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By J. MATTHEW COBB ACCORDING TO THE CELEBRITY SNITCH on this week's Friday episode of the Tom Joyner Morning Show, he claimed the 'Bama of the Week' was Tavis Smiley; due to his announcement of leaving the TJMS. But maybe the real 'Bama of the Week' should be accredited to Tom Joyner himself. Tavis Smiley, a popular commentator and advocate for civil rights and political justice in the African-American community and the proud host of the syndicated-PBS show The Tavis Smiley Show, has been receiving bad flack from Barack Obama supporters - primarily African-Americans - for his disposition on Obama's decisions to not appear at the State of the Black Union conference in February and for failing to appear at the Dr. King 40th anniversary of his death in Memphis last week. Democratic nominee Sen. Hillary Clinton and Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain both appeared, along with civil rights leaders Rev. Jesse Jackson and Rev. Al Sharpton. The latter was recently discussed by Smiley on his television show and on the TJMS and caused alot of Obama supporters to lash out against Smiley's questioning of Obama's absence. All this led to this week's ultimate decision from Smiley to depart ways from the TJMS. But it was Joyner's statement, replacing Smiley's obvious absence, that may have struck a chord of "drama" between both parties. "Well, you did it," Joyner remarked as he spoke to his faithful listeners. "This isn’t the way you wanted it to happen, but it happened anyway. Just like I knew it would." The words from Tom Joyner almost felt prophetic and could easily be compared to the cruel words of American Idol host Ryan Secrest on AI when he summoned Michael Johns' dismissal during the "Idol Gives Back" show. "I got a call from Tavis on yesterday. And he told me he was quitting the show. He told me the reason was that he was tired and has a lot of things going on, and he feels that now is a good time to leave the show.We all know that isn’t the real reason he’s leaving the show. The real reason is that he can’t take the hate he’s been getting regarding the Barack issue — hate from the black people that he loves so much. He needed to feel the love. We all do, whether it’s from our radio audience or from people we know personally. He wasn’t feeling any love, so he quit." Joyner tried to defend his old colleague and friend on the Friday show's airing, but it just didn't work. Smiley's departure was enough - and he gives a good idea of how divided African-Americans are really when it comes to modern issues and even the cloudy discussions regarding race and religion. If you thought that the presidential race and African Americans' longtime support for the Clintons being tested was enough, losing a person like Tavis Smiley - an outspoken and compassionate figure within the black community - is another thing. And the sharp divide continues to escalate. I have personally been attacked because I was a proud supporter of Sen. Hillary Clinton. And I am not ashamed of my endorsement - and refuse to walk away from that decision. I will not make a personal decision to vote for a candidate just because the immediate public likes them or because they are my race. I am voting for a candidate that I believe in, have confidence in, and feel is the best person for the job. And just because I am in support or in favor for one candidate, it doesn't mean that I hate or disregard any other person in public office. But I feel that happens to be the case with the majority of African-Americans. We can only have one hero at the top. One superstar. Not many, but one. Plenty of Indians, but only one chief (no pun intended, just an observation). And I will become even more transparent in discussing how so many of my so-called friends protested against me because of my support for Sen. Clinton. And race always comes up. Statements like "You are black...how dare you go against your own people" and "You are betraying your own people" began to fill up my MySpace mailbox. I never questioned their motives of voting for Obama - partially because I figured most black people would support him. But they jumped at me, from gospel artists to radio announcers, and I started to realize the God honest truth that black America is more divided than we fail to realize. The important dialogue regarding Rev. Wright's sound bytes are just a fraction of the paranoia we as black Americans have about race. In reality, the vision and ideology of Dr. King has not been fulfilled - proving that we still have a long, long way to go. Also this week, longtime supporters of American Airlines announced their disgust towards the company due to the cancellations of hundreds of flights. Some have protested with claims that they would no longer fly on the renowned airline. Last week, vodka lovers of Absolut in America protested against the Mexico border ads showing California, Texas and southern parts of the U.S. being engulfed into Mexican territory; threatening the company's reputation and ultimately hurting their sales. All of these news lines should have shown African-Americans how to speak out and to send signals to a candidate that they voted for. When Smiley spoke about the many blacks that personally walked up to him and were upset about his failure to appear in Memphis during King's 40th anniversary of his assassination, that was enough to fire up some kind of dialogue for change in the Obama campaign. Even Dr. Cornel West, a longtime supporter of Obama and Clinton, spoke of his sadness regarding Obama's failure to attend the Memphis ceremonies. But instead, the fire reversed; hurting Smiley, his reputation with blacks and finally creating a division from the TJMS. What should have happened - just like protesters of Absolut and American Airlines - we should have protested against the TJMS and demanded blacks to wake up and smell the real coffee and demanded, at least, an apology from Obama. McCain apologized, why couldn't Obama? Still, the heat goes on - seen through the eyes of Laura Washington of the Chicago-Sun Times, as she spoke out against Smiley in an online commentary: Not all agree with Washington. Michael Fauntroy of the Huffington Post remarked about Smiley's unexpected departure: "His departure is disappointing and reveals what happens when one has the audacity of independent thought. Tavis has the temerity to think for himself, ask black people difficult questions, and avoid the temptation to look at matters through rose-colored glasses. No good deed goes unpunished and Smiley's prize has been blistering, often off-based criticism from some longtime TJMS listeners who think that Tavis has crossed the line for not joining the fawning over Senator Barack Obama's presidential campaign. Undoubtedly, the listener reaction to his position helped push him out of the door...Too bad your people didn't appreciate what you were trying to do. Worse, still, is that they took your approach for hatin' on Obama or, ridiculously, that you're in the Clinton's pocket." In conclusion, the fueling of black America's griping against Smiley - seen on blogs, Youtube and MySpace pages - are totally obvious. Washington's remarks are just a few negative comments that have spearheaded damaging relations with Smiley and the black community. You can really sense the disgust African-Americans have against Smiley's rule of thought - which actually makes sense. It just goes to show you - we have a long way to go. And we still don't know how to get to that ephinany of a mountain top that Dr. King proudly spoke of before his untimely death. OTHER VALUABLE RESOURCES TO LOOK INTO:
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