The Gantt Report - Did you see Tavis Smiley’s “State of the Black Union” show on the C-SPAN TV network? Every year I try to watch it and every year I turn it of after about fifteen or thirty minutes.

It seems that the “Union” I live in is very different from Smiley’s “Union”.

In my “Union”, there are all kinds of people. There are mothers, fathers and children. There are Christians, Muslims, Yorubas, Santeros, Jews and Gentiles. There are integrationists, separatists, nationalists and Pan Africanists.

The majority of the panelists on Tavis Smiley’s shows are modern day neocolonialist boot licking lackeys!

I know you don’t like for me to write like this but it is true. Most of Smiley’s panelists have jobs with the white man, contracts with the white man or values like the white man.

Don’t get me wrong. We all need jobs wherever we can get them and however we can get them but don’t tell me you are discussing topics of interest to Black Americans when everybody doing the talking is afraid to say something that would get them fired!

We need Black people on the Tavis Smiley shows that will tell the truth whether their blue-eyed boss or their stringy-haired contractors like it or not.

The panelists on the “State of the Black Union” show were making comments to generate applause rather than sharing their views on how Black people can survive and progress.

Much of the conversation on Smiley’s show was about candidates for President and if those candidates would and should be accountable. Black people have enough politicians. Every African-American in the United States is represented by someone and changing politicians will not save us.

Whoever is elected President of the United States will be accountable but they won’t be accountable to us.

If Smiley was as smart as advertised he would have told his audience to put their confidence in themselves and not in political pretenders.

While Smiley wanted to discuss Heckle and Jeckle and Tweedledum and Tweedledee, the majority of the show should have talked about economics and how Black people can generate more capital in a capitalist society!

If you don’t remember anything else in this column, remember this: Black people don’t have many problems that money can’t solve.

Also, I wonder how many of those panelists even live in, work in or visit America’s Black communities. Tavis should have had some numbers runners on the show, some pimps, gangsters, Hos and tricks on his program.

Smiley should have had some barbers, beauticians and Black newspaper owners on his show because everything in the hood can be found out via one or more of those sources.

Disguised as an informative community event, the “State of the Black Union” probably was just another way for Negroes to make money off of our suffering and exploitation and for white folks that sponsored the show to say they “love” Black people.

Since most of us live inches away from poverty, maybe Tavis Smiley would join me, some hustlers and some rap musicians to host a show called “State of the Hood”!

If T-Pain did the “hook” for the program, we could at least make money selling ring tones!