Tavis Smiley talks career, politics and poverty
Radio and television personality Tavis Smiley will present the keynote address Thursday at Naperville’s North Central College as part of the school’s weeklong celebration of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
Smiley’s appearance comes in the wake of the controversial cancellation of one of his appearances in honor of King.
Smiley, who has challenged President Obama for not doing enough for the African-American community, says he was booted from the Jan. 16 luncheon at the Peoria Civic Center for his efforts to hold the president accountable.
Smiley recently talked with the Daily Herald about his 20-year broadcasting career and his election-year focus on poverty. He also addressed the impact he hopes his presentation at 7 p.m. Thursday in Pfeiffer Hall will have on students at the Naperville campus.
This is an edited version of that conversation.
Q. Were you surprised that the organizers of the Martin Luther King Jr. Day luncheon in Peoria canceled your appearance?
A. That was disappointing, and it was a surprise. I’ve not had that experience before. I’ve been on the lecture circuit for 25 years and that’s the first time that’s happened to me.
But if you are going to be canceled, you might as well be canceled for being consistent to the truth. I’ve never said anything derogatory, dismissive or demeaning about this president. I respect President Barack Obama. And that’s where it ends.
But, by the same token, my job is to hold this president — and all presidents — accountable, and that’s what I’ve tried to do for 20 years of my career. And, in this particular era, there are some members of our community, some black Americans, who just don’t like this president being critiqued. And when you do that, they get upset with you and it can get extreme, as was the case the other day when I got canceled for this speech.
But, at the end of the day, people have the right to do what they want to do. And what I’m going to continue to do is try to speak truth to power, speak truth to the powerless. We’ve got to hold this president and all our leaders accountable and, in this year especially, keep talking about the issue of poverty.
We cannot go through this presidential cycle and not talk about poverty. That’s the issue I’m raising all throughout the year, forcing the president and whoever his opponent will be, Mr. (Mitt) Romney or whoever, forcing them to address the concerns of the growing numbers of poor people in this country.
That’s how you hold people accountable. You make them address the issues that matter to everyday Americans, and this issue is terribly important to me.
Q. “The Rich and The Rest of Us: A Poverty Manifesto,” a book you co-authored with Cornel West, will be published in April. The book will offer solutions for not only reducing, but eradicating poverty. Can you tell us about it?
A. We are proposing a solution in this book that we call the three P’s. First, poverty must be a priority. Poverty in America right now is not a priority.
Second, we argue there must be a plan. A plan not just to reduce poverty, but to eradicate poverty.
Third, there must be a path. How do we get on the path, how do we get on the righteous path to restoring the humanity and the dignity of poor people that’s been so under attack in this country for so long.
Q. There are a number of guests, particularly young artists, who have never appeared on PBS until they were on your television program, “The Tavis Smiley Show.” The new season began Jan. 16. Name a guest you’re itching to interview.
A. The first three nights we’re doing a special series about poverty in America. My actual first live guest of the year is Sean Penn. I’m excited about seeing Sean and talking to him.
My show is really a potpourri of personalities and I get a chance every night, five nights a week, to sit and to listen and to learn and to laugh and to love. I feel smarter every night when I go to bed, or smarter when I wake up in the morning, because I’ve learned something the night before from the people who come to the show.
We’re quickly moving into the Academy Award season, and so they’ll be a lot of Academy Award nominees coming through the program. But this year is also an election year. I love entertainment, but the stuff I’m most excited about, the things I love doing the most, is getting to wrestle with the issues of the day.
Q. Your multimedia presentation at North Central College will be modeled after your “America I AM: The African American Imprint” traveling exhibit that traces the impact of African-Americans on American culture. As part of the exhibit, there are familiar stories like Rosa Park’s arrest. What story surprised you?
A. So much of what the exhibit covers I was relatively aware of. The thing that has been the most moving for me is actually seeing these items in live and living color. The history I knew came to life for me.
And that’s really what happens when young people and others, but especially young people, get a chance to see the exhibit. When you hear about Rosa Parks, but then you see her fingerprint arrest card, it brings it to life for you.
What this multimedia presentation does, it is the closest thing ... it’s the next best thing to actually being in the exhibit, actually seeing the exhibit in person. It’s moving. Its art. Its music. It’s a beautiful presentation.
Q. In a 2003 Daily Herald story, you expressed concerns that this may be the first generation of young people assuming positions of leadership and authority who have not lived through the Civil Rights struggle. What is the impact of that identity?
A. The impact of that identity is being fully aware of the “after” picture but not the “before” picture. They don’t have that memory. They don’t have that memory because they haven’t lived the experience.
It does, in fact, present challenges to the kind of leader they are going to be or the kind of leadership they will put forth. Leaders are created by the times in which they live.
When young people don’t have an appreciation for that history because they don’t have the memory of it, because they don’t have that lived experience, it does raise questions about, again, the future and how they’re going to contribute to it.
That’s another reason why an exhibit like this is so important and this multimedia presentation is so important.
If you go
If you go
What: Keynote speech by radio and television host Tavis Smiley during North Central Colleges Martin Luther King Jr. Week
When: 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 19
Where: Pfeiffer Hall, 310 E. Benton Ave., Naperville
Tickets: $10
Info: (630) 637-7469 or northcentralcollege.edu/showtix