBI’s CoIntelPro operation that brought down the civil rights movement of the sixties. But at this point it goes even farther than that.
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“Operation Cointelpro,” initiated by Edgar J. Hoover, involved sending so-called brothers into the community to divide the various civil rights organizations - both, against one another, and within the organizations themselves. In order to accomplish this, the FBI plants would go into the community and convince the people that certain individuals weren’t militant enough. As a direct result of this ploy, Dr. King was the victim of the exact same kind of character assassination as Smiley and West are now trying to use on Obama. The Smiley and Wests of that era used to call Dr. King, “Martin Luther Coon.” So it is indeed ironic that these two individuals are now trying to use Dr. King’s own Bible in a tactic used against him, to now defame Barack Obama. It’s disgusting, in fact.
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They’re playing the same old game of dividing the people that kept Black people from rebelling against slavery, and that has held Black people down for over 400 years. The only difference is, during slavery the turncoats would do it for a pat on the back and a new pair of shoes. But today, it involves millions of dollars.
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Just ask yourself, how many millions of dollars would Tavis’ cronies at Wal-Mart, Exxon/Mobile, and the other members of ALEC be willing to pay to bring down President Obama? Let me give you a little insight into that, right out of the mouth of an irate Black Republican operative.
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In his article, "My Republican Party has Abandoned Me," Black Republican activist, Raynard Jackson, says the following (http://www.freedomsjournal.net/2012/10/31/my-republican-party-has-abandoned-me/):
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In his article, "My Republican Party has Abandoned Me," Black Republican activist, Raynard Jackson, says the following (http://www.freedomsjournal.net/2012/10/31/my-republican-party-has-abandoned-me/):
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"For many years, I have approached the party and its supporters about underwriting programs to bring together Blacks who are Republican or lean Republican so we can weave them into every facet of the party structure. The answer is always, no! But, twice this year some of these same people have approached me about funding for some election year tricks that they (White Republicans) have conjured up and simply need a Black face to execute the plan. On these two separate occasions, these funders were willing to spend upwards of $20 million to have me organize a national campaign to identify Blacks who would be critical of President Obama."
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So there you are, and with that kind of money up for grabs, we would be ridiculously imprudent not to minutely scrutinize the rationale behind every syllable that slips from Tavis and West’s mouth. Because Tavis may be opposed to many things, but he’s certainly not one who’s opposed to making money.
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After Tavis miscalculated his clout in the Black community by trying to punish candidate Obama for failing to come on his show, Tavis Smiley is quoted in “Black Enterprise Magazine” as saying the following:
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“I went from making about $1 million a year in speaking fees to barely $100,000 because people stopped inviting me to speak in certain places,” he recalls. “Personalities like me have a Q rating, and mine dropped lower than Michael Vick’s after the dog fighting conviction. I couldn’t engage new sponsors or get the ones who have been with me to raise their spending levels.”
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The article goes on to say, “So what did Smiley do? He rallied his troops to “stay focused on the work” as he conjured up new ideas and led his team to launch a new radio program, publish a slate of books that became top sellers, and create a traveling museum backed by Wal-mart, a long-time sponsor, among other ventures to fortify the company. “He kept going full steam ahead.”
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What the article didn’t say was his radio show was financed from the proceeds that he made off the misery of poor and minority borrowers who lost their money and homes after Smiley herded them into the Wells Fargo “Ghetto Loans” scam.
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The article goes on to point out the holdings of Tavis Smiley, Inc:
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"His numerous holdings include:
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• TS Media Inc., which produces the Tavis Smiley talk show that airs weeknights on Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), viewed in 96% of U.S. households with approximately 400,000 viewers nightly.
• Smiley Radio Properties, producer of his radio programs, The Tavis Smiley Show and Smiley & West, which he co-hosts with Cornel West, a close friend and one of the nation’s leading black intellectuals, for Public Radio International (PRI). Together, the programs reach more than 500,000 listeners daily.
• High Quality Speakers Bureau, which, in addition to Smiley and West, offers lecture representation for approximately 17 social commentators and motivational speakers such as Henry Louis Gates Jr., Iyanla Vanzant, and Dr. Robin Smith. (Denise Pines, Smiley’s partner and marketing guru for 15 years, holds a minority stake in the company.)
• SmileyBooks, a co-publishing venture with Hay House Inc. that has published 22 books to date including several best sellers.
• Tavis Smiley Presents…, a unit that has managed and produced company-sponsored public events.
• SIVAT Productions, a company that develops documentary films.
• America I AM: The African American Imprint, a four-year traveling museum that has developed a number of spin-off publications and products.
"The Tavis Smiley Foundation, the philanthropic arm that has raised $322,000 to teach youth leadership skills as well as Smiley’s investments in residential and commercial properties in California and his home state of Indiana are also under the TSG umbrella. He also owns a number of Marco’s Pizza franchises throughout Indianapolis.”[It doesn’t mention how much goes to the kids, and how much goes to his “investments” - and notice that they say “raised” for the kids, not donated].
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But Tavis’ various holdings are very enlightening. They seem to explain Smiley and West’s over-the-top rhetoric. It seems that they’re generating their own news, and then they’re turning around and profiting off of the controversy that they themselves are creating. By creating controversy, that enhances their speaking fees (West, $30,000 a speech), book sales, and also enhances their television and radio audience. Then, Tavis will go back with his production company and produce a documentary on the screaming people that he’s managed to convince that they’re being ignored by the president.
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Even the latest book that they went around the country hawking was disingenuous. The title of the book is “The Rich And The Rest of Us.” Who is the “US” that they’re talking about? With all of the money that they’re pulling down, they certainly couldn’t be talking about themselves. They’re not one of “US,” they’re part of “THEM.” You’d be wise to never forget that.
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Tavis’ holdings also explain why in the aftermath of the Newtown, Connecticut tragedy, where 26 people were killed, including 20 children, West seemed to be more interested in making headlines than mourning over the senseless death of these innocent people. West said, “We can’t just shed tears for those on the vanilla side of town with the Middle Class.”
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West knew full well that the president's response had absolutely nothing to do with what "side of town" this tragedy took place. President Obama was responding as a father - as a human being - to the horrible tragedy of 20 innocent children being murdered while sitting in school. It didn't matter whether those children were Black or White; the tragedy was uniquely significant due to the horrific circumstances surrounding their deaths. Yet, even in the face of such a horrible tragedy, West couldn't resist his irresponsible urge to score a twofer for he and Tavis' team. He immediately saw an opportunity to both, criticize the president, and to garner headlines, which could later be converted to even more publicity, and cash.
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For an individual who’s supposed to be a man of God, that was a horrible thing to say - in fact, it would have been a horrible and dumb thing for anyone to say, regardless to what their beliefs. But this seems to be Cornel West’s pattern. Instead of putting his agenda aside just long enough to support initiatives that are in everyone’s best interest, he insists on being divisive, incendiary, and self-promoting. By doing so, he not only detracts from the effort to get guns out of our communities - including the Black community, which he claims to be so much in love - but in the process, he also manages to desecrate the memory of 20 innocent children.
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The man is shameless, and quite frankly, I'm beginning to wonder if his intense envy, and the resulting hatred, of President Obama might have pushed him over the edge. Because, other than Tavis Smiley himself, I've never seen another man of relative stature who seems to be so completely oblivious to his own destruction. And watching this drama play out on the public stage is absolutely surreal.
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Is West's reckless behavior what one would expect of a true intellectual? I don’t think so. He's engaged in the kind of irrational behavior of a man who can’t be trusted - and he's been headed in this direction for quite some time. It was this very same kind of thoughtless, ego-driven, and self-serving behavior that caused Cornel West to be so instrumental in getting the entire country in the disastrous situation that we currently find ourselves.
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In the 2000 election George W. Bush won the presidency by winning Florida by 537 votes. The Nader/West coalition peeled way 97,488 votes in Florida alone. So even for those who say that Bush stole the election, if it hadn’t been for the efforts of Nader and West, the election wouldn’t have been close enough for Bush to steal. Thus, all of West’s ranting about what Obama’s not doing is tantamount to a man who’s dug a ditch, and who’s now complaining that Obama’s not filling it in fast enough.
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The Black community has had its share of poverty pimps, but we’ve never been pimped like this before. The poverty pimps of the past tended to just have little disorganized hustles, but Tavis Smiley seems to have created “Poverty Pimp, Inc.” He’s gaining the people’s confidence by staying in the public eye, and he stays in the public eye by financing his own shows with the money he derives from the people’s misery. So it seems that Tavis Smiley and Cornel West are the Iceberg Slim and Trick Baby of public pimpdom.
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Thus, the Smiley/West coalition is well worth watching, because it’s a coalition forged between the Bogeyman and the Devil.
Eric L. Wattree
Citizens Against Reckless Middle-Class Abuse (CARMA)
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Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does.