Tavis Smiley on His "We Count!" Conference and Why America Needs the Black Agenda

Kathleen Wells: On March 20, you will convene 12 prolific African-American thought leaders, opinion makers, scholars, analysts, and elected officials in Chicago for "We Count! - The Black Agenda is the American Agenda." Talk to me about your motivation to have the conference, why the necessity for this conference, and what would you like to see accomplished?

Tavis Smiley: I feel compelled to moderate this conversation about the need for a black agenda, how you do that in the era of Obama, and especially in a so-called post-racial America. When there are black leaders who start to suggest, publicly, that this or any President doesn't necessarily need to address the black agenda - the concerns of black people, uniquely - that's troubling for me, and, again, the troubling nature of it compelled me to have this conversation, because I'm not so sure -- that we -- black folk agree with that.

Not that black folks are a monolithic, but certainly a conversation needs to be had, I think, about whether or not it is a good strategy for us to ever tell any President that he or she doesn't need to address a black agenda, because I don't think that moral authority is like a set of keys that you just lay down and pick back up at your convenience when you need them. If you give one President a pass, it's going to be hard to come back to the next President and demand accountability of him or her.

Source: AlterNet | Kathleen Wells for Race Talk