Closing the Books on Tavis Smiley and Cornel West

Beneath the Spin * Eric L. Wattree

Closing the Books on Tavis Smiley and Cornel West

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I’ve been researching Tavis Smiley and Cornel West for over five years, and in that time I’ve written nearly thirty articles on those two, because I thought it was important to the Black community. In response, one diehard Smiley and West supporter said, "You haven’t presented any substantive criticism of Cornel West. You’ve just hypothesized about his motives." So I thought that I’d take a moment to accommodate him by giving my final take, and then closing the books on these two - providing they don’t do or say anything else stupid. I know, it’s wishful thinking. But, in any event, here’s my take on these two:  
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Cornel West is one of the primary reasons the country is in the fix that it’s in. The Black community was doing pretty well under Clinton. Then during the 2000 election Ralph Nader and Cornel West teamed up and got Bush elected.
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Clinton’s vice President, Al Gore, lost the 2000 election to Bush in Florida by 537 votes, and the Nader/West coalition peeled off 97,488 votes from Gore in Florida alone. So, again, West is one of the big reasons that the Black community is in the shape that it’s in today. Under Bush, the country was hemorrhaging 850,000 jobs a month. So by criticizing Obama about the condition of the country, Cornel West is like a guy who walks into a restaurant and shits on the floor, and then calls the Health Department because the owner can’t get it up fast enough. (http://www.uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/state.php?year=2000&fips=12).
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And please keep this in mind – the worse the Black community is doing, the more money that Tavis and West makes talking about it, because Tavis owns a publishing company where he and West write books about it, a production company, where he and West do televisions shows about it, and he owns a speakers bureau, where Cornel West makes $30,000 a speech just to talk about Black misery.
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And isn’t it funny that Tavis and West seems to Talk about everything bad that’s happening to the Black community, EXCEPT, Tavis’ part in the Wells Fargo "Ghetto Loan" scam where Tavis helped to herd over 30,000 Black and Hispanic homeowners into where they lost their homes AND their life savings? The Department of Justice said that it was the second biggest housing discrimination case on record:
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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" (http://wattree.blogspot.com/2013/01/a-question-for-both-tavis-smiley-and.html).
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In Addition, People like Tavis Smiley, Cornel West, and Boyce Watkins are playing on the ignorance of the people. They’re 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, 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 you. The question then, is why?
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Take just a minute to ask yourself this one simple question – why aren’t they going after the Republicans?
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While these two are hard at work trying to divide the Obama coalition, the Republicans are actively engaged in trying to obstruct the Black vote, obstruct all legislation that could possibly provide jobs in the Black community and America as a whole, they’re trying to circumvent the United States Constitution and women’s right to privacy by invading a woman’s uterus, they’re trying to obstruct the rights of gays, they’ve disenfranchised Michigan voters by firing duly elected officials and replacing them with handpicked cronies who are completely unaccountable to the people, and they’re applauding the murderer of an innocent and unarmed Black child. I could go on for pages, but I’m sure I’ve made my point. The GOP is, literally, the domestic enemy of the American people, and Tavis and West are fixated on Obama?!!!
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With everything the Republican Party is doing to undermine the Black community, why would these two gentlemen be willing to defy the Black community - and risk destroying their careers in the process - to smear President Obama instead of going after the Republicans? There’s something not only problematic, but very suspicious about that. It just doesn’t make sense - at least, until you add the words of Raynard Jackson, a Black Republican activist, into the mix. Only then, do things begin to make more sense:

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FROM THE MOUTH OF A BLACK REPUBLICAN ACTIVIST

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In his article, "My Republican Party has Abandoned Me," Black Republican activist, Raynard Jackson, says the following:

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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."  (http://www.freedomsjournal.net/2012/10/31/my-republican-party-has-abandoned-me/).
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Considering Tavis Smiley’s close association with Walmart, Exxon/Mobile, Wells Fargo, Nationwide Ins., and other ALEC-connected corporations, is he and Cornel West doing for free, what the Republican Party is willing to pay $20 million to have done? Hmmmmm . . . What do you think?

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Poverty Pimp, Inc.
http://wattree.blogspot.com/2013/01/poverty-pimp-inc.html

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Eric L. Wattree
http://wattree.blogspot.com/
Ewattree@Gmail.com
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.

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Bligotry - Black-on-Black Racism. It's Real!

Beneath the Spin*Eric L. Wattree

Bligotry - Black-on-Black Racism.  It's Real!

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In the attached article, I've tried to demonstrate, without a doubt, that Cornel West not only lacks common sense and limits, but he’s extremely selective in his disgust.
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West is never short on words when it comes to denigrating high-profile Black people. He's publicly criticized Dr. Melissa Harris-Perry, Dr. Michael Eric Dyson, Rev. Al Sharpton, Jay Z, and of course, his favorite target, President Barack Obama. But when it comes to his good friend and associate, Tavis Smiley's, involvement in Wells Fargo's victimization of the Black community, he's been curiously silent. Could his silence on this issue be the result of "bligotry" - Black-on-Black racism? Let's take a look at that issue.
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After the atrocity against the poor and minority community committed by his good friend, Tavis Smiley, which I outline in the link at the end of this article, instead of addressing that issue, West found the time to try to throw ice water on THE most auspicious moment in Black and American history by complaining about Barack Obama using Martin Luther King’s Bible to take the oath of office. Even if West’s criticisms of President Obama were true, the use of Dr. King’s Bible wasn't a tribute to Barack Obama; it was a tribute to Dr. King. So what is Dr. West truly upset about?

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It is also curious that West’s supporters, the very people who are most critical of what they call President Obama's "failure to do enough for Black people," are extremely defensive about what Tavis Smiley has done TO BLACK PEOPLE. Consistency dictates that if they’re angry with Obama, they should be FURIOUS with Tavis Smiley. But instead, they look for excuses to defend what Smiley has done to the Black community.  Why is that? It sorta makes one wonder what is the TRUE source of their hostility towards the president. Could it be that, just like White racist, they just can't stand the thought of a Black man living in the White House? That is exactly the problem. It doesn't matter what Black person is elected president, it wouldn't be long before these people would turn against him.
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Thus, bligotry does exist. As we've pointed out many times before, Black people are the product of the very same racist environment as White people, so many of us are just as racist towards other Black people as any racist Hillbilly. So in order to address the issue, we've got to see it for what it really is. And no, it’s not self-hatred.

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People who suffer from bligotry don’t hate themselves at all, and neither do they, necessarily, hate other Black people. They simply look upon us with disdain, and they think that we're beneath them. That’s why such people think they’re qualified to tell the Black community what to think in the first place. They've convinced themselves that they're an intellectual aberration that an accident of birth has caused to be held back. So they feel that they have every right to use other Black people to advance themselves to their rightful place in society - thus, Tavis Smiley and the Wells Fargo Bank scam, and indeed, many, but not all, Black preachers.
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Herman Cain described their attitude best when he said, "I'm a brother from another mother."  They think they're cut from a different clothe than other Black people, and are, therefore, superior. That's why many such people hate President Obama with a passion, because his very presence is a pie in the face of their delusional reality. And that is exactly the case with Tavis Smiley, and, Cornel West.

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So yes, bligotry is real. Think about it - how many of you know Black business managers who treat White employees better than they do Black employees?  Most of you know of such people I would think, because the business community is filled with them. In fact, many businesses have incorporated Bligotry into their business model - the U.S. Postal Service in particular. They routinely place bligots in middle management to do their dirty work, because they know that it’s next to impossible for one Black person to file a successful discrimination case with the EEOC against another Black person.

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So the Black community needs to take a very close look at the fact that Tavis Smiley and Cornel West weren't nearly as hostile towards George W. Bush and Dick Cheney as they are President Obama. That’s an undeniable fact - it is so true, in fact, that they’re the darlings of Fox News, and they're often FEATURED on Republican websites.  

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And here’s another fact. Tavis Smiley has to be one of two things - he’s either a demagogue who cares so little about the Black community that he knowingly colluded with Wells Fargo Bank to defraud poor and minority borrowers, or he’s too dumb to go around trying to advise Black people in the first place, and especially when it comes to what’s in our best interest. As for Cornel West, the mere fact that he‘s chosen to remain silent on this issue speaks volumes regarding both, his credibility, and, his so-called “love for his people.”

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But it’s hard for Black people to get a handle on Black-on-Black racism because they can’t believe that any Black person could be so stupid, but there are those who clearly are. They've picked it up from the American experience in the very same way that they learned to embrace their religion, and other uniquely American traits. So again, Black bigots are real.
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If you still question the concept of bligotry, however, think about people like Clarence Thomas, Herman Cain, and Allen West. Either one of those gentlemen would support sending urban Black people back to Africa in a Minnesota minute.  And when you put Cornel West's woolly head and milatant rhetoric aside, his actual behavior is also quite telling. While he pays plenty of lip service to how much he "loves his people," he's never taught at a Black school in his ENTIRE CAREER, and his attacks on President Obama is filled with enough racial innuendo to do any member of the Tea Party proud. And again, the mere fact that he’s chosen to remain silent on Tavis Smiley’s “Ghetto Loans” involvement speaks volumes regarding his true concern for the Black community.

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Those two issues in themselves clearly demonstrates that West has devoted his life to promoting the interests of Cornel West, not the Black community. He simply uses the Black community as a prop to gain publicity, because publicity is what it’s all about for people like Tavis and West.
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Publicity is how they make their living, and what they sell to major corporate sponsors. That’s why every time they open their mouths they say something over the top, like the ridiculous assertion that the first Black President of the United States shouldn’t use Martin Luther King’s Bible to take the oath of office. That statement was specifically designed to garner headlines. Never mind that it’s divisive to an already fractured Black community, what’s important to them is, it gets publicity. Clear evidence of that is that their attack was clearly coordinated.  

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It’s extremely important, therefore, that the Black community get a handle on this nonsense. Because there are Smniley and West wannabes - like Boyce Watkins, for example - who are currently in the wings studying their tactics in order to carry on this turncoat tradition for yet another generation - and as long as we allow such people to divide us for their own selfish interests, they’re going to keep us at a cultural and economic disadvantage.

Thus, four hundred years of this twisted mentality is more than enough. It's time to bring it to an end - AND NOW!

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FROM "SMILEY AND WEST" RADIO TALK SHOW WEBSITE

Reply by Eric L. Wattree 1 second ago
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OH, AND ONE OTHER THING, "LIBYAWEST,"
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Obama may be a lot of things, but there's one thing that he's NOT guilty of - roping poor and minority borrowers into fraudulent loans that devastated their families. What do you have to say about Tavis' activity in that regard? Should he be held "accountable?" Should he repay the money that he derived off the misery of the poor? What does the "prophetic tradition" dictate? Are you consistent in your beliefs, or are your highfelutin moral values reserved only for Obama?
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I'll be waiting for your response - although I don't expect one. But then, that's a response in itself isn't it? Such hypocrisy is unbelievable, but nothing less than I expected. I'll be saving this one too, by the way. Because since it's on the "Smiley and West" website, your gross hypocrisy will be much more glaring.
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I'LL BE POSTING THIS TO FACEBOOK. I'LL ALSO BE POSTING ANY RESPONSE.
Eric
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LibyaWest said:

Obomber ain't nothing but a black-faced cracker. LW
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Is this learned and constructive discussion, or irrational hatred? Will this sort of mentality help the poor and minority community, or will it detract from the president's ability to get anything done? This kind of childishness must be exposed for what it is. This is not about Obama's policies; this is about hatred, envy, and two hugely oversized egos.

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Tavis Smiley's Involvement in Wells Fargo's Defrauding of Poor and Minorities

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http://wattree.blogspot.com/2013/01/a-question-for-both-tavis-smiley-and.html

Eric L. Wattree
Http://wattree.blogspot.com
Ewattree@Gmail.com

Citizens Against Reckless Middle-Class Abuse (CARMA)
.

Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does.

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