I knew it would not be long before he did something that I could not even fathom accepting. Steve Harvey plans on allowing Paula Deen to mentor 100 Black Youth in the culinary arts:

Harvey is allowing Deen and her team to teach culinary skills to boys from the Steve Harvey Mentoring Camp. Each year 100 fatherless boys attend Harvey’s camp in Dallas during Father’s Day weekend. During their stay the boys are taught principles of manhood and introduced to positive male role models. [1]

I would say that Steve Harvey is working the “racial redemption” angle by allowing Deen to even be around impressionable youth at this moment. Regardless of how anyone feels, Harvey “don’t give a damn” [2]. In all fairness, Steve Harvey is dead fast in his irrational decision making.

I don’t care how he slices this situation up, this so called mentoring is not the best move (at all).

Steve Harvey Pulled a Coon Move

Many of us just have to come to terms with the fact that Steve Harvey will keep doing whatever he believes whether it is stupid or not. Having Paula Deen mentoring anybody’s inner city kids in ANYTHING is a seeming lack of principles and integrity. Responding with an “I don’t give a damn” statement is just another example of him being willingly stupid. Not only is that, but Harvey’s level of stupidity smothered in Paula Deen’s own flavorful denial of responsibility. Once again, Steve Harvey is going to do whatever he figures to be the best decision (logic be damned).

Paula Deen is No Smarter than Steve Harvey

In no way am I implying that Paula Deen has no intellect. But, what I am saying is that Paula Deen seems to be way too ambitious in her efforts. I understand that Deen wants to reconcile with the rest of the Black people inAmerica. However, she should have eased her way into a situation like this (i.e. donations, etc.) instead of going full throttle into a land that is keen on forgiving the non-deserving. In short, Deen jumped the gun on this one.

She IS the woman that made this statement before all of this mess:

“Well what I would really like is a bunch of little niggers to wear long-sleeve white shirts, black shorts and black bow ties, you know in the Shirley Temple days, they used to tap dance around,” Jackson alleges Deen told her. “Now, that would be a true Southern wedding wouldn’t it? But we can’t do that because the media would be on me about that.”

So, how should we REALLY feel? Should we really feel that Paula “still loves us coloreds with her confederate heart”?

The Skinny on Steve Harvey’s Misjudgment

Steve Harvey wanted to make a positive change in both Paula Deen’s life and the connected learning opportunities for inner city children. Yet, he chose to have a known racist (featurally inferred) become a culinary mentor for those that Paula Deen. Steve Harvey could have simply found a Black cook or chef to perform the same duties with no problem. Then again, picking a Black person could mean less conversation, controversy, and show ratings.

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Now of course given that their are currently 14 million Americans unemployed and a total of 25 million unemployed and underemployed. One can assume that with the nations recent greatest transfer of wealth, that folks would support such a gesture by Smiley and West. In particular, Black folks themselves would be welcoming of such a daunting task of traversing the nation showing the many Black faces not seen represented in the media, as the people affected by the economic meltdown which has left many with no other choice than to eat those Satan Sandwiches sugar-coated turd sandwiches with that extra helping of that not-so-secret fuck you french fries on the side.. But, as usual, some of my people are ignorant. Take my cousins in Detroit a few days ago for example. It seems a few of them were against the “Poverty Tour” making a stop last Monday:

DETROIT (WXYZ) – Detroiters have gathered at the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center to protest an event hosted by Tavis Smiley and Cornel West.

West and Smiley host a nationally syndicated public radio program and have faced sharp criticism for their stance against President Obama. They have launched an event they call the “Poverty Tour.”

Councilwoman Joann Watson is also coming under fire for letting them into City Hall and hosting the presentation.

Both Smiley and West told Action News reporter Val Clark that the event is not an anti-Obama tour, but do say they believe the President hasn’t done enough for the poor.

A spokesperson for the community organization “Detroiters for Better Government” says Detroiters will stand united against this event.

“We will not stand silent as Smiley and West criticize the man who brought us health care reform, one of the greatest accomplishments for the poor in our nation’s history,” says David Stephen. This event has nothing to do with the poor and everything to do with enriching Tavis Smiley. Detroit must send a strong message to Washington that although some elected officials may support this anti-Obama rally on government property, the people do not.”

Now I realize that everyone’s entitled to their opinions; and no, Black folk aren’t as monolithic as we’re perceived.; and no we didn’t all vote for Obama because he was Black – we love his white side too. But if this isn’t the most ignorant stuff I’ve heard coming out of Detroit since the internet smash “It’s So Cold In The D,” then I don’t know what is. Lemme keep it real with you: Detroit is the last city in America that should be against the “Poverty Tour”. Don’t let those Chrysler commercials fool you; shit is jacked up in Detroit. As a matter of fact, the state of Michigan lead the country in unemployment before the Great Recession. And to be totally honest with you. My wife is a Detroit native. In recent years, all of my in-laws (like all Black folks living up north have been doing lately) have moved south to Memphis because things are as tough as they are economically in the city of Detroit. They love Obama like I do, but I doubt they’s pack up next week and move back just on the strength of him signing the Affordable Health Care Act. Shit, they don’t even grocery store chains

This story of protests of the “Poverty Tour” last Monday had me shaking my head for the past few days. But then I woke up today and read what Steve Harvey had to say about it over at theloop21 and I was out done. This brother had the nerve to fo into a rant on his radio show last Monday, and basically called Tavis Smiley and Dr. Cornel West “Uncle Tom,” for conducting this tour which highlights poverty in America. Now I respect all that Harvey has done for the community, and his BET Lifetime Achievement Award speaks volumes, I’m sure. But where does this guy get the nerve to call what these brothers are doing as “Uncle Tom” behavior. If you ask me, to be quite honest, Harvey’s comments directed at Smiley and West comes off like “slave-catcher” behavior to me.

maurice Garland at theloop21 writes:

Earlier this week during his syndicated morning radio show, Steve Harvey went in on Tavis Smiley and Dr. Cornel West for their constant criticisms of President Barack Obama.

After reading an email from a listener who insisted that Smiley and West’s current Poverty Bus Tour was nothing more than a hustle, Harvey added his two cents blasting the duo for using personal vendettas to go out and sully the POTUS’ name.

“I was a huge fan of Cornel West,” he said. “[But] Tavis, I seen him coming a mile away. His anger started when he had a town hall meeting, President Obama couldn’t come because of the campaign trail and he sent Mrs. Obama. He has held that grudge every since.”

To West’s squabbles about not getting extra tickets to Obama’s inauguration, Harvey offered, “Have you ever been invited to the damn inauguration? Did Bush send for you? Did Clinton send for you? Did Reagan send for you?”

He continued, “You don’t have any real basis behind your dislike for this man…you keep masking it saying it’s not about hate. Then what is it about? Poverty existed before January 20, 2008. Where was your damn bus then?”

The Original King of Comedy, Family Feud host and suit designer didn’t stop there. After reading Smiley’s request that Obama join him for “a roundtable for two or three days on poverty,” Harvey joked, “Who in the hell got 2-3 days for your ass? I ain’t got time to sit down with your monkey behind for two, three days, let alone the President of the United States. We got three wars going on, the economy crashing and we going to sit down with Tavis ass for three days?”

Harvey ended the rant insisting that somebody is paying Smiley and West to produce the Poverty Tour, asking “where are you getting the money for these buses?” But not before performing a skit where he said he was the president of UTLO.org (which stands out for “Uncle Tom Look Out”) and that he spotted an “uncle tom” driving a bus.

“Make sure you don’t get on the poverty bus,” he mocked. “Because if you ain’t po’, when you ride the bus, you become po’.”

The problem as I see it, is that Harvey, much like many Black folks, cannot separate criticism of policy from the symbolism of Barack Obama being America’s first Black president. Instead, they take constructive criticism of policy as a personal attack, and a reason to make ad hominem attacks. I could be wrong, but wasn’t there a report recently that surmised the economic reality of people of color in America today? Isn’t it by now a well known fact that the recent debt ceiling deal will further marginalize members of an already marginalized and vulnerable group – that would be, working poor and unemployed folks, of whom most are disproportionately women?

Checkout the audio from Steve Harvey:

Listen, I don’t know how much the economy has negatively impacted Steve Harvey. But you can best believe that his Black ass isn’t struggling like the “regular person” in Detroit, and other cities across America. While a large segment og the Black community is struggling to stay afloat, or keep pace with white folks who are twenty times wealthier than we are as we continue to lose what little wealth we’ve accumulated for centuries. It’s a wonder just how we got free back in the days when a few brave souls among us had the courage to say: “Fuck this shit, we ain’t gotta take it anymore!” Not sure if that’s a direct quote from Harriet Tubman, but hopefully you’re intelligent enough to understand unlike a certain horse-teeth-having, ugly-loud-suit-wearing, bald headed, not-so-funny Negro named Steve Harvey, who’s content with us sitting at the back of the bus.

In closing: you can be Black and love Barack Obama all you like; you can seek to protect the symbolism of his presidency all you want from racist attacks. But when you do so, do remember that though he is a Black man with a beautiful Black family. The status quo in America he represents? They damn sure ain’t Black; nor do they sit around worrying about finding jobs. Besides, when exactly did Black folks speaking truth to power become a bad thing in America? After all, don’t we celebrate the birthday of a Black man who got killed for doing the same thing?

Alloew me to make one last point: the poor and “new poor” among us are voters, and are important. In case you didn’t know, nn 2008, Obama won 73 percent of the vote of those earning less than $15,000 a year, 60 percent of those earning between $15,000 and $30,000 and 55 percent of the vote of those earning $30,000 to $50,000. Those were his widest margins of victory of anyincome group and helped to propel him to victory. And as much trouble he is in currently, with the chances of re-election becoming interstingly tougher. Today, there are more people below the poverty line than in 2008; and I’m pretty sure president Obama is going to need all the help he can get in 2012. He might not be able to have a successful push for job creating legislation given the strategy of the GOP. But, he cannot afford to look the part of a defeated lame duck, and expect to win in 2012. It happened to Jimmy Carter, and it can happen again… But y’all don’t hear me tho.

Recommended Reading: In Defense of Tavis and Cornel

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