Today\’s quote comes to us from Tavis Smiley, veteran Black activist and media commentator.
While on Sean Hannity\’s show yesterday, Mr Smiley was asked a question I have been asking for 4 months about Michael Brown and now about Eric Garner: what makes either incident racist in nature?
Here is what Mr. Smiley had to say:
“Racism is still, is still the most intractable issue in this country. It\’s a part of everything we do still. Number two, too often Black men, I know this personally even as a host on national television, as Black men too often we\’re seen as the boogeyman and the presumption of guilt is always made towards us as opposed to being presumed innocent. Number two, and number three, the clip you played earlier from Mayor de Blasio (D, New York City) is right, when too many parents in this country in 2014 still have to have the talk with their Black sons for how to save and protect their own lives, something is amiss, Sean.”
To which I reply: ????????
Can you find the part where he ties either specific incident to racism?
Neither can I.
I award Tavis Smiley Quotre Of The Day honors, for making it so plain that he cannot answer that question any more than the surfeit of other media geniuses…who continue to speak of both incidents in racial terms anyway.
And don\’t count on them stopping any time soon either. Fanning racial flames may not be honest, and may compromise their integrity….but it\’s great for ratings.
