Features

AAPRC Weekly: Tavis Smiley

AAPRC's Big 10
From his commentaries on the wildly popular "Tom Joyner Morning Show," to National Public Radio (NPR), PBS and your local bookstore, Tavis Smiley has risen to the top of almost every media outlet in existence. You couldn't escape Tavis Smiley if you wanted to––but, then, why would you want to? If you've watched him in action sitting across from interviewees such as President Bill Clinton, Pope John Paul II and Fidel Castro, you know that amongst the sea of pretenders, Smiley is the real thing. He's a journalist for the new century, an erudite, purposeful interviewer with a no-nonsense-no-waffling stand to the left.

His late night television show--"Tavis Smiley"--is the first program in the history of PBS to broadcast from the West Coast, and as host of "The Tavis Smiley Show from NPR," he is the first African American to host a signature talk show on NPR. "The Smiley Report" is heard daily on urban contemporary radio stations across America, and appears twice weekly on the nationally syndicated "Tom Joyner Morning Show."

The former host of the award-winning "BET Tonight with Tavis Smiley" has authored six books. His most recent, Keeping the Faith: Stories of Love, Courage, Healing and Hope from Black America, is an inspiring collection of personal narratives about love, loss and faith by African Americans from all walks of life. His imprint––Smiley Books––with Hay House has created a series of empowerment cards, audiocassettes, mini-books and success seminars.

You are a journalist who clearly does not shy away from activism. You've forged a different path for yourself. Do you think concepts about the separation of journalism and activism are evolving?

I don't know if they're evolving. I have just been blessed with a unique opportunity. It is a difficult process, though. It requires a great deal of compartmentalization. When I'm on NPR and when I'm on PBS, I have to be very clear about being the moderator of those conversations. When I'm on "Tom Joyner" or in my books or in my speeches, I can be much more open about expressing myself…Crossing over that line between moderator and commentator could very well be the death of me or anybody like me…particularly on the news outlets like NPR and PBS. It's not the easiest tightrope to walk. So, I don't know that it's evolving, it's that this is the type of opportunity I've been blessed to have.

What do you see as the greatest challenge for African-American media professionals?

The greatest challenge is having the courage that it requires to represent on behalf of people who are too often denied these opportunities…Dr. [Maya] Angelo says to me all the time: 'Tavis…courage is the greatest of all the virtues because if you don't have courage you can't practice any of the other virtues.' What I find that's lacking when so many people get these opportunities is the courage to ask the questions that other folks won't ask. The courage to raise the issues that other folks won't raise. The courage to address the topics that other folks won't address, and the courage to profile people who would otherwise not be profiled. It would be very easy for me to walk into NPR and PBS everyday and talk to nothing but white folks. That's what PBS is and that's what NPR is, by and large. But my mission is to try to expose that audience––that PBS audience, that NPR audience––to ideas, to interests, to people and concepts that they would otherwise not be exposed to…Our job is to challenge folks to reexamine the assumptions that they have. You can't do that by giving people the same-old, same-old…But sometimes exposing them to new stuff means that you got to have an uncommon kind of courage. Talking to Louis Farrakhan on NPR and PBS doesn't get you much love. Talking to Cornel West and Michael Eric Dyson, because of the viewpoints that they hold, doesn't always get you loved on NPR or PBS. A lot of our interviews are not smart conversations to have if you're trying to protect and preserve your employment record. But the fact of the matter is that people, if they're going to get in this business, and are serious about representing, have got to have the courage to do that.

What's been the most rewarding part of doing the PBS show?

From California to the Carolinas, the response to what we are attempting to do has been one of embrace. Our mission is to introduce Americans to each other, and one of the most significant ways we attempt to do this is to have a show that has the most eclectic guest list of any show on television. So, routinely, we put together theoretical mismatches—divergent viewpoints that can be diametrically different, ideologically, culturally and otherwise. The general rule in television programming seems to be somebody tries something different, it works, and everybody tries the same thing. So television is much too homogenous in terms of programming, if you ask me. To some, what we attempt to do each night might not seem outwardly like a good mix. But it works. The response by the audience speaks to that, and they are telling us that it is refreshing that we're trying something a little different.

You've had the opportunity to meet the most interesting people. What guests have transcended your expectations the most?

What makes our show work and keeps me learning and growing is that, sometimes, the things that you don't expect to be entertained by, to not be enlightened or empowered by are the very conversations that make you reexamine, rethink and reassess. It happens to me on the show every week.

My most dramatic experience of this was on my old television show when I interviewed Fidel Castro. I was absolutely fascinated but also apprehensive...because of what he represents on the world stage. While one can take legitimate issue with him on a number of things, including human rights, he is without question one of the most charismatic persons I've ever met, quite disarming. I learned a number of things from this, not the least of which was that charisma is an interesting notion, and people can use it for various purposes, both good and bad. Before that moment, when I thought of charisma, I thought of John Kennedy, Dr. King, Robert Kennedy, Sidney Poitier, and Gregory Peck. Charisma and dictatorship were oxymoronic to me.

On the very first week of my show, Essie Mae Washington Williams, Strom Thurmond's daughter, made the strongest impression. Here's a woman––for all the media hype about who she was and her relationship with Strom Thurmond––I found in her to be quite normal, loving, and an everyday person that I was pleased to meet. She was very kind and charming, every bit like my grandmother. I had been prepared to dislike this woman because of her connection to such a staunch segregationist. But it was the opposite. It taught me a lot of lessons, reinforcing that old saying; you can choose your friends but not your family. Of all the things I've done thus far, that was one of the more shocking to me personally.

With the limited amount of time you have with each guest, what are your secret techniques for getting such interesting content?

I think what makes the conversations interesting, although they are brief, is that I don't have an agenda. I want to have a good conversation. Yes, I do my research and have in mind anecdotes, questions and issues I think are interesting. But, if the conversation doesn't move in that direction, I follow the conversation. As human beings, we communicate with each other every day. The most interesting conversations are not planned; they're spontaneous. And that's what makes the show work, and that's how we get such good stuff in a short period of time.

In the years since leaving BET, you've been extraordinarily busy. You're a one-man media conglomerate. What drives you? What is it that you hope to accomplish?

Cornel West, my dear friend and the great intellectual, says all the time to me: 'Tavis, you cannot lead the people if you don't love the people, and you can't save the people if you're not willing to serve the people.' At my very core, the essence of who I am, is caring about people. I care about trying to enlighten, encourage and empower people. Those are the three "Es" that I live by: to enlighten people, to encourage people, and to empower people...The reason why I am on television, the reason why I am on radio, is not because I went to school to study and to major in journalism. I started out years ago as an advocate, as one who was in the community trying to empower people socially, politically and economically...[I went] from inside the political arena, working for Tom Bradley who was Mayor of Los Angeles, to outside the political arena, working for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in their L.A. office, to a number of other projects inside and outside the political arena. I tried to spend my life loving the people and trying to serve the people, because that's what matters to me. That is a part of who I am––having grown up in a family of nine brothers and sisters. I've always been very much a people person and very much interested in helping people who grew up in impoverished and disenfranchised situations, much like I did. Now, the point of all that is that I was first and foremost an advocate...The radio, the T.V. and the publishing opportunities came as a result of my advocacy work, not the other way around. So, I, quite frankly, never use the word journalist. I am not a journalist...I prefer to say [I'm] a person who cares about people, who works on a variety of different issues that he's passionate about, and has the opportunity to do radio and television and write books.

What has it been like for you, personally, to have the workload of doing the shows simultaneously on PBS and NPR plus early morning appearances on the Tom Joyner Morning Show—how are you keeping it going?

Admittedly, for the first few months, it was a challenge trying to navigate and balance what has become my life. I get up on East Coast time and go to bed on West Coast time. It is a challenge—there's no magic wand—it's a balancing act and I'm still in the process of making it work better. It is a personal growth journey for me—to be more disciplined, more focused, compartmentalizing even better. I have gotten better over the last few months at listening to my body—that's the most significant lesson I've learned. As human beings, God has given us this instrument called a body and if we would listen and pay attention to what it is telling us, we'd be a lot better off...Sometimes my body says, “Shut it down.” And when it does that, there have been certain days when I've had to readjust my schedule to go home when I finish my work and take a nap. In short, at nearly 40 years old, I am learning to listen to my body. It's the only reason why I've been able to maintain the schedule.

The race for President must be pretty high on your radar right now. It seems as though the current media coverage is all about hot button issues, headline grabbers. What do you see as the most important issues?

There are three issues that I've been raising all along. One is, how much longer do people of color have to wait for...someone serious to be considered as a running mate. I don't know that I'm interested in voting for anybody––just as a voter––who can't put somebody of color or a woman seriously considered on their short list. That's number one. Number two, if we're talking about John Kerry, the question is 'what have you done for me lately?' Now that Kerry is the presumptive nominee, everybody in the Democratic Party is going to support John Kerry––that's understood. But when the Congressional Black Caucus had a choice of who they wanted to endorse, they did not go with John Kerry. Almost the entire Caucus went with Howard Dean. So what was it about Howard Dean's record that attracted them, and what was it about John Kerry's record in the Senate for 20-something years that did not excite the Congressional Black Caucus? So, I'm not sure that John Kerry has earned the African-American vote, and I've raised that issue. The third issue that has to be raised is why it is that the Democratic Party continues to take African-American voters for granted, and the Republican Party all but ignores African-American voters? I think that every voter has to make the choice that's best for him or her, but those are some of the issues that I would be covering.

In the past year, has there been any moment––a project or story––that has really affirmed what you've chosen to do with your life?

That's a very good question. The answer is, every day. There isn't a particular story; it's the opportunity that I have to do these stories. Every single day that I wake up, I think God for the opportunity to do what I do as an African-American in this profession. I'm the first African-American to have his own signature talk show in the history of National Public Radio. I'm the first African-American to have his own nightly talk show on PBS––in the history of PBS. These networks have both been around for over 30 years...I'm the only one that looks like me doing what it is that I do, and I think that means something and I've got to take that seriously in terms of always earning and never betraying the trust––of listeners or viewers, period––but certainly of those African-American listeners and viewers.

When you were a child, did you have a sense that great things would happen for you?

My public life began shortly after I did a one-man dramatic performance at my church, at age 13, of James Weldon Johnson's work “The Creation.” I began to hit the lecture circuit in my home state of Indiana from that point on.

One of the blessings of being an African-American is that I have been embraced by my community for as long as I can remember. I have heard from everybody in my circle their expectation: that I would make significant contributions. What I have learned over the years, as Dr. King said––is that anybody can be great, because anyone can serve. All it takes is a heart full of grace and a soul generated by love. The people we most admire in history, people like Dr. King, Robert Kennedy, Mahatma Gandhi, Rosa Parks, Mother Teresa, Nelson Mandela –– they all found a way to serve, to make a contribution to make life better for the rest of us...Our service is the rent we pay for the space we occupy.

AAPRC's Mission
The African-American Public Relations Collective (AAPRC) is an assemblage of professionals who provide communication conduits among clients, journalists, media and our communities. We come together as a collective because we recognize the importance of building those same conduits amongst ourselves.

A great deal of what we do is professional development––updating our skills, keeping pace with technology, refining and streamlining processes, providing a forum to tackle the issues that impact our work environment––but we believe our professional lives benefit most from the forging of effective alliances. Connected to one another, we possess the power of a nationwide body of committed, knowledgeable practitioners with an eye on the future.

As we move into the 21st century at lightning speed, mass media and its potent messages occupy an ever-larger part of our daily lives and our collective psyche. The AAPRC is focused on helping our members gain a deeper understanding of media's force and supporting their growth as powerful participants in the global communications network.

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