'Pass the mic'! Talk tour educates, empowers and creates new dialogue

RACE. Money. Sex. Power. In a historic step that sought to empower a national audience, radio and TV host Tavis Smiley and authors Cornel West and Michael Eric Dyson created a groundbreaking dialogue across six cities, illuminating the burning issues pertinent to Black America and providing a venue to encourage, enlighten and educate.

The nationally known trio of African-American thinkers on the "Pass the Mic!" tour passed the microphone to one another in Philadelphia, New York City, Baltimore, Atlanta, Chicago and Detroit, giving hour-long freestyle rap sessions, before passing the mic to the audience and allowing listeners to speak out.

Smiley says that this was perhaps the first time that Black intellectuals have commanded capacity crowds willing to pay top dollar ($50 to $60 in most cases) to listen to people talk, and not just sing or dance.

"Our history demands and our people deserve a venue to discuss our needs," says Smiley. "We live in some serious times and there are a lot of issues that need serious dialogue. So the title 'Pass the Mic!' is a message that, in America, we really need to pass the mic. We need to listen and respond," says the host of the new PBS talk show, Tavis Smiley, and creator of the three-man talk tour.

Dr. West, author of The Cornel West Reader and Race Matters, and Dr. Dyson, author of Open Mic: Reflections on Philosophy, Race, Sex, Culture and Religion and Why I Love Black Women, joined Smiley on the talk tour, combining scholarly wisdom, thought-provoking insight and thunderous dialogue that excited crowds in each city.

Dr. Dyson, professor of religious studies and Africana studies at the University of Pennsylvania, discussed, among other things, the perils of living in "The United States of Amnesia," and the gap between the hip-hop era and the civil rights era.

Dr. West, scholar and professor of religion at Princeton University, spoke, among other things, of a "pigment-o-cratic" society, the inevitable failure of leadership that does not bear fruit and the importance of rejecting all forms of "un-freedom."

Once the panel members had their say at the podium, audience members, who included a large percentage of African-American men, eagerly lined the aisles, ready to pose questions to the three-member panel. "There were so many Black men who showed up," says Smiley. "They had a thirst for knowledge and they wanted to be empowered. The media say one thing about our men, but we saw something totally different. We saw people who would pay to be empowered, not just entertained."

While there are plans for the 2004 tour, including cities, dates and format, Smiley, a contributor to The Unfinished Agenda of Brown v. Board of Education, is looking forward to the promise of the next tour. "It's important for us to get out there and offer people another side of the story," says Smiley. "Symbolism plays a powerful role in motivating people to believe. The symbolism of three Black men, standing in unity, in agreement and in furtherance of the goals of our people is a powerful statement."

COPYRIGHT 2004 Johnson Publishing Co.
COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group