On a cold, snowy Saturday morning on Chicago’s South Side, a group of distinguished black leaders met to discuss why the Black Agenda ideology causes consternation. A day before a major Hispanic and Latino march in Washington, D.C and on the same day that Tea Party supporters hurled racial slurs at notable Civil Rights leaders, including U.S. Congressman John Lewis, in protest of the Obama Administration’s history-making Health Care bill, Tavis Smiley assembled a group of leaders to discuss why it’s still a problem for America to support programs developed specifically for African Americans. The “We Count! The Black Agenda is the American Agenda” discussion was held at Chicago State University. The panel included such luminaries as Princeton University professor Dr. Cornel West; Nation of Islam’s Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan; Bennett College president Dr. Julianne Malveaux; and best-selling author Michael Eric Dyson and others.
When Smiley posed the question to Dr. West, “What do you think when you hear black people say, ‘President Obama is not the president of Black America; he’s the president of all America?’” West replied, “Yes he is the president of all America and I’m glad he is, but black people helped make him president of all America.” West’s candid response epitomized the tone of this symposium.
Mission accomplished. The spirited conversation was a call to action for the crowd of over 5,000 people. Stay tuned to rolling out TV for exclusive video from this monumental event. –al weems
