There is no doubt that Tavis Smiley and Cornell West are two of the most brilliant minds I’ve ever encountered. Hearing Mr. West speak for me is comparable to hearing Barack speak. Only instead of cool and calm, you get loud and angry. Loud and angry moves me, makes me clap thunderously, gets me out of my seat even, but then what? I just left their 16 city Poverty Tours last event, held in Memphis, Tennessee, feeling empty. While I have never and won’t ever question the twos commitment and dedication to Black America, I do believe that dedication has been lost to what I can only describe as a hasty attempt at visibility and celebrity(with a little ego on the side). Much of the lecture made me check the signboard to make sure I hadn’t walked into The Comedy Central Roast of Barack Obama. The other half offered tons of rhetoric but no solutions. I wanted to hear a plan, something new I could do, or get involved in. Something concrete I could take back to my community and try. Maybe get advice on resources we aren’t tapping into. Or hear them say something like, “next we’re sponsoring a nationwide job fair”. I wanted to hear a way forward I hadn’t already thought of myself. There was none of that. All I took from the lecture besides some really great quotes and talking points was, “Poverty in America is Obama’s fault. Let’s holler loud enough to get his attention and then see if his magic wand can fix our problems. I WISH I had the spotlight they have. I WISH I had their resources, their help, their support systems. I can predict for you now the number of speeches & lectures that would appear on my schedule…….Predicting……..Yep, I can fit that prediction on one hand. After a brief introduction, the people would no longer hear me. They would watch me.
If the purpose of the poverty tour was truly to hear the people’s woes then I am equally unimpressed. I am doubtful that the people whose concerns you really need to hear, those people in community’s who truly need your help, were at any of these events. On the contrary I saw mostly politicians, prominent preachers, teachers, writers, and a pretty well-to-do looking audience. People in the worst kinds of situations and circumstances you can imagine don’t get up and come to fancy poverty tour lectures. They dont even hear about them. No, you have to go to them. You find them in their neighborhoods, on their street corners, in DHS lines, at homeless shelters. You go find kids fresh out of high school, and moms and dads in Temp Job offices. So my review of this poverty tour is a C-, and it’s only that high because I refuse to fail a brutha. My advice to any one who’s truly dedicated to fixing poverty in Black America or any and every cause for that matter is simple. I can’t understand how black leaders haven’t figured it out yet. The young folk say it all the time. Don’t talk about it; BE ABOUT IT.
Terina Maria
The Movement Ain't Dead! 