Dyson is Wrong.

Alright, folks. Let me begin by saying I have several bones to pick with some of my brothers in the public eye, two of them in particular: Dr. Michael Eric Dyson, and Tavis Smiley. One brother I continue to respect while the other I have lost any and all respect for. Can you guess which one I’m talking about? Yeah, you guessed it. Michael Eric Dyson. I’m going to touch on Tavis too but right now I gotta set my boy, Dyson, straight.

As some of you may already know I began my assault on Dyson in my previous entry about Debra Dickerson. I was infuriated when Dyson thoughtlessly and irresponsibly lamblasted Cosby for the tough love he administered to poor blacks in his tour around the country. Not only did Dyson have the gall to ridicule Cosby, he also plugged his sorry ass book (which I’m still not going to provide a link to) entitled: “Is Cosby Right?” while being interviewed by Mrs. Dickerson on  C-SPAN, and publicly challenged Cosby to a televised debate.

As if that wasn’t enough, Dyson went on NPR news and said:  “Cosby’s overemphasis on personal responsibility, not structural features, wrongly locates the source of poor black suffering — and by implication its remedy — in the lives of the poor. When you think problems are personal, you think solutions are the same. “If only the poor were willing to work harder, act better, get better educated, stay out of jail and parent more effectively, their problems would go away.” By now you’d be thinking to yourself that Dyson would  shut the hell up - I’m sure as hell waiting on a commercial break or something. Damn. But in his eagerness to push his book, “Is Cosby Wrong?” to the public and ride his rising fame he continued to run his mouth. Now, before I continue folks, don’t get me wrong. I admire and respect Dr. Dyson’s accomplishments. I admire and respect his intellect, intelligence, and his unmatched skills of scholarly articulation. But the brother has this uncanny ability to stick his foot so far up his damn mouth he shits his own shoelaces. Dyson goes on to say that Cosby’s comments are: ”……classist elitist and rooted in generational warfare.” Well, Michael, my boy, don’t think in a country where black scholars are in abundance that your own egomaniacal comments would go unchallenged. Tavis Smiley interviewed Dr. Cornell West  (listen to the broadcast) on yes, once again, NPR news (You’ll find out why I’m emphasizing NPR later) and asked Dr. West to comment on Dyson’s ignorant, disrespectful, out of touch, and uninformed rant. Brother West responded by saying about Dyson:  “Yeah, well, you know I love brother Dyson very deeply. Dyson is usually correct about 95% [ jokingly emphasizing 95%] of the time but………..if that’s all he said then I’d have to say I disagree with my brother lovingly.” Dr. West goes on in the interview to pretty much speak in defense of Cosby’s tough love.

Now, being the man that Cosby is and the position he’s in he did exactly what I would have done. Not only did Cosby not take Dyson up on his public challenge he didn’t even acknowledge Dyson’s  half-witted existence. Oh, but don’t think Cosby wasn’t aware of what Dyson said about him. As Cosby delivered his speech on the stage at his “A Call Out With Bill Cosby” venue in Washington D.C. a dude in the audience heckled Cosby, saying: “Dyson was right about you!”  my Boy, Cosby, jumped off of the stage, ran up to the heckler and confronted him, saying: “The guy who calls me elitist, who is he? A professor at the University of Pennsylvania. And how much does it cost to go there?”  Cosby has devoted over 45 years and millions of dollars to enlightening and empowering black America. He has earned the right to say whatever he feels about black people as Dr. Cornell West said: “As long as its done lovingly and for love of black people.”

Now it’s time for me to tap my brother, Tavis Smiley, on the back for a minute and tell him what’s up. Tavis is another brother I have emense respect for but he also has a tendency to whine a little too much. I’ve listened to Tavis since his days when he was on The Tom Joyner Morning Show once a week. He really caught my attention when he spearheaded a situation where he intercepted a racist memo from KATZ radio that suggested they shouldn’t air ads for blacks when the majority of their listening audience was black. Together with Tom Joyner they made incredible headway in surfacing KATZ radio’s racist practices. Later on down the line when Tavis found out BET was going to kick him to the curb he cried and cried all day on Tom Joyner’s radio show. Okay, I was there in your corner for you, Tavis. Lord know I knew you had the talent, determination, and ambition to keep on keepin’ on.  And as I predicted, Tavis continued with his career in various capacities. Now, Smiley decided to tell NPR news to kiss his ass, saying:

“…..I have come to care even more for public radio and its social, cultural and intellectual potential. Yet, after all that we’ve accomplished towards our goal of seeking a broader, more diverse and younger audience for public radio, NPR’s own research has confirmed that NPR has simply failed to meaningfully reach out to a broad spectrum of Americans who would benefit from public radio, but simply don’t know it exists or what it offers. In the most multicultural, multiethnic and multiracial America ever —- I believe that NPR can and must do better in the future. “

This reminds me of the time I interviewed for a position as a graphic designer for a local graphic design firm. I pitched a flawless presentation and demonstrated that I had superior knowledge and abilities at the time. The guy that interviewed me was so impressed he was rendered speechless. What came next was literally a slap in the face. The dude looked me straight in the eyes and said. “Mr. Burnett you have shown to me that you are a very talented artist and graphic designer. You are very intelligent and articulate but most of the clientel I have will not want to work with a black person.” Yes. This man actually sat there behind his desk and actually told me that to my face.

I was shocked. I was paralized with rage and embarrassment that I wasted an hour and a half talking to this man only for him to reveal to me that he’s a damn racist son-of-a-bitch. Sure, I could have contacted the media and handed his ass to him on a platter but that’s not my style. Hell, back then, and even now, my mindset is to press forward and not let any asshole tell me what I can or can’t do. I didn’t say a damn thing. I kept interviewing and landed my first professional job as a graphic designer at another firm two semesters before I even graduated from college.

I know I’m not on that level with you, Tavis, but please tell me why you pulling the racial card on NPR news? Especially when NPR has a brother like Juan Williams (pictured right) as a senior news correspondant? I wander what Mr. Williams has to say about NPR not being multiculturally correct? I was there with you when you cried about your former boss, Mr. Johnson, not giving you the time of day but now you’re throwing daggers at NPR news? NPR happens to be one of my favorite radio programs. Hell, I listen to NPR morning, noon, and night and nearly seven days a week. and I’ve listened to them since my freshman year in college. About 90% of the current events I hear about on the local, national and international level I get from NPR. You can’t get the kind of news coverage on mainstream media news like you can on NPR. I’m not necessarily in defense of NPR as I am just telling you, Tavis Smiley, to stop whinning.

You were born and raised in the United States of America and you know we black people stil have a long way to go no matter what the topic at hand is on the table. I ain’t mad at ya, Tavis. I’m just giving you a lil’ tough love. Hell, I’ve been kicked off of a lot of discussion boards and forums for my rather aggressive approach to expressing myself but guess what? I finally got off of my lazy, procrastinating ass and started up my own blog. It’s time for you to man up, Tavis. Do what you gotta do by any means necessary and don’t look back.  As for you, Dyson,  I ain’t through with you yet, homie. Mid-life crisis dude trying to pass himself off as what? An ivy league gangsta? An intelligent thug? Get the hell outta here. Yo ass is crazy -and you can quote me on that. You may have a superior vocabulary and ability to aggressively articulate yourself but you wouldn’t get away with throwing your weight around on the air like you did with Debra Dickerson. I’ll come back to you at a later time so don’t try to leave the country or nothin’.

Comments

[Zen]

Good post! these "brothers" that talk smack about the "Cos", but have not done half as much as him to help, give me the Ass!!