Al Sharpton and Tavis Smiley Slug It Out

This is why there is no unified agenda for Black America. Too many egos.

Tavis is pissed off because no one is paying attention to his book now that we have a Black President. He has no political or social base to rally and is becoming irrelevant.

Sharpton is the supreme ego maniac. He over reacts to the slightest criticism by loud talking and talking over his opponent, like O'Reiley and Beck. He takes great offense to any criticism whatsoever from the Black community. How dare you challenge the king!

In this case both are right. Sharpton was correct to advise the President not to "ballyhoo" a Black agenda, and Tavis was right to call him on it. Al could have simply clarified his response and reviewed the timeline with Tavis in a calm and respectful manner without getting ghetto.

Neither addressed the central question. What is the Black agenda? They were both so caught up on the who said what, that the central question was lost. Who gives a fuck about when invitations were sent out and who called whom? These are petty arguments which distract from the major issues.

Throughout our history, Black leaders from Booker T Washington to WEB DuBois to Martin Luther King to Malcolm X have respectfully disagreed on the Black agenda and how best to achieve our goals. Egos were always a factor, but, never to this extent. White folks are having a field day watching these two ego maniacs go toe to toe.

Both are too full of themselves to apologize, meet privately to discuss differences, and present a unified front.

The time for new leadership is now.