The State of Tavis Smiley's World

For the first time in years, I tuned in to C-Span for Tavis Smiley's "State of the Black Union." I had tuned out the annual conference because it had become too much about Smiley, his books, his projects, and his posse of academic and political elites.

Within minutes, Smiley was plugging his forthcoming book, "Accountable: Making the Covenant Real," and promoting his latest project, "America I AM: The African American Imprint," a traveling museum exhibition sponsored by Wal-Mart.

I was motivated to watch the talkfest by the hundreds of thoughtful comments in response to my earlier post. The Black Voices community has convinced me that Barack Obama made the right decision to stay on the campaign trail. And that Smiley should "get over himself" and "shut the hell up."

Well, that's not likely to happen anytime soon. As the day dragged on, Smiley made it clear that in his world, "politicians should be held accountable for their actions on social justice issues." Fair enough.

But Smiley should be held accountable for organizing a conference on "recasting our future" whose "title sponsor," Wells Fargo, is a key player in the subprime mortgage meltdown. Prof. Michael Eric Dyson noted that the subprime crisis has led to the "greatest bleeding off of wealth in the history of this nation."

The subprime mortgage scheme has recast the future for African American homeowners who are facing foreclosure. Indeed, Angela Glover Blackwell said: "The wealth in the black community is being decimated by the mortgage crisis."

Baltimore has filed a lawsuit against Wells Fargo alleging the bank intentionally targeted African Americans for high-interest mortgages in violation of federal law. Similar lawsuits have been filed against Wells Fargo by the city of Cleveland and the NAACP.

So, while Smiley pleaded for "a language of love as we make our choices" between Obama and Hillary Clinton (read: cut him some slack), he showed no love for Wells Fargo's victims. By the time Smiley is out promoting his book on accountability next year, thousands of Wells Fargo's borrowers will be out of their homes.

Smiley asked participants to give it up for the "free seat" made possible by Wells Fargo and his other corporate sponsors. That "free seat" was partly paid for by African Americans who were taken for a ride in their pursuit of the American dream of homeownership.