Tavis Smiley

Tavis Smiley
Tavis Smileyis an American talk show host, author, liberal political commentator, entrepreneur, advocate and philanthropist. 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 BET. After Smiley sold an exclusive interview of Sara Jane Olson to ABC...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionRadio Host
Date of Birth13 September 1964
CityGulfport, MS
CountryUnited States of America
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.
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.
We - again, the, the, the, the bastardization and the demonization over the last few years of teachers and of unions and of collective bargaining, that is not the answer.
This country is going to implode, or put another way, it's going to get crushed under the weight of poverty. You can't have one percent of the people who own and control more wealth than the other 90 percent of the population.
We believe that when you make Black America better - you make all of America better.
Give that to me so I can get out of here.
He was an authentic American hero whose work will be respected and dissected for years to come. This media empire is still number one and still 100 percent black-owned.
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.
This is an awesome sight. It speaks to the hunger that exists in our community ... the hunger to be heard, the hunger to be empowered.
It was impressive for everyone to see that progress is being made.
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?
I'm delighted. I don't know if he is, but I'm delighted to welcome him back to the show, this time here in person in our studios in L.A.
I'm trying to get to a point here of how much progress we've made in this business. Were you able to find that diverse crew that you wanted?
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?