Martha Beck
American sociologist
Tavis Smileyis an American talk show host and author. Smiley was born in Gulfport, Mississippi, and grew up in Bunker Hill, Indiana.
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Tavis Smileyis an American talk show host and author. Smiley was born in Gulfport, Mississippi, and grew up in Bunker Hill, Indiana. After attending Indiana University, he worked during the late 1980s as an aide to Tom Bradley, the mayor of Los Angeles.
Smiley became a radio commentator in 1991 and, starting in 1996, he hosted the talk show BET Talkon Black Entertainment Television(2002-04) and hosted Tavis Smiley on the Public Broadcasting Serviceon weekdays and The Tavis Smiley Show on Public Radio Internationalfrom 2004 until 2017.
Smiley had an employment dispute with PBS in December 2017 which resulted in his suing PBS for wrongful termination. Smiley is Founder and Chief Executive Officer of SmileyAudioMedia, Inc. headquartered in Los Angeles. Since June 2021 he has served as Chief Visionary Officer for his radio station, KBLA Talk 1580.
My role on television is one of helping people reexamine the assumptions that they hold. I regard Dr. King. You would never hear me get up and speak without in some way, shape or form, referencing, Dr. King.
Talk show host, author, entrepreneur, advocate, philanthropist
This administration and these folk who run Washington are no more interested in our welfare and our well being than the man on the moon. And we have got to start taking our destiny into our hands.
Talk show host, author, entrepreneur, advocate, philanthropist
12, 13, you still lost your virginity. I don’t care how old you were.
Talk show host, author, entrepreneur, advocate, philanthropist
I thought our community should have a deep dialogue to make black America better. I believe if we make black America better, we make all of America better.
Talk show host, author, entrepreneur, advocate, philanthropist
Jamestown changed the world in many ways, but perhaps it shaped our nation most profoundly the day Africans arrived. I can’t think of a more relevant place to talk about the issues facing our community today than the place where African culture became American culture.
Talk show host, author, entrepreneur, advocate, philanthropist
We give you the facts. I told you information is power – knowledge is power. We can’t be in an ideological battle to redeem the soul of this country if we don’t have the facts.
Talk show host, author, entrepreneur, advocate, philanthropist
Give that to me so I can get out of here.
Talk show host, author, entrepreneur, advocate, philanthropist
When you work for something, you appreciate it more. So what are y’all going to do with all the opportunities you inherited that you didn’t have to work for?
Talk show host, author, entrepreneur, advocate, philanthropist
How do you grow up in the shadow of a guy – I want to talk about the movie in a second – but how do you grow up in the shadow of a guy who really is a legend in his own time?
Talk show host, author, entrepreneur, advocate, philanthropist
The storm came. Lives were washed away. Ancient pains resurfaced. Now it is time for a sea of change.
Talk show host, author, entrepreneur, advocate, philanthropist
My personal assessment is that Dr. King is the greatest American we have ever produced. I can argue for Lincoln, I can argue for FDR, but for my money, King is the greatest American we have ever produced. His only weapon was love. He transforms a nation, transforms the world with one weapon and that of course being again the weapon of love. So that for me, King is the quintessential example of everything that I could ever want to be in my lifetime.
Talk show host, author, entrepreneur, advocate, philanthropist
We believe that when you make Black America better – you make all of America better.
Talk show host, author, entrepreneur, advocate, philanthropist
I don’t think that left to its own devices, capitalism moves along smoothly and everyone gets treated fairly in the process. Capitalism is like a child: if you want the child to grow up free and productive, somebody’s got to look over the shoulder of that child.
Talk show host, author, entrepreneur, advocate, philanthropist