Please Join Me at the State of the White Nation Conference to Push the White Agenda

[PanzerJaeger]

...coffee and light refreshments will be served.

Did the title of this thread make you uncomfortable? Even hostile? Well it should have.

We're supposed to be living in a society that has moved far past such crass associations based on race. A society where people are judged on the content of their character, not the color of their skin.. and all that crap. The buzz words "colorblind" and "post-racial" come to mind.

Apparently, though, it only goes one way. Take a look at this article from the AP:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

PBS host Smiley calls meeting to urge black agenda
By JESSE WASHINGTON (AP) – 1 day ago

Two months after ending his annual State of the Black Union conference, Tavis Smiley is gathering African-American advocates to press the case for a "black agenda."

The decision was motivated by what Smiley called recent statements from some black leaders downplaying the need for President Barack Obama to specifically help African-Americans.

"I was compelled to do it because of this debate," the activist and PBS talk show host said Wednesday.

The panel discussion will be March 20 at Chicago State University. Panelists include advertising pioneer Tom Burrell, professors Michael Eric Dyson and Cornel West, Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, and Bennett College President Julianne Malveaux.

The meeting is free and open to the public. Negotiations to televise the event were in progress.

Some black politicians and activists have recently begun to question Obama's longtime stance that helping the overall economy will improve the fortunes of blacks who are disproportionately poor and unemployed.

West, for example, gave Obama a grade of C minus on policies and priorities focused on poor and working people, saying, "He has really not come through in any substantial and significant way." Members of the Congressional Black Caucus have blocked some legislation until their demands were met.

Last week, Smiley and the Rev. Al Sharpton had a fierce argument about the issue on Sharpton's radio show, with Sharpton taking heated exception to Smiley's claim that the reverend was giving Obama a pass on black issues.

When Smiley ended the State of the Black Union after 10 years, he said black issues were now being addressed elsewhere.

Apparently, however, not enough to his liking.

"This is not about Obama. It's about us," Smiley said in an interview.

He said that the Obama campaign and black leaders asked African-Americans for help during the election, but that "now that he's elected, what are black people being asked to do to hold him accountable to our agenda?"

Eric Deggans, who writes about the media and race for Florida's St. Petersburg Times, said Smiley's new event is consistent with his record of criticizing Obama's race-neutral stance. But there is a perception that Smiley is personally invested in the issue, he said, because Obama declined to attend Smiley's 2008 State of the Black Union event during the presidential campaign.

"It could be hard for people watching this to see Tavis as an honest broker," Deggans said. "He's playing an odd game," he continued. "He's trying to make great television and also present something that effects social change. That's often two different things."

I wonder if PBS would give a nightly show to a guy who spent his free time organizing conferences dedicated to pushing the white agenda - whatever that is. Not to mention that PBS is subsidized by taxpayers. I also wonder if the AP would have reported on it so nonchalantly if it had been a white television host.

Yes, racial hypocrisy in America, and the West, is not a new topic, but I think it deserves a new look in light of recent events. If a black man can ascend to the highest office of the land, why is such tactless race pandering still acceptable?