Listen to Michael Eric Dyson discuss his heated conversation with Jesse Lee Peterson. They both appeared on TJ Holmes new show on BET. Share your thoughts.
Last week Michael Eric Dyson called out Roland Martin, Rev. Jamal Bryant and Sophia Nelson on the same sex marriage issue. He did it without giving them the opportunity to respond. Last night Sophia Nelson did get that opportunity to eloquently render her biblically sanctioned response. Dyson did apologize for the initial way he handled it, but he stood by his opinion. Dyson has evolved like the president and the evolutionists believe everyone should make the transition, but Nelson like many in the faith community have not.
A picture is worth 1000 words. What does this picture say? It just does not look like a lovefest. Smiley and some of the notables that took part in his discussion in Chicago look defeated, but why? Yes, things are not good in Black America. We have the largest percent of unemployed workers and there are no jobs to be had in our community, but what can be done to change this situation? This is not a situation that we got into overnight and it can not just be solved by the president. Yes, our issues are important but the president is president to all the people, and whether Smiley accepts it or not there is not going to be a black agenda in this current administration. Smiley said “We love Barack Obama. We want him to be a great president. We believe he can be a great president, but great presidents aren’t born, they are made. They have to be pushed into their greatness. They are pushed into their greatness when we hold them accountable.” I agree with Smiley on this point but we must all be accountable including Smiley.
This morning on the Today Show Matt Lauer interviewed Michael Eric Dyson and radio host Michael Smerconish and asked them to weigh in on the controversy. Smerconish said while he is a supporter of the president he disagreed with his assessment of the police, but the more important point he made was the way people look (race) tends to color how they see this situation. President Obama said he did not know what happened in that house, but even without knowing the specifics he knows that once the professor had satisfied the fact that he was in his own home the inquiry should have been over. It is true that President Obama is seeing this situation from the lens of a black man. Michael Eric Dyson affirmed the president’s opinion that the police did act stupidly. The policeman said the professor was uncooperative. What does that mean? I have watched so many white journalists over the past few days say they too would have been uncooperative and belligerant if a policeman came in their home, and even after they complied with the officers request still being told to step outside. Let’s just take the color issue out of the equation why did the officer want Professor Gates to come outside? He wanted him to come outside because he wanted to arrest him. Why did he want to arrest him? He was not breaking and entering wasn’t that the reason they came in the first place? No, he wanted to teach the teacher a lesson. He wanted to let this black guy know who was boss. It reminds me of the old saying “what do you call a black professor?” If you are black you know the answer, and if you can answer the question then you know why Professor Gates is mad and he simply refused to take it anymore.
When Eric Holder spoke earlier this week he declared America a “nation of cowards” when it comes to the subject of race. On Thursday’s Hardball Mike Barnicle discussed the issue with Pat Buchanan and Michael Dyson. Buchanan was offended by the remark which should not surprise anyone. Buchanan seems to think anytime a person of color questions anything in America he should have his “freedom papers” revoked. Someone needs to let him know we are free and as free men we have a right to an opinion different than the majority. Dyson tried to explain that Holder was not indicting America but challenging America. Race is still a taboo subject. We will freely discuss race among members of our own race but we rarely will discuss it with members of other races for fear of offending someone. So many people are under the delusion that the election Of President Obama means we have arrived. We have not reached the mountaintop, there are still real issues that still need to be addressed and we should be able to do it without creating a firestorm. Buchanan associates the discussion as another opportunity for African-Americans to grieve or place blame, but to bring an issue to the surface is not playing the blame game. After the show was over we had just witnessed another reason why this volatile subject is still taboo.
