TV personality Tavis Smiley and Princeton Professor Cornel West have taken a licking as they near the end of their 18-city Poverty Tour, which included stops in Washington, D.C. and Chicago. The bus trip aimed at bringing President Barack Obama's attention to the plight of America's poor people, according to Smiley and West.
The duo's focus has been centered on the Black community, where the jobless rate exceeds 15 percent.
There have been mixed emotions over the tour, particularly in Chicago (Obama's hometown and a place where the Bureau of Labor Statistics indicate Black unemployment rose from 13.1 percent to 20.3 percent in the past three years). Some Windy City residents said the president had been doing all he could to right the economy, while others felt he could still do more to get Black people back to work.
"They are not really giving him a chance," Kyshandra Jackson, 26, reportedly said of Obama during the Chicago stop over. Jackson said she had just returned to work after a year of trying to find a job. "Things are going to get done," she added, "but it is also going to take some time. He is doing more than everybody else tried to do."
However, Lamont Robinson, a 29-year-old insurance agent in Chicago, voiced frustration, saying Obama was disconnected from those who are struggling. "Say the word 'poor,' Mr. President. We want to hear you say it!" Robinson shouted during the meeting.
Meanwhile, Smiley and West have been branded as self-serving Obama haters. And comedian Steve Harvey recently referred to the pair as "Uncle Toms."
But Smiley said the tour has gone exactly the way he and West planned.
"I am very clear on who I am and who I am not, what I can do and what I cannot," he said in a separate AP report. "I have a platform that I can use to bring awareness, to draw attention and create a conversation."
He went on to add that, "and it's not just about raising awareness, it's about starting a dialogue about poverty and the poor in this country. I don't get intimidated by haters. . . . The question that I would pose to the critics is not: Why are we doing what we are doing or saying? It's: If you care about poor people, why aren't you doing anything?"