By Entertainment Correspondent, John Frazier

Black folks, some, not all, are upset with Tavis Smiley which drove him to quit the Tom Joyner show, according to some sources. It's been said that Tavis really loves Black America and is extremely hurt that he's been criticized for not being favorable of Senator Barack Obama.

 

Smiley resigned, his last day is the end of June 2008. He's gone on record to say that he's catching hell on his refusal of accepting the offer for Mrs. Obama to stand in for her husband, the possible new President of the United States. It appears that Tavis invited the candidates to appear on his show and Obama declined the invitation, offering to send his wife, Michelle. Smiley refused.

"I love Michelle Obama, and I have a great respect and admiration for her, but we have a precedent," he said. "This is about the candidates. If Hillary Clinton had offered me Bill Clinton, I would have said no.", end quote. Personally, if Tavis had been offered President Bill Clinton, I'm not sure that he would have said no.

 

However, in the same voice, Smiley claims that he never received any communication from Obama's people offering Michelle Obama, never received a call or a note or e-mail.

So how did this get started? Perhaps the problem was communication on both sides. If two white people had this situation it might not be as big a deal, however, since this is the first time that an African-American male could become President of the United States, North America, perhaps the Black community will not accept anyone getting in the way of this possibility. Through out our history it disappears that we have turned on each other, backstabbed each other as we are reminded of slavery from Africa, and the American Indian, which for a lot of us, this blood runs through our veins. As our Jewish brothers and sisters are known to say, "Never again!"

Tavis Smiley has been a positive force in getting the news out there in regard to Black people and all people, through his interviews on PBS and any outlet available. He's reminded us about what happened and what's going on in New Orleans.

Someone once said that we should be careful and pick our fights wisely. As for Mr. Smiley, hang in there, we, people of color, are a forgiving, spiritual people. If you are guilty, in time you will be forgiven.

You read it first at GBMNews.com