Also, in this week’s On The Record segment, Hill deals with the topic of gender justice and the struggle to keep men and women equal on all levels with gender activist and filmmaker Byron Hurt, University of Pennsylvania Assistant Professor and TheRoot.com contributor Salamishah Tillet and Colorlines.com columnist Akiba Solomon.

Our Slice of Life segment profiles Leshell Hatley and YouthLab, the after-school program she created to expose African American and Latino students to education and opportunities in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math). A certified K-8 teacher, Hatley is the founder and executive director of Uplift, Inc., and its Research Center for Learning and Educational Media (CLEM). Through YouthLab and other education programs powered by Uplift Inc., Hatley teaches robotics, game application design and computer programming to youth in the Washington, D.C. area.

Our World with Black Enterprise is the award-winning weekly 30-minute program, hosted by Marc Lamont Hill, providing a fresh mix of interviews with today’s top newsmakers and celebrities, eclectic roundtable discussions concerning the hottest topics affecting African Americans, and profiles of some of the world’s most intriguing people.

Click here for times and stations where Our World with Black Enterprise airs in your area.

Roland Martin (Image: File)

Though the number of black faces among mainstream media outlets in the past decade has been limited, there are still a number of journalists, activists, politicians and educators who have transitioned to become news pundits on issues that affect our community. Some have their own shows, appear on major networks such as CNN and MSNBC or remain active in their communities, addressing the concerns of the everyday citizen and seeking out solutions.

Check out NewsOne‘s list of the most influential and important black news pundits on the air today, and become familiar with the experts who ensure that the black voice is heard all over the world:

1. Roland Martin: And coming in at number 1, there is no bigger personality on the TV screen than CNN contributor and TV One host, Roland Martin. The American author and syndicated columnist, Martin, shot to fame during the 2008 election’s with his straight to the point commentary injected with his down south flavor.

The 2008 elections skyrocketed Martin into stardom.

Martin is a commentator for TV One and the host of Washington Watch with Roland Martin, a one-hour Sunday morning news show on the network. He is also a CNN contributor, appearing on a variety of shows, including Campbell Brown: No Bias, No Bull, The Situation Room, Anderson Cooper‘s AC360, Lou Dobbs Tonight, and many others. In October 2008, he joined the Tom Joyner Morning Show as senior analyst.

Read more at NewsOne …

Blair Taylor, president & CEO of  the Los Angeles Urban League, spoke before an audience of roughly 300 business, government, non-profit and academic leaders, sharing his thoughts on building blocks for tomorrow’s workforce. He told them about taking a delegation of students from Crenshaw High School to China to observe commerce and culture within the superpower.  While in Beijing, the group visited one of the country’s top-ranked high schools, gaining an up-close view of its advanced level of instruction and dedication to academic excellence.

After the group completed the tour, Taylor said one Crenshaw student asserted: “We can do what they do. We just have to work harder.”

That message, one of continuous skills upgrading fused with unyielding persistence, was delivered by participants of our 20/20 Vision Forum: Job Creation and Career Opportunities in the Next Economy, one of a series of such events presented by BLACK ENTERPRISE in partnership with Walmart.  The LA event, like one held in Washington, DC in early 2010 and another in New York this past June, was designed to bring together the best minds to conjure up constructive options to put a dent in short-term unemployment and propel long-term career advancement for African Americans.

Of course, African Americans have suffered the hardest blows in this economy. The Black unemployment rate continues to hover around 16%, twice the rate of Whites. And we continue to witness a government solution to the jobs crisis paralyzed by political gridlock. As President Obama continues to push the American Jobs Act—first as an expansive $447 billion package and then as the first $35 billion “bite-sized” piece to employ teachers and first responders—has been blocked by Senate Republicans. Now, the President is planning to use executive action to move his program forward because “we can’t wait.”

Keynote Speaker Tavis Smiley says that as individuals seek the path to employment and entrepreneurship to “define their mission.” He, however, took the opportunity to challenge the President on his vigilance to solve the jobs crisis.

Alicia Villarreal, Regional Representative for Labor Secretary Hilda Solis who provided the market outlook, says the president has “drawn a line in the sand”regarding the jobs act. Also, she says the Labor Department has a number of initiatives to expand opportunities including “one-stop career”operations like the Compton Worksource Center which can screen applicants and “serve as employment agencies for companies.”

Others seek remedies to not only address Black unemployment but expand ranks of high-ranking officials. For example, BET founder Robert Johnson, who owns three BE 100s companies, recently proposed what he calls the “RLJ Rule,” calling for the 1,000 largest publicly traded companies to voluntarily consider a more diverse pool of qualified candidates when filling top-level job vacancies and contracting suppliers. His proposal is similar to the NFL’s “Rooney Rule,” a 2003 directive mandating pro teams to consider minority candidates for senior positions.

Tavis Smiley adds his thoughts to the discussion

To fill the power pipeline, Arnold Donald, president and CEO of the Executive Leadership Council, the pre-eminent organization of top-ranking African American corporate managers,  announced last week a call to action for corporate America  to increase the ranks of African Americans CEOs or C-Suiters by 500 and collective number of Black board members by 200 within the next five years.

Our event offered urgency for employment and advancement of large number of African American managers as well as rank-and-file. When it comes to near-term job creation, long-term career reinvention or development of the next generation of talent, our forum participants revealed three critical drivers: the competitive impact of globalization, application and connectivity of information technology, and entrepreneurial development. These issues become more pressing in an environment with an increasingly high VUCA rating—“volatility, unpredictability, complexity and ambiguity”—a concept framed in That Used To Be Us, the recently-released book authored by columnist Thomas L. Friedman and international affairs expert Michael Mandelbaum.  Despite such uncertainty, Johann Schleier-Smith, co-founder of Tagged, a social discovery site with more than 100 million users worldwide, says “there’s a huge risk for not doing anything.”

Click here to continue reading on page 2…

Hajj Flemings breaks down the difference between a brand and commodity

One panelist Bishop Noel Jones, senior pastor of City of Refuge and the force behind the public-private partnership United Job Creation Council in Los Angeles, maintains the first step is “to be global in our thinking because technology has shrunk our world.”  So he stresses training an emerging and existing workforce with a focus on competition that is no longer national but global.  For quite some time, contenders have not been contained to California, New York or Illinois but can be found in China, India, Brazil and other parts of the world—across a range of industries.

In fact, Taylor’s assessment was more frank: “African Americans are the only group in this country with no connection to the global economy,” citing as one example the stronger ties the Chinese government and businesses have with Africa.

That’s why it’s important, Taylor says, to learn languages such as Spanish and Mandarin to expand your portfolio of opportunities. To make his case, he offered the example of a bilingual American broadcast journalist who was able to find employment in China as a news anchor.

Identifying hot spots like IT, mobile services, healthcare, green jobs, genetics and elderly services can prove to be a smart move. In most cases, you need the right skills demanding “years and years of preparation,” says Curtis Silvers, area director of the Southern California region of UNCF. Large numbers of mid-career workers can gain retraining to become employable in such fields. But Silvers, along with Jones and Taylor, believe the next generation will gain the best shot at being positioned to advance and innovate within such occupations—that is, if they gain sufficient education in K-12 and at the collegiate level.

Always use new technology to your advantage though.  Social media strategist Hajj Flemings demonstrated how to bolster your personal brand to remain relevant in his comprehensive tutorial on how to use social media and online tools.  He maintains that inviduals must develop a personal branding map, a visual representation of your relationships and “how you are wired positions you for greater impact in the space you desire to dominate. ” How do you achieve this goal? Create an idea, develop quality content, follow a detailed strategy and pursue it with passion. Says Flemings: “You should own your genius.”

Black Enterprise CEO Earl "Butch" Graves, Jr. (second from left) poses with a few of the day's panelists

Another key to job creation and advancement: entrepreneurship, of course. Panelist Magnus Greaves, founder and CEO of TheCASHFLOW and advisory board member of 100 Urban Entrepreneurs, described his model to foster business development. Greaves’ incubator includes selection of winners of his business pitch competition who receive $10,000 in capital and mentorship to boot.  BLACK ENTERPRISE has partnered with Greaves’ organization in producing the Elevator Pitch Competition at our annual Entrepreneurs Conference.

Greaves says one size doesn’t fit all: different types of entrepreneurs need different skills. However, all must have passion, dexterity and guidance to create sustainable enterprises: “Entrepreneurs must develop skills and platforms to pass on to other entrepreneurs.”

To achieve that end, Schleier-Smith advises budding entrepreneurs to take an “honest assessment of their skills and to set yourself up with a great mentor.” He speaks from experience: Schleier-Smith’s was counseled by one of the co-founders of LinkedIn.

Timothy A. Reese, serial entrepreneur and co-founder of the Minority Angel Network, has identified crucial steps: Attend business forums to discover how financiers make investment decisions and “learn the difference between equity and a paycheck.”

Don’t fret about setbacks. Our panelists admitted that they found the path to success through failure. Says Reese: “I was fired once and that was all it took for me to become my own change agent.”

The Root's study shows distinct differences when it comes to race and reasons for tipping (Image: Thinkstock)

Why We Tip: Survey Shows Racial Divide

When African Americans dine out, the service had better measure up if the server is expecting a good tip.

That’s among the findings of a recent poll by The Root on attitudes and habits regarding tipping.

Read more at The Root…

Hotel Housekeeper Tells Magazine of Her Encounter with Strauss-Khan

The Sofitel hotel housekeeper, who accused Dominique Strauss-Khan of sexual assault, is going on the record. She recently gave a long and tearful interview, with her full name and picture attached, that provides her detailed account of the May encounter — including that Mr. Strauss-Kahn told her “You’re beautiful” as he attacked her.

Read more at the New York Times…

Smiley and West Launch Bus Tour Critiquing Obama

(The Associated Press) Black activists Cornel West and Tavis Smiley are planning a 15-city “Poverty Tour” to bring attention to the needy and to what they say are the failings of President Barack Obama.

West, a Princeton University professor, and Smiley, host of a TV talk show, expect to begin the bus trip Aug. 5 at a Native American reservation in Wisconsin. With visits to soup kitchens, housing projects, farms, families and low-wage workers, they say they hope to create momentum for large-scale job creation programs and put poverty on the 2012 election agenda.

Read more at The Grio…

LinkedIn Launches Button That Lets You Apply for Jobs

LinkedIn just made it easier to apply for a job, thanks to the launch of its new “Apply With LinkedIn” button.

The business-oriented social network is billing the new feature as “the future of job applications.” The company’s goal is to make the job application process as simple as a click.

Read more at Mashable…

(Images: File)

Last week, A-list stars and fans alike descended upon Chicago to wish talk show and media icon Oprah Winfrey farewell during the taping of her final episodes of the Oprah Winfrey Show before going off the air for good. In addition to stars ranging from Madonna and Beyoncé to Halle Berry and Tom Cruise, tens of thousands of spectators, including BlackEnterprise.com’s own Karen Taylor Bass, took to the United Center to witness the end of an era. After taping her final show, which airs Wednesday May 25, Winfrey will continue building her media empire with cable TV’s OWN network and its roster of programming.

After 25 years on the air, the question remains: Who could possibly take the baton being passed by the $2.7 billion-dollar mogul and work toward becoming the new queen (or king) of media? Many have mentioned white media personalities, including Katie Couric, Anderson Cooper, and Ellen Degeneres. But, BlackEnterprise.com came up with five African American candidates who could be worthy heirs to Oprah’s throne or just savvy enough to build successful media empires of their own. 

WENDY WILLIAMS

Unapologetic, bold and honest, Williams first made her mark on radio, attracting 12 million listeners in more than 10 markets to tune in to The Wendy Williams Experience for its celebrity gossip and social commentary. Now, the self-professed “Queen of All Media” and Radio Hall of Famer has expanded her multi-million-dollar brand into two New York Times bestsellers and Debmar-Mercury’s top-rated daytime talk show, The Wendy Williams Show. Initially launched as a six-week limited trial run, the show was renewed for its third season this year due to high ratings among women ages 18-34. After increasing her brand exposure as a contestant on Dancing with the Stars, Williams also hosts GSN’s Love Triangle, which premiered this past April. Wendy clearly has a following and her best friend personality makes her a charming distraction for those going through Oprah withdrawal.

TYRA BANKS

Supermodel-turned-entrepreneur Banks has built a more than $90 million multi-media brand—from having a successful five seasons of Emmy award-winning The Tyra Banks Show; to executive producing the CW/UPN network’s America’s Next Top Model (in its 16th season); to co-producing ABC’s True Beauty; and several other projects under the umbrella of her Bankable Productions company. She recently upgraded her Web presence, adding to her brand with typeF.com, a fashion and beauty platform that offers interactive applications, content and advice from industry experts. More recently, Banks enrolled in Harvard Business School, taking an executive education course geared toward entrepreneurs—a definite boss move that will help propel her into the ranks of successful media maven.

TAVIS SMILEY

The talk show host, author, and activist’s resume boasts a range of media highlights, including host of BET’s top-rated Tonight with Tavis Smiley; host of NPR’s The Tavis Smiley Show, where he interviewed President Barack Obama, among other notable figures; and commentator on radio’s top-syndicated Tom Joyner Morning Show. Today, Smiley continues building his brand as host of a PBS late-night show that bears his name, and with his company Smiley Radio Properties, which recently teamed up with Public Radio International in a deal for weekly broadcast of Smiley and West, his radio program with Princeton professor, Cornell West.

MO’NIQUE

Veteran comedienne. Top-rated host. Academy and Golden Globe award-winning actress. Mo’Nique has star power in her favor, giving her the potential to continue climbing up the television and entertainment ranks. After starring in multi-seasons of UPN’s The Parkers, host of Showtime at the Apollo, and appearances on Russell Simmons’ Def Comedy Jam, Mo’Nique has continued her ascent as host and executive producer of Mo’Nique’s F.A.T. Chance, a beauty pageant for plus-sized women, and host of VH1′s successful reality TV franchise, Flavor of Love Girls: Charm School. In 2009, she became the first African American woman with her own late-night talk show, The Mo’Nique Show, created along with her husband, Sidney Hicks, via their production company, Hicks Media. The show had more than 1.5 million viewers watching its October 2009 premiere alone, and continues in its second successful season.

CATHY HUGHES

Hughes is a media powerhouse, having taken her company, Radio One Inc., co-founded with her then-husband, Dewey Hughes, in 1979, and building a multi-million-dollar media empire. The company owns 53 radio stations in 16 urban markets and Reach Media, Inc., (think radio’s uber-successful Tom Joyner Morning Show). Radio One went public in 1999, making it one of the few Black-owned companies listed on the NASDAQ. Keeping the success rolling, in 2004, the company launched TV One, creating the nation’s largest Black-owned cable TV network, with a roster that includes the top-rated Lisa Raye: The Real McCoy and Hughes’ own show, TV One-on-One, where guests have included President Barack Obama, Queen Latifah, and Aretha Franklin.

Making headlines (Courtesy of Thinkstock)

Internet Repaired in Egypt, While Unrest Continues

• Nearly a week after Egyptians reported a country-wide Internet outage, service has been restored, according to the Huffington Post. Social media powerhouses Twitter and Facebook, which have been linked to the rise in the nation’s Web-based activism, are now up and running. The Egyptian government, under President Hosni Mubarak’s rule, ordered the cancellation of Web service six days ago.
• Violence continues a day after Mubarak refused to yield to protesters’ requests to step down immediately, instead, agreeing to hand over power following the fall elections. Pro- and anti-Mubarak protesters clashed in Cairo’s Tahrir Square when the president’s supporters approached the anti-government demonstrators yelling chants, throwing stones and ambushing them on camel and horseback.

Smiley and West Lock Down Weekly Radio Show

• Broadcast veteran Tavis Smiley, Smiley Radio Properties and Public Radio International announced today that Smiley and West is now an official weekly public radio program. After taping a four-month pilot available in over 60 markets, including major markets such as New York and Los Angeles, Smiley, alongside Princeton professor Cornel West, built a strong enough following to secure a permanent hour-long slot on the airwaves.
• “Smiley and West underscores PRI’s commitment to offer new places to discover our diverse, interconnected world, and to stimulate important conversations in American society, and we are excited to distribute it to audiences nationwide,” President and CEO of PRI Alisa Miller said, in a press report.
• Thus far, the duo have featured comedian Garry Shandling, bluesman Buddy Guy, Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Maathai, funkmaster George Clinton and playwright Suzan-Lori Parks on their social conscious news format show.

CNN Hires a Black EVP/ Managing Editor

• Earlier this week, CNN named Michael Whitaker, former senior vice president and Washington Bureau chief at NBC, as executive vice president and managing editor. Whitaker will start this newly created position on Feb. 14.
• President of CNN Worldwide, Jim Walton, will work closely with Whitaker and is excited to have him come on board. “Mark is a distinguished journalist and news executive who is experienced in leading large enterprises, and I am pleased that he will help direct our long-term editorial approach and strategy,” said Walton.
• Previously, the Harvard graduate worked for the digital division of The Washington Post Company and Newsweek, during which time the publication received more established editorial awards than at any time in its history.

Verizon Customers Can Pre-order iPhone 4

• The hype surrounding Verizon’s iPhone debut just got a little crazier with Apple confirming the service provider will accept pre-orders for existing Verizon customers starting at 3 a.m. on Thursday.
• Pre-orders are available on a first come, first serve basis and accessible through the Apple Store and Verizon Wireless site.

For related content, read:

• In the News: Mubarak Won’t Run; Raven-Symone Back on TV; New York Daily News Names Black Managing Editor
• In the News: Turmoil in Egypt Continues; Martin Luther King III Addresses Mets Rumors; Vick’s New Deal
• In the News: Mandela Released From Prison Hospital; Will Smith & Jay-Z in Business; Egypt Can’t RT

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.