Comments on: Cornel West, Tavis Smiley, and Malcolm X.

By: Blacks Own Just 10 of 1,348 TV Stations | The Root

Blacks Own Just 10 of 1,348 TV Stations | The Root — Thu, 01 May 2025 05:06:02 +0000

[…] Eric L. Wattree, thyblackman.com: Cornel West, Tavis Smiley, and Malcolm X. […]

By: N. Johnson

N. Johnson — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 17:04:48 +0000

Ideologically I am opposed to Cornel west, but your criticism of the man is nothing but name calling couched in intellectual rigmarole. Your claim that West’s criticism of black leader is motivated by fear of being overshadowed is ludicrous to say the least. West made it clear when he was campaigning for Obama that he (West) will be one of Obama’s major critics if Obama fails to live up the progressive tradition that worked to put him in office. Unless you are of the opinion that Obama is doing fine for the black community then you have to accept that West criticism is valid. Obama has catered to the interest of the Hispanic community, Gay interest, women groups, and bend backwards to accommodates even right wing elements, but Obama have never shown any interest what so ever on the most pressing issue confronting the very survival of black community in America: mass incarceration of black men through the ill conceived bogus war on drugs. Obama could end this bogus war without anybody noticing but that is of little interest to him, second term is. Obama seems to be afraid the phrase “poor people”. But for sycophants like you, black people should just keep quite and leave their interest to the discretion of Obama. Sorry, that is not how politics works. If your vote is ever taken for granted, you are politically disadvantaged. Black people can not afford to have their vote taken for granted by anybody – not even “god” Obama. If you disagree with Cornel west on any issues, highlight West position; analyse it and expose its weakness. In that way you’ll be objective and not rant like a sycophant. I don’t think any black person working for MSNBC or any major media corporation could effectively represent and fight for the interest of the black community without compromising. This applies to Al Sharpton, Melissa and Eric Dyson. They have become nothing more than Obama’s praise singers.

To your statement: “A true brother – a true man – wouldn’t even speak to a lady like that in private, much less, bad mouth her like that publicly”, I say: we can not sacrifice truth on the alter finesse. And to another of your comment: “I don’t recall him ever being that disrespectful to George W. Bush”, I say: you might have lived under a rock throughout Bush days, because if not; you must have heard West loud and clear on Bush and his policies and West was never mincing words when it come to Bush.

By: Ramses

Ramses — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 14:03:30 +0000

What’s so sad is that got black people all Christianed out to the point they can’t think, yet the Washington monument is built mimicking the same structure in egypt. If they so christian like they want you to believe they are (your public officials) why are their buildings designed off of our ancient cultures. They have you thinking that Egypt fell when you’re in the Egypt of the West. Esoteric staring you all in the face but our people shuck and jive as usual. We can coon with the best of but boy try to get them to think critically and it’s over. Blacks have made themselves obsolete as a political force through their self-hatred and stiff-neck ways. This country is full of whiny ass people who will not organize. Hell organize your family first. Niggas always trying to join an organization where they can hide in, and put the responsibility of their progress on someone else, then when that person comes up short (doesn’t get them to the promise land) they criticize the person for not being their Jesus in the flesh. They have a Messiah complex. Thinking someone will save them. What is there to save? I’ve never seen a more cocky people, but yet broke as hell people in my life. Your women are disrespectful. Don’t know how to carry themselves in public or private. They tell you how independent they are but as soon as they have a baby they right down there at welfare begging for some help! How obnoxious. Black people as a collective have become spiritually bankrupt. Their males still wearing their hats backward cause they think backwards. They wear jeans tighter than the females in their group. And then when you try to check the females for their behavior, these very same dudes will fight you like women because they are weak and not used to Men being men. Hell the black woman is more of a man than the black man! Even though my great granddad died in 1981, we still respect his house as if he was still here. Why? Because we cherished the strength he had as a Man who happened to be considered black. Before you run to government to fix you, as if they could ever come up with a government program to fix you, work on yourselves internally. However, “our people” won’t do that because when we look inside ourselves, we see a ugly group of people spiritually.

By: Eric L. Wattree

Eric L. Wattree — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 13:31:31 +0000

Rashid, you said,

“Mr Wattree, you offer so much criticism of Dr. West in this article that I believe it is either a personal attack, or you, yourself have some agenda. Dr. West has been very critical of Obama for the fact that he has received almost 100% of the African American vote and we have been ignored in his first 4 years in office.”

You’re right in your first two statements. I do offer much criticism of West, because he deserves it; and I do have an agenda – to try to irradicate his kind of turncoat behavior in the Black community. Black people have had to endure this kind of self-hatred and dysfunctional behavior for over four hundred years, and for four hundred it has kept Black people at the very bottom of the social heap. so my agenda is to make an example of Tavis and West so as to deter up-and-coming turncoats from embracing the same behavior. It’s time for the Black community to say this has got to end, and it will no longer be tolerated.

But you’re wrong in about President Obama not doing anything for the Black community in his first term. Obama has done much for the Black community, but many of us confuse Obama helping the Black community with him throwing his fist in the air and shouting, “Power to the people!” That’s not the president’s style. He gives priority to getting the job done, unlike Tavis and West, who give priority to being able to say, “Look at me!” That’s why Obama is President of the United States, while they’re just two clowns seeking attention – even if that attention is negative.

By: Eric L. Wattree

Eric L. Wattree — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 10:01:31 +0000

LET’S HAVE A LITTLE ACCOUNTABILITY
.
Wells Fargo Home Mortgage Joins With Tavis Smiley to Offer Free Wealth Building Strategies Seminar in Washington, DC
*
Tavis Smiley and a Host of Financial Experts Share Information
About Building Generational Wealth and Family Financial Security.

WASHINGTON, Aug. 25 /PRNewswire/ — Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, the nation’s leading originator of home loans to ethnic minority customers, has joined forces with talk show host and author, Tavis Smiley; and several financial affairs experts to provide free Wealth Building Strategies Seminars in eight cities across the country, including Washington, D.C. Additional seminars featuring other popular panelists also will be offered in 12 more cities, nationwide. The
Washington, D.C. event will take place Sat., Sept. 10 at the The Hilton Washington, 1919 Connecticut Ave., NW, from 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. For more information, or to register for the event contact 866-275-8584.
.
“African-American households had $656 billion in earned income in 2003, an increase of 3.9 percent over the previous year*,” said Jackson Cosey, senior vice president of emerging markets, Wells Fargo Home Mortgage. “The Wells Fargo Wealth Building Seminars will teach attendees the best route to make their income work for them over time through homeownership, investments and credit improvement while simultaneously helping them plan for their financial futures.”
http://washingtonindependent.com/59633/suit-alleges-trusted-black-figures-drew-minorities-to-high-rate-loans
*
Wells Fargo to Pay $175 Million Settlement

WELLS FARGO HIRED TRUSTED BLACK FIGURES TO ALLEGEDLY DRAW MINORITIES TO HIGH-RATE LOANS

Tavis Smiley Headlined Seminars
Targeting African Americans

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/wells-fargo-home-mortgage-joins-with-tavis-smiley-to-offer-free-wealth-building-strategies-seminar-in-washington-dc-55004672.html

By: Blacks Own Just 10 of 1,348 TV Stations |

Blacks Own Just 10 of 1,348 TV Stations | — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 07:02:21 +0000

[…] Eric L. Wattree, thyblackman.com: Cornel West, Tavis Smiley, and Malcolm X. […]

By: Eric L. Wattree

Eric L. Wattree — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 03:30:10 +0000

Whenever I write anything, immediately after I make an assertion I either give the facts that I relied upon to substantiate my claim, or at the very least, connect the dots that support why I?ve come to a given conclusion. Then, after I?ve provided the relevant information for the reader to do an informed assessment of the facts, I leave whether or not they agrees with me up to the reader.
.
Tavis and West don?t do that. They simply make assertions and accusations without giving the relevant information necessary for their audience to do an informed assessment of the facts. That?s an approach taken by most con men and demagogues, because they don?t want you to have the facts. They want to circumvent your intellect by appealing to your emotions. They don?t want you to think about WHY you?re hurting – they want to fill in that blank – they just want to make you mad that you?re hurting, then, THEY want to be the ones to tell you who to be mad at. For that reason, when I was in college, the lady who taught me to write, also taught me to ALWAYS investigate the motives of anyone who tries to appeal exclusively to my emotions, because their motives are invariably malevolent.
.
Take Tavis and West, for example. They never assess the facts, they never try to explore alternative reasons why our economic situation might be what it is, and they never address specific issues, or try to suggest solutions to specific issues. They always take the umbrella approach – ?things are bad, because Obama is bad; he?s not Black enough.? That?s not an attempt to help the Black community by finding solutions to our problems. That?s an attempt to divide the community and undermine an individual, in this case, Obama.
.
Clear evidence of that is they?re nitpicking through all of the nation?s problems and demanding to know why Obama hasn?t addressed this issue or that issue. That?s a rhetorical device that only a fool would buy into, because since no one can address every issue, and there are an infinite number of issues that can be brought up, there?s absolutely no way that the targeted can win.
.
If I can get a person to buy into that game, I can take anyone?s mother in America and show that she was a negligent parent, because the number of issues that I could bring up would be endless. Let me give you an example of what I?m talking about:
.
1). Did your mother bake you a cake at least once a week to make sure you had a happy childhood?
2). Did she buy, or make, you new school clothes every week so you could keep up with the other kids?
3). Did she provide you with security so you would never get beat up after school?
4). Did she save up to buy you a new Escalade after you graduated?
.
It?s stupid to buy into such a game. And anyone who tries to assess another person in that way is either stupid, or think you?re stupid. Thus, if we want to accurately assess Obama as a president, or any other person in any other area of life, unless it?s a glaring omission, we should base our assessment on what they HAVE done, not on what they haven?t – and President Obama has done the following:.
1). He stopped the nation from hemorrhaging 800,000 jobs A MONTH under Bush. I think that helped Black people.
2). He stopped the nation from going into a second Great Depression. That helped Black people
3). He save the America auto industry. Didn?t that help Black people?
4). He was the first president to successfully passed healthcare reform in 70 years. That helped Black people.
5). He created more jobs in 27 months than Bush did in 7 years.That helped Black people
6). And he managed to get Osama Bin Laden in his spare time. That helped Black people because that?s where all the money went under Bush. Didn?t Bush ravish the national treasury trying to find Osame Bin Laden in Iraq? Bush spent nearly a trillion dollars, then Obama got him with two helicopters and a hand full of men. And Tavis and West want to CRITICIZE this brother!!!!?
.
In addition, Obama did the following:
.
– Spur Job Creation: ?In addition, to help those most affected by the recession, the Budget will extend emergency assistance to seniors and families with children, Unemployment Insurance benefits, COBRA tax credits, and relief to states and localities to prevent layoffs.?
.
– Reforming the Job Training System: ?The Budget calls for reform of the Workforce Investment Act (WIA), which supports almost 3,000 One-Stop Career Centers nationwide and a range of other services. With $6 billion for WIA at DOL?and an additional $4 billion in the Department of Education?the Budget calls for reforms to improve WIA.? Strengthen Anti-Discrimination Enforcement: ?To strengthen civil rights enforcement against racial, ethnic, sexual orientation, religious, and gender discrimination, the Budget includes an 11 percent increase in funding to the Department of Justice?s Civil Rights Division. This investment will help the Division handle implementation of a historic new hate crimes law. The Budget also provides an $18 million, or 5 percent increase, for the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission (EEOC), which is responsible for enforcing federal laws that make it illegal to discriminate against a job applicant or an employee. This increased investment will allow for more staff to reduce the backlog of private sector charges.?
.
– Support Historically Black Colleges and Universities: ?The Budget proposes $642 million, an increase of $30 million over the 2010 level, to support Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs), including Historically Black Colleges and Universities. In addition to this discretionary funding increase for MSIs, the Administration supports legislation passed by the House of Representatives and pending in the Senate that would provide $2.55 billion in mandatory funding to MSIs over 10 years.?
.
– Help Families Struggling with Child Care Costs: ?The Budget will nearly double the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit for middle-class families making under $85,000 a year by increasing their credit rate from 20 percent to 35 percent of child care expenses. Nearly all eligible families making under $115,000 a year would see a larger credit. The Budget also provides critical support for young children and their families by building on historic increases provided in ARRA. The Budget provides an additional $989 million for Head Start and Early Head Start to continue to serve 64,000 additional children and families funded in ARRA.?.
– Reform Elementary and Secondary School Funding: ?The Budget supports the Administration?s new vision for the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) ? The Budget provides a $3 billion increase in funding for K-12 education programs authorized in the ESEA, including $900 million for School Turnaround Grants, and the Administration will request up to $1 billion in additional funding if Congress successfully completes ESEA reauthorization.?
.
– Increase Pell Grants: ?The Recovery Act and 2009 appropriations bill increased the maximum Pell Grant by more than $600 for a total award of $5,350. The Budget proposes to make that increase permanent and put them on a path to grow faster than inflation every year, increasing the maximum grant by $1,000, expanding eligibility, and nearly doubling the total amount of Pell grants since the President took office.?
.
– Help Relieve Student Loan Debt: ?To help graduates overburdened with student loan debt, the Administration will strengthen income-based repayment plans for student loans by reducing monthly payments and shortening the repayment period so that overburdened borrowers will pay only 10 percent of their discretionary income in loan repayments and can have their remaining debt forgiven after 20 years. Those in public service careers will have their debt forgiven after 10 years. The Budget also expands low-cost Perkins student loans.?
.
– Prevent Hunger and Improve Nutrition: ?The President?s Budget provides $8.1 billion for discretionary nutrition program supports, which is a $400 million increase over the 2010 enacted level. Funding supports 10 million participants in the WIC program, which is critical to the health of pregnant women, new mothers, and their infants. The Budget also supports a strong Child Nutrition and WIC reauthorization package that will ensure that school children have access to healthy meals and to help fulfill the President?s pledge to end childhood hunger. The President continues to support the nutrition provisions incorporated in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).?
.
– Revitalize Distressed Urban Neighborhoods: ?The Budget includes $250 million for HUD?s Choice Neighborhoods program, which will target neighborhoods anchored by distressed public or assisted housing with physical and social revitalization grounded in promising, measurable, and evidence-based strategies.?
.
– Increase Funding for the Housing Choice Voucher Program: ?The President?s Budget requests $19.6 billion for the Housing Choice Voucher program to help more than two million extremely low income families with rental assistance to live in decent housing in neighborhoods of their choice. The Budget continues funding for all existing mainstream vouchers and provides flexibility to support new vouchers that were leased and $85 million in special purpose vouchers for homeless families with children, families at risk of homelessness, and persons with disabilities.?
.
– Preserve 1.3 Million Affordable Rental Units through Project-Based Rental Assistance Program: ?The President?s Budget provides $9.4 billion for the Project-Based Rental Assistance program to preserve approximately 1.3 million affordable rental units through increased funding for contracts with private owners of multifamily properties. This critical investment will help low-income households to obtain or retain decent, safe and sanitary housing. In addition, the Administration requests $350 million to fund the first phase of this multi-year initiative to regionalize the Housing Choice Voucher program and convert Public Housing to project-based vouchers.?
.
– Promote Affordable Homeownership and Protect Families from Mortgage Fraud: ?The Budget requests $88 million for HUD to support homeownership and foreclosure prevention through Housing Counseling and $20 million to combat mortgage fraud. In addition, the Budget requests $250 million for the Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation?s (NRC) grant and training programs. Of the $250 million, $113 million is requested for foreclosure prevention activities, a $48 million increase (74 percent) over 2010.?
.
– Fight Gang Violence and Violent Crime: ?The Budget provides $112 million for place-based, evidence supported, initiatives to combat violence in local communities, including $25 million for the Community-Based Violence Prevention Initiatives that aim to reduce gun and other violence among youth gangs in cities and towns across the country, and $37 million for the Attorney General?s Children Exposed to Violence Initiative, which targets the youth most affected by violence and most susceptible to propagating it as they grow up.?
.
– Expand Prisoner Re-entry Programs: ?The Budget provides $144 million for Department Justice prisoner re-entry programs, including an additional $100 million for the Office of Justice Programs to administer grant programs authorized by the Second Chance Act and $30 million for residential substance abuse treatment programs in State and local prisons and jails. In addition, the Budget provides $98 million for Department of Labor programs that provide employment-centered services to adult and youth ex-offenders and at-risk youth..?
.
– Fully Fund the Community Development Block Grant Program: ?The Budget provides $4.4 billion for the Community Development Fund, including $3.99 billion for the Community Development Block Grant Formula Program (CDBG), and $150 million for the creation of a Catalytic Investment Competition Grants program. The new Catalytic Competition Grants program uses the authorities of CDBG, but will provide capital to bring innovative economic development projects to scale to make a measurable impact.?
.
If Tavis and West REALLY care about Black unemployment, here?s the issue they?d be addressing:.
Is President Obama the REAL Reason For High Black Unemployment?
http://wattree.blogspot.com/2012/10/is-obama-real-reason-that-black.html
http://www.eurweb.com/2012/11/tavis-smiley-last-of-the-loud/

By: Rashid

Rashid — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 21:26:15 +0000

Mr Wattree, you offer so much criticism of Dr. West in this article that I believe it is either a personal attack, or you, yourself have some agenda. Dr. West has been very critical of Obama for the fact that he has received almost 100% of the African American vote and we have been ignored in his first 4 years in office. During his election campaign, we weren’t even on his radar because he already knows he’s receiving our blind vote. Dr. West has been pressuring the Obama administration to stop ignoring the problems African Americans are facing during this economic crisis. Our unemployment is above average and the highest in the nation. Our communites are witnessing skyrocketing crime rates. I believe Dr. West and Travis Smiley are doing a public service in their efforts to pressure the administration to stop ignoring the black community. You see Mr. Wattree, every demographic in the country has special interest groups in Washington, lobbying for their interest. How come African Americans are the only demographic that doesn’t have that? Who’s fighting for our interest in our communities? Sharpton and Dyson are being paid by MSNBC now so therefore their voices are being censored. You also make a claim that Dr. West is somehow equivalent to the govt operatives used to infiltrate the black community. I disagree I believe it is people like you and your colleague LloydMarcus who are infiltrating our community with some sort of agenda, and it is quite obvious.

By: edgar

edgar — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 20:30:59 +0000

no people are by nature anything. what the hell are biblical principles? are they more important than mother goose principles? their both derived from fairy tales. the bible was used to rape and murder people of color throughout the entire world.

one thing that black people or other people of color are not by nature is christian.

By: SeattleGuy

SeattleGuy — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 05:37:24 +0000

I love this topic because it is a top of conversation that is going on throughout our communities.

I ask people to do your homework and only use MSNBC, Fox, CNN and MSNBC as a source of entertainment.

Black people by nature are entrepeneurs, social conservatives and faith conscious people. Does that mean vote Democratic or Republican? No, it means vote and act by your Biblical principals and Constitution….or voice your opinion by not voting. Let no people sell you out on those principals and hold all of our folks accountable – even Obama! Do not give him a pass or our black elected leaders.