Yesterday, a few minutes after the show started, I was trying to make a point. I was trying to discuss this blog and how I was going to write about Tavis until he changes his mind about leaving the show. J. kept interrupting me so he could make his point. I got frustrated and said some things I shouldn’t have said. I told J. to shut up, turn off his microphone or go home. He went home. I wasn’t trying to keep J. from expressing his views; I was trying to keep him from stopping me from expressing mine. But since I did it in a rude, unprofessional way, I am sorry.
This thing is really getting strange. I was upset about Tavis leaving and upset with some of the people who didn’t like the way he was expressing himself. In defending Tavis, I got upset with J. and expressed myself. As a result, some people, got upset with me.
When you think about it, it was our first on-air fight.
Actually, as much time as we spend together, J. and I could have fallen out over a lot of things over the years. Like the time we were in Atlantic City, and a white guy spilled ketchup on J. When he “raised up” on the guy, he says neither I or our friend George Wallace had his back. But we didn’t fall out over that. We laughed about it. Then there was the time when we were riding in a car together in L.A., and we got stopped by the LAPD. I told J. not to say a word, I would do all the talking. But when the officer came over to the car, I had flashbacks of the Rodney King beating and couldn’t get a word out. We laughed about that, too. Oh, then there was the time J. needed a ride to the airport. I showed up to pick him up in my two-seater and he had 37 pieces of luggage. We didn’t fall about that either. So surely we haven’t fallen out over Tavis, have we?
Oddly enough, in the center of all this unrest is Barack Obama, the black man who has an excellent chance of becoming the first black president of the United States. You would think the idea of seeing a black president in our lifetime would be a source of unification for black America. In many ways, it has been, but there’s also a lot of quarreling and feuding going on. I don’t think any of us are angry, but we are emotional, and we’re letting our emotions get the best of us. If we don’t all stop for a minute, take a deep breath and remember to keep our eye on the prize, we’re going to be shaking our heads in November wondering what happened. As the Rev. Jesse Jackson likes to say, we’re treating the pre-season like it’s the Super Bowl. We’re not even done with the primaries yet, and if none of us are speaking to each other by November, there’s no way the outcome will be a positive one.
When I spoke to Tavis yesterday and in his commentary today, he’ll tell us in his own words why he’s decided to move on from the TJMS. Listen, and get the story firsthand. It will probably be the last time he talks about it. By Thursday and until he leaves at the end of June, he’ll be back to saying some of the same stuff that got everyone riled up in the first place.
Stay tuned!
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