It is no secret that the State of the Black Union conferences Tavis Smiley and his elitist cohorts host each year is a complete joke aside from it being far from effective for the mobility of Black America. The mystery lies in when these so-called intellectuals will wake the hell up.

Like over-zealous political apprentices to mainstream politicians, these over-educated Black academics have not the proverbial courage to move beyond paper outlines and drafts of community action or organized blueprints of community programs; nor beyond the outdated tactics of foot marches, protest, or cable news pandering. They meet and accomplish nothing. There is no regular measurable data of progress the Black community is aware of or no recurrent public evaluation of change or growth, only more dismal reports of failing Black families, schools, and criminal behavior reported by the very mainstream media that publishes the conferences' notice to gather.

The future of these Black meetings suggest that the Blacks who attend will finally realize the ineffectiveness of these conferences and they will stop attending, CSPAN will see no point or profit and will stop broadcasting it, and the sponsors will justify reasons not to fund them. The Black community will lose nothing because it gains nothing. We do not need televised debates about what we should or should not do, more flattering words based on old historical clichés and catch phrases, more of the same feel-good-look-good rhetoric from the same stock of familiar faces of the Black elitist upper-class. The Black community needs action from a unified mass.

The division is too deep. Black America is made up of varying degrees of people, backgrounds, and social/economic status but are united by one common, obvious factor; we are Black Americans. If the minds of the State of the Black Union cannot group by that simple factor, they have no business nor should be given the stage for providing solutions for Black America but should stay out of the spotlight until they devise a plan of true action that makes a real difference. Simply sitting on a stage talking does not constitute doing something or giving back. Doing something means implementing a working plan that shows results in a massive form.

For example, Black school districts throughout the nation report low graduation rates among Black youth and decreased college enrollment among young Black males. A working plan of action consist of a national group effort by name that moves young people through high school and into college, and not by using government funding but by using funds provided by the Black community itself, parents, teachers, and other community group organizations. If at least one of the celebrity Black panelist were to travel the states to actually organize this group movement, there would probably be a chance for change. Instead, unfortunately, these celebrity panelist find it more self-serving to profit from speaking engagements that address a national issue but are nowhere to be found afterward except in their home libraries at the end of the day waiting on a call from the next media news channel for a five-minute opinion quickie.

So the State of the Black Union report of the State of the Black Union says it is officially ineffective, unneeded, and a waste of public time, money and resources. It is a mesh of celebrity-wannabe weeping and gnashing of teeth, self-centered self-absorbed attention seeking name dropping fashion show attended by Blacks who are well educated in putting it on paper but have no clue how to breathe life into it. They have no clue what Black America needs or wants or what will bring it to its feet. Their guess is celebrity star power, which has not worked and probably never will, based on the shallowness and materialism of their expectations. The State of the Black Union needs to cease existence.

Tune in to Black News Radio with CR Hamilton Tuesdays at 9am (recorded afterward) for the solutions.

© Mar. 2008 By CR Hamilton