The Six-Man Tag Team Match

I’m sure many of you have heard about Cornel West and Tavis Smiley going in on President Obama, basically saying he doesn’t do enough for the poor and/or black folk. Steve Harvey then went after West and Smiley. Then of course, my favorite professor/columnist (110% sarcasm) Boyce Watkins went after Harvey and placed Tom Joyner in the Harvey camp.

Sounds like the makings of a six-man tag team match - which may be a propos with SummerSlam in the rearview. Smiley has had issues with Obama from the start that have to be considered personal: I feel comfortable saying this because I’ve seen Tavis air out some of these issues with my own two eyes. West’s issues with the president have been more professional, but he’s had quite a few.

Black People Are Racist...No, They're Not...Wait, What?

There may be quite a few statements that sound like generalizations. I kindly ask that the framework of these being through my experiences and observations be remembered. Thanks.

When I first came up with this subject, I thought “we are some racist [folks]”, which should help explain the title. Then I thought “it’s not that we’re racist, it’s that we’re race-conscious - probably too much so. It may be that our race consciousness is more extroverted, but that’s another thought for another time. Now I’ve had the experience of being in mostly-black groups and mostly-white groups: be they social, academic, or professional.  Race comes up a lot more often when I’m within the former as it does when I’m within the latter. We often talk about being black in general, some standard of blackness in particular, or how our membership in said groups may affect black people as a whole. We do this for two reasons: nature and nurture.