Smiley

BlackEnterprise.com: The film focused a lot on the importance of music to the African American culture. Cornel West focused on what he calls the  “peacock fascination,” where some of today’s music focuses predominantly on what we’ve attained on individual levels, instead of reflecting what’s going on in our communities. When do you think transition happened when the majority of the music stopped being reflective, and do you ever think the music will get back to that point?

Tavis Smiley: I think that hip-hop or rap music is a viable art form. When it started, more than anything it was entertaining and socially redemptive. At some point we did get off track and I think it has to do with the gangsterization of hip-hop. I don’t like when people take broad strikes and demean the culture of the music.

Now the second part of your question, can we get back on track, I think so for two reasons. Everything in life is cyclical, if I can jump from hip-hop to the bible, the bible says ‘there is nothing new under the sun’, so everything is cyclical and at some point he pendulum has to swing back and I think there’s a moment where we start to see the pendulum swing the other way because it’s gotten so far to this side, the pull of gravity says that it has to swing back the other way.

Secondly, the moment that we’re in, in this Obama era, means that young people are taking life much more seriously and I’m hoping that taking life more seriously means the pendulum is going to swing back the other way.

When Dick Gregory was discussing the church’s role in his upbringing he called it his everything, his father. About five or six years ago during the BET Awards, Jay-Z was accepting an award and said, ’BET was his father.’ How do we get the church to reconnect with the younger generation and does the church have to do some type of adjusting to connect with them on their level?

I think a lot of young folk are reconnecting to their faith. Difficult and troubled times have a strange way of reconnecting people to something bigger than themselves. When I say difficult, I don’t mean just economic times, we are living in an age of fear.

Part of what President Obama does consistently and what he has to do consistently, everyone knows he’s the commander in chief but he’s also what I call the “comforter in chief.” He has to comfort people and make them feel that things are going to be okay, his administration is on top of these issues, because we live in a world now where people are being frozen by fear.

I think a lot of the gospel music artists are responsible for helping a lot of young people reconnect to their faith, Kirk Franklin, Fred Hammond, and Tye Tribbett,. Thirdly, you have churches who understand that there’s a wonderful opportunity for them to grow these youth ministries.

So I do see a lot of churches that are getting aggressive about expanding their youth ministries, in fact they’re a number of youth ministries across the country that are screening this film in various churches, so I think the pendulum in that regard as well is swinging back the other way.
Throughout the film there is a lot of hugging, crying, and expressing of emotions. Today that is non-existent for black men of all ages. How do we get African American males to be comfortable in their own skin and feel like they won’t get picked on for showing emotions that today, people label as soft?

It’s a powerful question, and the short answer is, we have to learn to be comfortable with the skin that we’re in and you can do that in a few ways. Number one, it helps to stand in your own truth, to be your authentic self, and for a lot of people that’s easier said than done.

Everyone of those brothers that you see in this film is comfortable being themselves. You have 10 or 11 distinct personalities in this film and everyone is comfortable being themselves, you don’t see anyone fighting for airtime, we were in dialogue, and throughout the film everyone has his moment.

There are moments when we’re all in dialogue and then they’re moments when we’re all listening to the person who is doing the speaking and we all revel in those moments. We all revel in those moments when we’re not being heard, we’re comfortable with being generous listeners because we all are comfortable in our skin. There is a force bigger than you, that cares about you and since there is something that cares about your well being, you need to care about something outside of your skin.

So it’s a question about what you believe in and what kind of love and service to your people are you going to engage yourself in.

You’ve received a lot of flack from your criticism of President Obama, and you pose the question, “How can we get Obama to be the next Lincoln if we’re not his Frederick Douglass?” Can you elaborate on that?

Last year when I was raising these issues of accountability, the thing that was most interesting for me is what people didn’t understand was, that was not at all a radical departure from anything I have ever done in my career. To whatever degree I have been celebrated in black America, people know that I love black people and they know that I will do any and everything I can with the platforms that I have been given to pull out the best in black people.

My entire career that’s all I have ever done is to keep people starting with us, accountable for our actions. So the fact that I raised these issues when Obama was running, there wasn’t a change or departure at all but because there was a black guy running people didn’t want me raising issues on matters of importance to black people. Well, for me to all of the sudden not raise issues of consequence would’ve been to abandon what I’ve always done. is it me or is it something else, because All I was doing [was challenging this president] “in-love,” the same thing I’ve always done.

So now, fast forward a year and everybody including the president is talking about accountability. Every speech the president gives he’s talking about accountability and now that he could potentially cut $85 million dollars out of the HBCU’s, now black folk are up in arms and now they’re talking about accountability. No one wanted to ask him these questions and now we have to wrestle with whatever he does as president and be sure to remind him that we expect him to uphold and not because he’s the president of black America but because these are issues we would hold any president accountable for.

As it seemed that America was about to do the seemingly impossible – elect an African American man president – broadcaster Tavis Smiley and 10 black male friends took an intense introspective journey to Memphis and Nashville in the summer of 2008 to discuss the state of race relations, politics, and the legacy of the civil rights movement.

The result of that road trip is “Stand,” a documentary directed by Smiley that analyzes what their and our responsibilities and duties as a people are to better the situations and opportunities of black men in our local and national communities.

Smiley says he made “Stand” as a message of empowerment for Black men to realize the kind of relationships that we can and should to have with each other. And for people outside the black community, he hopes the film will bring them understanding to celebrate the intellect, humanity, soul, and spirit of black men.

The documentary opens in Memphis during the commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Smiley’s group — including Cornel West, Michael Eric Dyson, Eddie Glaude, Dick Gregory, and Wren Brown – conclude their trip through Tennessee in Nashville, stopping along the way at rich, history-filled landmarks that in some way or other resonate with the travelers.Themes of music, accountability, and faith were prevalent throughout the film, and whether they were at Fisk University, the Mason Temple, or a simple cookout with Sam Moore of the group Sam & Dave, the dialogue was insightful, comical, and always enlightening.

There were a number of segments in the film that really make for great dialogue. Smiley and crew visit the Mason Temple, which Dick Gregory had never been to. Though a stranger to that building, he isn’t a stranger to God. As the men began to talk about the role of church in African Americans’ lives, Gregory dominated with an impassioned discourse on what the church meant to him, calling it his father. “Forget the New York Times, the church was my New York Times,” he says.

Another poignant scene took place when Smiley, Dyson, West and others were watching the CNN special Black in America. Dyson and his brother, who are both featured in the special,  discuss the choices they made that lead them in two different directions. Dyson is now a prominent professor and author, while his brother has been sentenced to life in prison for a crime to this day he says he did not commit. During the viewing Dyson showed pain and anguish but the takeaway was the support Dyson received from this brotherhood of men who hugged, cried, and became the rock for Dyson during this viewing. This was an uplifting example of black men being comfortable in their own skin; enough to cry and feel what Dyson was feeling during his time of struggle, and not be afraid to express it not only on an individual but communal level.

This is a good film for a myriad of reasons; the most important may be that it can serve as a starting point for much-needed conversations between African-American males of all ages about what we go through on a day-to-day basis, how the daily struggles can be handled, and to celebrate our success and stand as better men in our homes, communities, and society.

Stand stars Tavis Smiley, Dick Gregory, Michael Eric Dyson, Cornel West, Cliff West, Eddie Glaude, BeBe Winans, Wren T. Brown, Daron Boyce, Robert Smith and Raymond Ross. Smiley is also the director and executive producer. The documentary premieres May 24 on TV One.

BlackEnterprise.com had the opportunity to catch up with Smiley and discuss the film, as well as what he sees as his responsibility to get everyone on the path of accountability — even President Barack Obama.