Tavis Smiley

Tavis Smiley (born September 13, 1964 in Gulfport, Mississippi) is an American author, political commentator, and talk show host.

Early years

One of ten children, Smiley's family moved to Indiana when his father, an Air Force noncommissioned officer, was transferred to Grissom Air Force Base in Bunker Hill, Indiana. Upon arriving in Indiana, the Smiley family took up residence in a crowded mobile home in nearby Kokomo. Upon graduation from high school, Smiley attended Indiana University in Bloomington, where he was involved in student government, was accepted into the Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity, and participated in the first of many political and social advocacy campaigns in which he would engage in the course of his career, when his friend was killed by white Indiana police officers who claimed to have acted in self-defense. [1] Smiley helped lead protests to defend his friend, whom he believed had been wrongfully killed. After reconsidering a decision to drop out of college at the end of his junior year, he received an internship as an aide to Tom Bradley, the first African-American mayor of Los Angeles. He returned to Indiana University after the internship, receiving his bachelor's degree in law and public policy in 1986. Upon graduation, he served as an aide to Mayor Bradley until 1990.

Radio and television career

Following an unsuccessful campaign for a seat on the Los Angeles City Council in 1991, Smiley became a radio commentator, broadcasting one-minute daily radio segments, called The Smiley Report, on a Los Angeles urban radio station. His commentaries focused on current issues affecting the African-American community both in L.A. and nationally. He later co-hosted a local talk show in L.A. where his strongly held views on race and politics, combined with his articulate arguments regarding the impact of institutional racism and substandard educational and economic opportunities for inner-city black youth, earned him attention by national media outlets such as Newsweek, The Washington Post, and Time Magazine, which called Smiley one of the top 50 leaders for the future. His arguments have also drawn sharp criticism from conservatives, such as conservative-libertarian talk show host Larry Elder, who believe he too often blames racism in lieu of personal responsibility for the plight of African-Americans.

In 1996, Smiley became a frequent commentator on the Tom Joyner Morning Show, a nationally syndicated radio show broadcast on black and urban stations in the United States. He developed a friendship with host Tom Joyner, who appeared to share many of Smiley's opinions on racial matters, and together they began hosting annual town hall meetings beginning in 2000 called "The State of the Black Union" which were aired live on the C-SPAN cable television network. These town hall meetings each focused on a specific topic affecting the African-American community, featuring a panel of African-American leaders, educators, and professionals assembled before an audience to discuss problems related to the forum's topic, as well as potential solutions. Smiley also used his commentator status on Joyner's radio show to launch several advocacy campaigns to highlight discriminatory practices in the media and government and to rally support for causes such as the awarding of a Congressional Gold Medal to civil rights icon Rosa Parks. Smiley also began building a national reputation as a political commentator with numerous appearances on political discussion shows on MSNBC, ABC, and CNN.

Also in 1996, Smiley began hosting and executive producing BET Tonight, a public affairs discussion show on the Black Entertainment Television (BET) network. Smiley interviewed major political figures and celebrities and discussed topics ranging from racial profiling and police brutality to R&B music and Hollywood gossip. Smiley hosted BET Tonight until 2001, when in a controversial move, the network announced that Smiley's contract would not be renewed. This sparked an angry response from Tom Joyner, who sought to rally his radio audience to protest BET's decision. Smiley himself publicly aired his disapproval of the way BET had abruptly and unceremoniously informed him of their decision via a fax to his agent. BET founder Robert L. Johnson defended the decision, stating that Smiley had been fired because he had sold an exclusive interview to ABC News without first offering the story to BET, even though Smiley's contract with BET did not require him to do so. Smiley countered with the assertion that he had offered the story--an interview with Sara Jane Olson, an alleged former member of the Symbionese Liberation Army--to CBS, which, along with BET, was owned by Viacom. Smiley ultimately sold the interview to rival network ABC, he said, only after CBS passed on the interview, and suggested that his firing was payback for the publicity he gained as a result of providing an exclusive interview to ABC. [2] Despite outcries from thousands of supporters, including prominent figures such as Cornel West (with whom Smiley collaborated in 2001 on the the hip hop album Sketches of My Culture) and Al Sharpton, BET and its parent company Viacom did not reverse their decision to terminate Smiley's contract.

Following his dismissal from BET, Smiley was offered to host a radio talk show on National Public Radio (NPR) in the United States. He served as host of the Tavis Smiley Show on NPR until December 2004 when he announced that he would be leaving his NPR show citing the network's inability to reach a more diverse audience. [3]

Currently, as of 2006, he hosts a late night talk and interview show, Tavis Smiley, on the PBS television network, and also the Tavis Smiley Show on the PRI radio network. Since May 2005 he has also been a contributing blogger at The Huffington Post.

Awards and contributions

Smiley was honored with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People's (NAACP) Image Award for best news, talk, or information series for three consecutive years (1997-99) for his work on BET Tonight with Tavis Smiley.

Smiley’s advocacy efforts have earned him numerous awards and recognitions including the recipient of the Mickey Leland Humanitarian Award from the National Association of Minorities in Communications. He has received numerous honorary doctorate degrees, including one from his alma mater, Indiana University.

In 1999, he founded the Tavis Smiley Foundation, which funds programs that develop young leaders in the black community.

Texas Southern University recently honored Smiley with the opening of The Tavis Smiley School of Communications and The Tavis Smiley Center for Professional Media Studies. Smiley cemented his commitment to the university by pledging an $11 million (US$1,000,000 annually for eleven years) contribution to the Center. He also offered TSU students an opportunity to intern at his Los Angeles based The Smiley Group, Inc.

Books by Tavis Smiley

To date, Tavis has written eight (8) books, including:

Doing What's Right: How to Fight for What You Believe--And Make a Difference (ISBN 0385499310)
Hard Left (ISBN 0385484046)
Keeping the Faith: Stories of Love, Courage, Healing, and Hope from Black America (ISBN 0385721692)
How to Make Black America Better: Leading African Americans Speak Out (ISBN 0385720874)
On Air:The Best of Tavis Smiley on the Tom Joyner Morning Show (ISBN 1890194336)

In 2005, The Smiley Group and Third World Press published The Covenant with Black America (ISBN 0883782774), a collection of articles by black scholars and professionals addressing topics ranging from housing to healthcare as discussed in several "State of the Black Union" forums. The book is described as a national plan of action to address the primary concerns of African-Americans today related to social and economic disparities in the Unitied States. It was recently announced that the book will be listed as No. 1 non-fiction book in America on the New York Times Best-Seller List during the week of April 24, 2006.

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