The Candidates and the Covenant with Black America
A Moderated Discussion with Tavis Smiley
Featured Speaker: Tavis Smiley, Host, Tavis Smiley on PBS and the Tavis Smiley Show from PRI
Moderated by: Melody Barnes, Executive Vice President for Policy, CAPAF
On Thursday, June 28 (today), Tavis Smiley will moderate the All-American Presidential Forum on PBS at Howard University , where the Democratic presidential candidates will address the issues of concern to Black America. This marks the first prime-time presidential candidates’ forum comprised exclusively by journalists of color. The next day, the Center for American Progress Action Fund will host a moderated discussion with Tavis Smiley and give him an opportunity to reflect on the critical issues raised at the previous night’s forum. As the author of The New York Times best-seller, The Covenant with Black America, as well as THE COVENANT In Action, Mr. Smiley will also discuss the ideas put forward in his books, the candidates’ proposals, and the pressing issues before the nation, including health care and well- being, education, economic prosperity, and environmental justice.
The event will begin with welcome and opening remarks from Melody Barnes, Executive Vice President for Policy at CAPAF, followed by questions from the audience.
"There is no duality. There is perception. There is wrong-thinking based on human choice and will, but the only "evil" ...
Greeat post and I agree -- Chicago has so much to do each summer. I often have people ...
Just found your blog through Google, and I have to say I thoroughly enjoy it.Thank you for the info. I’m ...
i like the idea of including socio-economic status. not quite sure the embedded inequities have been overcome re: race yet. 
Thanks Gee, You're right. I hate the boredom pedagogy of science, eg. sit down and memorize vocab. It's ...
It's crazy that I stumbled upon this post because I was considering adding a science section to my magazine, but ...
Comment by JD on 28 June 2007:
I hope this effort will enhance our knowledge of issues as well as have the canidates discover what is important to our community.
Comment by ETS on 28 June 2007:
Were Republicans invited to participate in a similar event?
Comment by Kimberly Michelle on 28 June 2007:
The Republicans are debating September 27th
Pingback by open thread (before the poppin' weekend) friday | Young Black Professional Guide on 29 June 2007:
[...] enjoyed the debates last night. peep the comments on the previous post for more [...]
Comment by Fredric on 29 June 2007:
thoroughly enjoyed the debates last night. i wish the audience would have stopped clapping for every speech, however. this is not a concert.
n e who…
i still like biden. he seems very resolved to me. i liked his and barack’s back and forth on the HIV/AIDS issue and how he went into the city and told black kids that using condoms isn’t unmanly.
hillary made an impression on me with her frank attitude towards certain issues, especially her idea about the ‘no-fly’ zone over darfur. i’ve never heard anyone say politically correct ‘we will shoot your shite down’. lol.
in a perfect world, former alaskan senator gravel would be the secretary of state. this dude is awesome. he basically called everyone out and said they had no moral standards (for voting for the war). he also talked about how he was on the finance committee and that income tax law is so complicated, its designed for no human being to be able to understand it. it needs to be abolished and a progressive sales tax should be enacted. hmmm…so you’re saying charge more sales tax for higher priced products? sounds like a plan to me. not only would it lay transparency to what people buy and how much they make, it would cost more for people who can afford g5’s and flying spurs.
dodd is too ‘good ol boy’ for me.
kucinich had some bold ideas. he just doesn’t project ’strong leader’ to me.
richardson seemed like he lost his train of thought a few times. i still think he was right on with pressuring china and the olympic bid with regarding to darfur.
john edwards was always smilin’ and reminiscing about his childhood. i’m not mad at him. he did a good job as well.
and of course barack did a good job. he didn’t stand out too much, but his angle on issues seemed a lot more sincere than other candidates. he obviously felt a little more comfortable (as did hillary) in the HU crowd and with Dr. West smiling at him all the time. i feel like he’s due for some good emotional response time…kind of like how biden gets loud at the end of his statements.
the only thing i was disappointed about was that no one mentioned the environment. its as if black people say ‘oh yeah, that thing’ whenever environmental issues comes up.