Tavis Smiley on C-Span (7:21 ET) - good answers to listener questions.n/t

Tavis is great...and really can take on the wingnuts and make Brian look foolish.

caller going off about the connection between Al Qaeda and Iraq (blah) :eyes:

He gave a good answer: he is a depraved individual and NOT an American voter.

"I don't want to imply that Bush knew there would be an imminent threat against the US and do nothing. I do believe that the US did not take the terrorist threat seriously"

"White SLAVEMASTER!!!!"

I enjoy his answers....

caller asked Tivey if he would prefer to live in Ethiopia...what is wrong with these repugs?

Glad to see Archie Bunker's still alive and well...sheesh.

One read Rush's talking points..."blacks on the reservation", another implying blacks are lazy. Are these goons so shallow as they need to trot out those racists stereotypes and make them so blatant?

Smiley isn't the most favorite in the black community either...some feel he's way too "white". Sounds like he's got a sense of reason to me.

Who'd you hear that from?

WTF! That is a first! Where did that come from?

but some black people do pull that on other black people. They feel they are not "black" enough.

I've heard that some members of the Black Community tried to pull that on Obama during the 2000 US House Primary.

A very good friend is in the black media and surely that world is no monolith. There was just a caller who took into Tavis for not being "hip-hop" enough. Smiley had to "translate" to the rest.

I'm far from an expert on things black, but I've heard the term "white" thrown around over the years as to someone whose too "establishment" (ok, Uncle Tomish) or attempting to be too white while ignoring their black roots.

I heard a debate with Obama aired on a local public radio station...my daughter also was listening and couldn't tell that Obama was black. Repugnicans can't understand that diversity means strength, not fear.

What is up with all of these racists this morning?!!!!

...about how they got so many complaints about Tavis when they first put him on the air. People called up and complained about the way is 'voice' sounded.

Lord!

on the station you are talking about? Or, are the station managers just saying that to deter people from listening to Tavis? Which, in the long run, will ruin his ratings then they will be forced to cancel his show?

I don't know! I am just trying to figure out why someone would say that about Tavis.

...when they first put him on the air, there was a lot of resistance, but that people were warming to him.

I don't know if the station managers were unaware that it was most likely a subtle (or not so sublte) expression of racism to say that you didn't like him because of his voice. Maybe they were clueless. Maybe they were hoping that it would get their (tiny?) black audience excited enough to pledge.

I don't know.

Someone I once met who works for NPR says that that show that NPR recently developed -- Day to Day -- is intentionally being sold to stations in competition with Tavis Smiley's show. The person I met said was convinced that NPR has it out for Tavis Smiley and said it was downright evil what they are trying to do to him with Day to Day.

So, maybe the station managers were trying give a backhanded compliment meant to hurt donations, and that they were trying to pave the way for replacing Tavis with Day to Day. I don't know (and I'm not saying that I agree with or endorse the theory about Day to Day -- I'm just saying I heard it from someone who works for NPR who wasn't necessarily in a position to know the truth).

She called and said she had a book written in 2001 that made over 100 connections to saddam/al-qaeda. I tried to get through but could not. I believe she is refering to the INC's (Ahmad Chalabi) 'intel' given to the OSP and disproved by our CIA before the invasion of Iraq. Did anyone ever answer that one? Tavis did not address it.
:(