Uncovering the Meaning of Being Black w/ Tavis Smiley - Ep 3

[@unitingamericawithjohnwoodjr]

Thanks for watching! Do leave your thoughts and feedback

[@jaiyabyrd4177]

Tavis Smiley has my entire vote on this interview‼️

[@celestepalm6949]

Sure miss Tavis Smiley having his own TV show. Glad he's going strong on radio.

[@justmyopinion9883]

Thank you for sharing this informative conversation with Mr Tavis Smiley. I agree with his views 100%.

[@oiptrucking7139]

Tavis droppin JEWELS AGAIN AND AGAIN!

[@victoriabrown514]

Tavis you are always on point when it comes to the polite of Black People.

[@coreytillman8877]

This was absolutely everything i needed to hear today. New subscriber as of today representing NC

[@sheilas1803]

Great conversation!

[@RR-ur4kz]

Thank you Mr. Smiley!!🤎 Given us the true definition of Racism. Yes, any race can be prejudice but to be prejudice with the the power is RACISM 💯💯 .

[@johnlindsaygreen8547]

Wonderful and insightful conversation. Thank you Brother John Wood.

[@ThankYouJesusTheChrist]

Thank you bringing Tavis (back) to us ❤

[@kuahmelallah]

Glad that you're a friend of mine.

[@lindapaul3559]

Fascinating discussion about big ideas. AND a great example of a Braver Angels dialogue.

[@DeborahAdamsC]

A great conversation! Keep up the good work Mr. Wood and keep bringing us these thoughtful and deep conversations. I have missed Tavis Smiley's voice in our political discourse.

[@joycewilliams6578]

GREAT

[@sylviabrown5263]

❤ on so many levels great conversation and content

[@selenaricks9526]

I love these conversations and think if black people woke up and started engaging in these types of dialog, they would be more proactive in seeking solutions for improving the black community and black life. That's why the SOBU was so important b/c it reached all income levels. We need to know why we are where we are as a people and get angry about it, and then do something to push for change. And that takes a movement, and that takes a leader. Ps. The Connie Rice interview Tavis did on KBLA this past week discussing inequality and exclusion was also eye-opening.

[@nishadgulvady5534]

I'm new to your channel. I enjoyed this nuanced, fruitful conversation! Much love from Culver City, CA

[@forensicaccountant259]

People can preach personal responsibility, but keep in mind that some will make it their personal responsibility to attempt to block your progress.

[@johns7713]

Great discussion, great guest. This kind of discussion can inspire me in the classroom when I'm talking to students.

[@ForeverYoungKickboxer]

Great conversation. Generational zeitgeist has an effect. Class is key, IMHO. I'm a 1969 Gen X metalhead D&D nerd. Tens of millions of us remember what it was like. We had racism on the ropes. We were taught by teachers right after Civil Rights movement. We laughed at racist jokes about others and ourselves but regarded racist people as fools stuck in the horrible past we were lucky to be born after. In the 90s if you were against racism it just meant you were a regular person. The dude making the hardcore racist jokes usually got the hint nobody was laughing with him and occasionally he got knocked out. We had tough conversations without worrying about pissing each other. Anthrax and Public Enemy onstage together is a good example of the vibe I remember. Too much togetherness isn't good for those at the top sticking it to us so Division became the game once again. Politicians been playing that game since forever but Telecommunications Act in 96 made it much easier to control the info. Don't let the TV, tablet, phone, or Teacher make you hate your neighbor. Keep talking and keep thinking, people!! Chris Forever Young

[@mountainair]

Enyoying your show John. Best of luck and success.

[@joenalven4056]

This conversation should be repeated but taking a deeper dive on specifics. For example, 'justice' in education is not giving more money to K-12 but allowing more charter schools like Success Academy. That speaks to the responsibility of the institution as well as the parents and students. The school districts have, IMO, lost sight of justice. Maybe I'm wrongheaded, so that's why a deeper dive on such specifics would help us, help me, to better understand meaningful solutions and not terms like justice that can mean different things to different conversationalists.

[@2grown4]

New Subscriber

[@keepsit100atalltime9]

I would like for the interviewer to get to the questions faster.

[@DHFrank]

Thank You! Those were my sentiments exactly. The Interviewee should do most of the talking not the Interviewer.

[@bsiix1576]

Nice that he pushed back a bit

[@siriuslyspeaking9720]

It seems to me that the the word 'respect' means seeing someone as worhty "just because". Our use of love goes beyond "just because". That is why there are different kinds of love. The tendency of some of us, to need to redefine/give new words to existing meanings, causes more problems than what it's worth, from my perspective. Conscious, being real/keeping it real and woke, express the same idea. The application of a new word, for this same idea, suggest that the meaning they share, was not being manifested in people, prior to the new term for it. The pattern has some new term on the horizon, and in reality, its meaning has not been lived up to yet. Changing the term used to disignate it, does not mean it exist in reality.

[@forensicaccountant259]

Do not worry about self definition-your government and criminal justice system will make the ultimate decision for you. Pray that it's not the latter.

[@siriuslyspeaking9720]

To the question of morality in the civil Rights movement - the tactic of non-violent civil disobedience, is rooted in morality. Smiley said - you can't legislate morality - during this exchange, which is true. Morality certainly doesn't seem to be coming from goverment, and so it must come first, from the people. This is the problem I have being on the Left, as I am. We don't ask anything from the people. This is especially true of politicians and activist. To vote and march, is about all we expect from people. The idealism of the Left is limited to being directed at the government, which obviously, a significant part of it, is always not trying to hear much of those kind of ideas. The mentality of vote for me and I'll set you free and power to the people is at play with us. Were is the 'common good' ethic being practiced, in the worst of Black communities? The largest economy is the illicit sale of drugs, and even it operates, as does predatory/exploitative capitalism. Violent imagery and words have been institutionalized into a popular subculture of Black culture, and few speak against it. The dominate culture has even adopted some of it. The Black Church and the Civil Rights Movement, alone with Black music in general use to be the face of Black culture to the world. Now Hip-Hop is, and likely the worst aspects of it. The Right likes to paint the Left as communists. Ironically if we were, pop-culture would be the real 'opiate of the masses' that Marx said religion was. Another irony is that Obamacare is patterned after an original Republican proposal. I would love for Democrats and the Left in general to borrow and implement another old Right proposal - that of a "peace dividend". It was proposed by former President George H.W. Bush and former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in the 90's. They asked the nations of the world to consider giving themselves a 'peace dividend' - to drastically cut military spending so those funds coulds be used to improve the quality of life for their people. We should give ourselves a 'domestic peace dividend' at least. The best way to defund anything is to make it largely not needed. Just insurnace cost of all kinds alone, cost us dearly in wasted revenue. Police and prisons are areas that are not directly life affirming. They represent a disdain for life. The cost to treat and rehabilitate victims of violence, has to be staggering. If the people set the example for morality, what excuse would politicians have, for not follow in that vein? The people could then demand that government waste be stopped and all White collar crimes, be taken more seriously and stiffer punishment given for them. This is the kind of idealism that needs to be made manifest is us all. The central questions are - how much wealth and thus power should one person be allowed to amass, in a world of limited resources? What is a fair amount of pay or compensation, for a person's labor or contribution, to a funished product or service? Compenasation of course most be proportionate to the cost of living/ money's buying power. In a competitive situation, there will be those who win and those who don't win. How then should the person who doesn't win view themselves, and how should society view them? These questions speak to and challenge us on who and what we claim to be - either spiritual/religious beings - the creation of a Supreme Being, who made us the custodians of the planet we live on, or eiither/and evolved enlightened beings, who are the highest form of life.

[@siriuslyspeaking9720]

Race to the overall society, has always acted as a convenient proxy for class. Classism practiced among Black people, is not always economic. It is often values based. People living in the same household often gravitate toward different interests, standards, values, that are often associated with a particular class. We know many times, likely in most cases, the criminal is the exception in a family. The choice is a personal one and mere personality, may be the main factor, as to why one sibling decides to go the straight and narrow path in life, while another chooses a life of crime, or gravitate toward street culture. Smiley called this shunning of this attitude/culture/lifestyle demonizing. People like Michaeal Eric Dyson, call it practicing respectability politics. Neither is true. I wonder if Smiley and Dyson ever or how often, and in what tone, they address the glorification of street/criminal culture, that has been going on, since at least, the advent of Blaxploitation films of the 70's? The institutionalization of the glamorization, emulation, celebration of this culture/lifestyle and those who live it, can be seen in the widespread use of terms like OG, dope, ride-n-die and/or ride-or-die, and the practice of taking on nicknames of historical criminals, as well as naming the communities we live in, with nicknames that depict how violent they are. We seem to not ever question the impact this has on our children, when they take this into their minds. Violence and misogyny are widespread in Hip-Hop. Its 50-year anniversary is being celebrated. It is being advertised as having changed the world. That is consistent with its grandiosity and pretentiousness. It hasn't even changed the communities it came out of. What change is it taking credit for? Other than giving more people the ability to acquire/consume more things they need and want, what advancement has humanity itself achieved? Do we relate to each other better today than in the past? Do we act more sensibly and reasonably? Are we more honest? The current talk of a "reset' because of the pandemic, climate change, and increased police misconduct, and increased racial assaults, suggests the opposite. When was any previous state of our existence ever adequate? Why would smiley use elite people like Michael Jordan & Oprah Winfrey, as examples to gauge the overall advancement of Black people? Siley said " I think we're losing the war to save the majority of our people"? Smiley tied his idea of the "public good' to this question of raising the quality of life, of those living in what is called poverty. I think he needs to expand his notion of the public or common good, to include collective acknowledgement and an agreed upon recognition and adherence to a set of basic human or community values. The first level of policing is the values a people have and the rules/standards they set for the communities they live in. Smiley asking the question of whether the Black poor are so, because of their own doing, is not a proper question. To do so paints all people living on a certain income, with the same brush. Some people manage the income they do have better than others. This is true no matter what class they are in. Everyone does not deal with a similar situation the same. The fundamental point is that individuals have some power over their circumstances. Some maximize this power, while others make little use of it. Smiley asked if enough focus has been put on elevating people out of this condition in question. A better question is why have the efforts to do so failed? It seems that at least around ten percent of the population at any given time, lives at or below the poverty line. So, it seems there is a constant baseline for it. I question whether the war or the wars on poverty actually ever enlisted the people who were the target of the effort. By that I mean were they informed of the purpose of the effort, the importance of it succeeding, and the consequences of it failing? Were they adequately prepared for it, and given specific marching orders - so to speak? Is anyone even today asking how the policy of mixed income communities has been working? The older strategy to reduce poverty by relocation put people in large numbers, into the same communities elsewhere. They simply recreated the problem in the new areas. Putting them in smaller numbers, in even more effluent communities, is hoped to prevent them from creating large pockets of "poverty" conditions. The much better amenities in the new communities, especially schools, are supposed to make a big difference, and the culture within these communities is supposed to, in effect, rub off on them. This newer strategy has been in effect likely a couple of decades now, but our politicians have said nothing about how it is working, Statistics have to exist on it. We all should have been closely monitoring this policy since its inception. The host said the poor were not responsible for their condition, and again this is the wrong or bad answer, to a bad question, that totally misses a key point, which is do people contribute to/make their problems/situation worse? My main problem with Black intellectuals and activists today, is that they ignore this side of the equation, and that gains could be made on this side and much more quickly/easily. Smiley near the end took issue with the personal responsibility issue - saying most of us go to work and pay our taxes, but at the same time he and others want to use the rhetoric that suggest the Black people have been totally decimated by racism in all its forms. Cornell West uses the mantra that we are a resilient people, yet they are reluctant, when not outright opposed to asking us, to conform to basic standards of conduct. They refuse to consider the question of whether we are at fault for allowing a small minority of us to have a disproportionate negative impact on all of us, especially our communities. Smiley made the point of criminality and such, being common to all people. That is like saying misery loves company, in our situation. What can we do with that? The misery is not equal. Ours is greater. The resilience that people like West always speak of produced the old adage among us that "we had to be twice as good to get ahead". Think of this idea when we hear some of us say that "our people sell drugs to survive". White people use and sell as much - maybe more drugs than we do. They also have more guns than we do. Even with the lack of jobs available to them now, because of outsourcing jobs overseas, they don't kill each other, at the rate we do, in using and selling them to each other. We speak words of wisdom like - "when America catches a cold, we get pneumonia" and "we can't act insane - doing the same things over and over again, while expecting different results", but we don't take this wisdom to heart.

[@siriuslyspeaking9720]

The question about the definition of racism, is not a trivial matter. It illustrates a central problem in the social political discourse of today. Two people who don't speak the same language cannot have a conversation. The overwhelming majority of people see racism as prejudice and bigotry. Only Black intellectuals and activist, use the difinition Smiley gave which, is predegated on the presence of power. A simple difinition to me is - prejudice/bigotry in practice. The argument that Black people have no powe, and therefore cannot be prejudice, is silly. Everyone has some degree of power. Their ability to be prejudice, would still be commensurate, with their degree of power, if one subscribed to Smiley's definition.

[@MrBreeze66]

Do these people talk about race all the time?

[@DHFrank]

C’mon Tavis!! C’mon!! Racism is much, much less of an issue today compared to the pre-Civil Rights era in which my Parents grew up. Blacks or any ethnicity that embraces God (not only religion, but being a morally & ethically upright individual), the traditional Family, Education (not the schooling one gets in gov’t schools), and Hard Work will do just fine.

[@artartartart777]

Ok since you mention BLM. How about you invite BLM LA on for a discussion. Tavis has their info.

[@charlesmoore5884]

KINGDOM LIVING. LIVING ON THE OUTSKIRTS. I AM YAHWEH explaining to mankind what it means to live on the outskirts, you are absent from love experiencing what mankind calls hurt. You exist on your own induced pain, inside you are crying out for relief sometimes confusing your tears with rain. I AM YAHWEH here to strengthened and straightened you out, l am your creator and this you must never doubt. When you have placed your eggs in the wrong basket, what seemed like magic can swiftly turn into tragic. I AM YAHWEH and l will explain to you where you went wrong, you must put me first your whole life long. I am now offering you a reprieve, you must believe only in me. Your time is now or never, can you choose a time that seems any better. I am giving you my undivided attention, if you have something on your chest all you have to do is mention. My heart and ears are wide open, my voice is ready to speak to you words never spoken. This is your time for us only, after our communion you will never again be lonely. Speak to me with faith and trust, l will hear you for it is a must. When I make a vow l will certainly keep, l expect the same from you l will constantly repeat. You and I will form our own special connection, this will serve as our daily resurrection. Allow my words and truths serve as helping hands, to be extended for every man. No more living on the outskirts, you and I are one manifesting as experts. Words by l, Charles Moore. Share share share. Be blessed.