Skip to main content

Smiley and West: The Rich and the Rest of Us

Talk show host Tavis Smiley, and former Princeton professor, Dr. Cornel West continue their fight for the poor with a new book titled The Rich and the Rest of Us: A Poverty Manifesto which the two men say is the next step in the journey that began with “The Poverty Tour: A Call to Conscience.”

Cornell West and Tavis Smiley's latest venture: The Rich and the Rest of Us.  Photo/CD Brown.
"There are nearly 150 million poor and near poor people in America who are not responsible for the damage done by the Great Recession. Yet they pay the price. The poor did not create the deindustrialization of America, unmatched corporate profiteering and greed, more than a decade of foreign wars, and unregulated tax benefits for the wealthy. When the largest economic institutions in the world were brought to their collective knees, they went crawling to the government’s doorstep in search of salvation. The government obliged, allowing Wall Street to socialize its failure on the backs of Main Street Americans. The housing and jobs crisis they created fostered a poverty unseen in generations—not just in inner-city ghettos and barrios, but also in suburbs and rural areas crossing racial, age, and gender lines. Nearly one-third of the American middle class—mostly families with children—have fallen into poverty.”

Tavis Smiley (standing) and Dr. Cornel West lecture at Georgetown University.  Photo/CD Brown.
The two collaborators held a noon-time book signing at Barnes & Noble and continued with a lecture at Georgetown University where they discussed a new paradigm taking hold: poverty among of the former middle class, women, and children.

Said Tavis Smiley, "Women and children have fallen faster into poverty than anybody else."
Smiley, along with West, are calling for a White House conference to discuss the issue of poverty.

"Great presidents are not born, they have to be pushed into their greatness", Smiley said.  "There is no FDR without A. Phillip Randolph pushing him.  There is no Abraham Lincoln without Frederick Douglas pushing him. There is no LBJ without MLK pushing him."

Smiley and West say they aren't bashing the president, but if something isn't done to 'push' Barack Obama, "or whoever is to come, then this country will never, ever come to true terms with the least among us." 

"22% of our precious children live in poverty in the richest nation of the world. That is a moral obscenity", said West.

The president wasn't the only person being held to task.  The two took on institutions of racism that have perpetuated the systematic processes of poverty in America.

"We got the new Jim Crow out there", said West.  "We got the prison industrial complex out there.  We got trigger happy police out there.  We got racial discrimination in the workplace out there."

West and Smiley's book tour continues in these areas.






























































You can watch a podcast of the lecture here.

For more info, visit. www.therichandtherestofus.com.

Video:   Smiley, West show love for Dick Gregory.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

2022 Medal of Freedom Awards Given at White House

The 2022 class of the Medal of Freedom included the likes of attorney and civil rights activist Fred Gray , Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, U.S. Oylmpic medalist Simone Biles , Khizr Khan  and the first person to take the COVID-19 vaccination, Ms. Sandra Lindsay, and SNCC founding member Diane Nash . The event, held in the East Room of the White House, honored these individuals because of their significant contributions and impact to society.  Specifically, the award is "an especially meritorious contribution to the security or national interest of the United States, world peace, cultural or other significant public or private endeavors."  "This is America", said President Biden.     Actor, producer Denzel Washington also made the awardee list, but was unable to attend because of a positive COVID-19 test (to the disappointment, and dismay, of many). President Biden described Washington as "a man who couldn't be here today, but wanted to be."  The p...
Post a Comment
Read more

DC August Job Fair Alert: 1,000 open positions; scholarships and more!

O n Thursday, August 11 and Friday, August 12 , the Mayor's office will hold a virtual DC Government Summer Hiring Fair with more than 1,000 positions open across DC Government. If you are a DC resident, you can claim preference when applying for a job at DC Government. Registration is now open and will remain open until August 7.  DCHR is also hosting a seminar on Friday, August 5 to help participants prepare for the job fair.  You can register for the job fair and learn more about the prep session at   dc.gov/JoinOurTeam .   DC Scholarships Families can now apply for scholarships of up to $10,000 to cover the cost of after school, weekend, summer, and other out-of-school time programs and activities.  Applications are currently being accepted and will be reviewed on a rolling basis. Some examples of programs that are supported by the scholarship include, but are not limited to: academic enrichment, tutoring, mentoring, athletics, dance, coding, STEM, pr...
Post a Comment
Read more

"Children Have a Right To Learn About Our Past"

Tracking CRT While many on the right have opposing viewpoints about the critically acclaimed phenomenon that is CRT (Critical Race Theory) that would teach the truth about the founding of America, groups like the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights say 'children have a right to learn about our past." In a press release on Wednesday, the LCCHR writes the following: WASHINGTON  – In light of the ongoing attempts to whitewash and erase the history of the United States, The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, along with 79 civil rights and education organizations, today released a response condemning the attacks on critical race theory, culturally responsive curricula, and diversity, equity, and inclusion.  The full response is below and available  here .  “All students deserve access to an education that prepares them to succeed in college, career, and life and to fully exercise their social, political, and economic rights. Attempting to gag ed...
Post a Comment
Read more