Tavis
fivmpmgtAJ ~
woald have had a birthday
on April 4, and both
Smiky's book and a stamp
commemorating her from
the United States Post
Office were released on
April 7.
"That's a wonderful
tribute to her. On one day
there's a book out that's a
tribute to you and a postage
stamp that people are rush
ing to get copies off. She's
going to be regarded and
remembered for years to
come as the greatest
Renaissance woman in
America," he said. "I don't
know another woman who
did all of the things she did,
and did them all well. She
is the quintessential exam
ple of a Renaissance
woman. In the months and
years to come she'll be
remembered as such."
The book is a memoir
that chronicles his 25-year
friendship with the late
Angelou that began when
Smiley was just 21 years
old and accompanied her in
Africa after a devastating
blow to his then budding
political career.
"When I met her briefly
at the age of 21 while pre
senting her with a procla
mation from the Mayor of
Los Angeles, Mayor
Bradley, her presence was
so powerful and meeting
her was so poignant that
even for those few minutes
that I committed to myself
that at some point I would
get to spend some time
with her," he said. "In
Africa is where our friend
ship began to blossom."
In the book, Smiley
struggles with feeling like
he deserves the friendship
of Angelou. He said that he
still doesn't know what he
could ve done to deserve
her friendship.
"I didn't know then,
and I still don't know
almost 30 years later, what
I did to deserve being in her
space," he said. "She
opened her head, heart and
home to me. I don't know
what I did to deserve that
but it is clearly one of the
seminole, defining rela
tionships in my life."
Smiley wouldn't hear
from Angelou again until
he was fired from Black
Entertainment Television.
She called to uplift him and
encouraged him to write a
thank you letter thanking
Bob Johnson for the oppor
tunity that he gave him. He
said he doesn't think he
would have gone as far as
he did without the firing,
something Angelou knew
would happen.
"My grandfather use to
tell me all the time, you
can't see the whole parade .
if you're on the float. I was
in that one space and I
couldn't see the forest for
the trees. I didn't know
what else was out there for
me to claim. So it just
stunned me when she said
that. Who knew that the
decision would have been
one of the best decisions of
my life," he said.
"Sometimes in life you
have to push and some
times you have to jump, but
you cannot stand still. If
you are going to advance,
grow or mature, you have
to move. She said that this
would be a blessing down
the road and she was right
about that."
From that point on they
wduld talk regularly.
Smiley said that he and
Angelou disagreed on a
number of things including
the use of the N-word, the
nomination of Clarence
Thomas and even the pres
idential run of now-presi
dent Barack Obama. That
issue is addressed in the
book as well.
Smiley took national
criticism for applying what
some viewed as "unneces
sary pressure" on the can
didate about his plans for
Black America when elect
ed. At one point, Maya
Angelou called to tell him
to lay off, according to the
book. He said that the call
didn't bother him at all.
"Maya Angelou never
did or said anything to
offend me. I knew that she
loved me and cared for me,
so getting a phone call and
getting a critique by Maya
wasn't like reading cyber
hate on the Internet," he
said. "I don't believe that
there's anything that we
ever have to say to another
human being that we can
not find a way to say in
love. I wasn't offended by
her phone call or conversa
tion and she wasn't offend
ed by my push back."
Smiley maintains that
while he loves Obama, and
voted for him, he doesn't
think that his critics under
stood that he loves African
Americans more. Enough
to ask the tough the ques
tions.
"My job has always
been to raise these critical
questions and issues that
advance a conversation
about how to do better by
us. The election was the
beginning but how now do
you take that symbolism
and turn it into substance,"
he said. "What are the
demands that we have to
put on the table of this pres
ident, or any president, to
do better by black people?
Once we had that conversa
tion and I explained that to
her (Maya), the conversa
tion ended as every conver
sation did, on a love note."
Bookmarks Executive
Director Ginger Hendricks
said that the agency was
thrilled to host Smiley on
the book tour.
"It was amazing that he
was featured on "TTie Daily
Show" with Jon Stewart on
Wednesday night and then
was at SECCA in Winston
Salem on Thursday night.
Even though the visit was
bittersweet (as he talked
about in his presentation, it
was his first visit to
w^m
Photos by Erin Muelk for The Chronicle
Tavis Smiley speaks at th\event.
Winston-Salem since Dr.
Angelou's death), it was
extremely interesting to
hear his stories of his time
with Dr. Angelou. Some
made the audience want to
cry; others made us laugh
out loud," she said. "I now
feel like I have a better
understanding of this
amazing woman who took
the time to mentor Tavis for
28 years, beginning in his
early twenties, when he
needed it most."
Smiley has recently
announced that the book
would be turned into a
Broadway play.
"I'm humbled that
Kenny Leon would have
read the book, been com
pletely enthralled by it and
for him to want to do the
play is a huge honor," he
said. "I don't have a lan
guage to explain how it
feels. 1 can see it as a play
but how Kenny pulls it
together, who writes it or
who plays whom is beyond
*?
me.
Smiley said that it's
important for the book to
have been published
because it takes Angelou's
fans inside her world.
"For all those people,
who have adored her and
wondered what it would
have been like to get to
know her. I want this book
of my 28-year relationship
with her to escort people
into her space, her world, to
see what it was like to be
mentored by her, counseled
and advised by her as a
young man who is trying to
find his way in this world ."
When asked by The
Chronicle which one he
believed was the greatest
? love or courage ?
Smiley laughs and with a
smile in his voice, sticks to
his original choice of love.
The debate was a regular
between Angelou and
Smiley and plays out in the
book. He said that the joy
of the debate was to go
back and forth with this
iconic thinker despite never
agreeing.
"I'm still with love and
I can hear Maya speaking
from heaven saying 'I'm
still with courage.' Her
assessment was that it takes
courage to love and my
response is that I've never
acted courageously on
behalf of, in defense of or
because of anything that I
didn't have an abiding love
for. I suspect that if she was
still here today, we would
still be having that conver
sation."
Signed copies of
Smiley's books are avail
able at Bookmarks. For
more information about
author visits or to purchase
signed books, visit
www.bookmarksnc.org or
call 336-747-1471.
Lydia Stuckey waves after Smiley acknowledges her
in his opening. She was the personal assistant to Dr.
Maya Angelou.
Cory Young/Tulsa World via AP
In this Friday, April 10, photo, Tulsa
County Sheriff's Office Capt. Billy
McKelvey, left, speaks next to Jim Clark,
an independent consultant, during a news
conference about the investigation of the
death of Eric Harris in Tulsa, Okla. Police
say a reserve sheriff's deputy thought he
was holding a stun gun, not his handgun,
when he fatally shot Harris during an
arrest that was caught on video in Tulsa.
Reserve deputy in Okla. county turns
himself in to face manslaughter charge
JUSTIN JUOZAPAVICIUS AND
ALLEN REED.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
TULSA, Okla. - A 73
year-old Oklahoma volun
teer sheriff's deputy who
authorities said fatally shot
a suspect after confusing
his stun gun and handgun
was booked into the county
jail Tuesday, April 14 on a
manslaughter charge.
Robert Bates surren
dered to the Tulsa County
Jail and was released after
posting $25,000 bond.
Bates' attorney, Clark
Brewster, told reporters
that his client would not
make a statement, then ush
ered him into a waiting
SUV.
Brewster said Bates is
due to make an initial court
appearance April 21.
The Tulsa County
Sheriff's Office said Bates,
an insurance executive who
was volunteering on an
undercover operation in
Tulsa, accidentally shot 44
year-old Eric Harris on
April 2. Tulsa County
District Attorney Steve
Kunzweiler charged Bates
on Monday with second
degree manslaughter, pun
ishable by up to four years
in prison.
A video of the incident
recorded by a deputy with a
sunglass camera and
released Friday shows a
deputy chase and tackle of
Harris, who authorities said
tried to sell an illegal gun to
an undercover officer.
A gunshot rang out as
the deputy wresded with
Harris on the ground and a
man says: "Oh, I shot him.
I'm sorry."
Harris was treated by
medics at the scene and
died at a hospital.
In a phone interview
after the booking, Brewster
said "there's no question"
his client is not guilty and
described Bates' actions
after the shooting as "hon
est and transparent."
A spokeswoman for
Kunzweiler said he would
SmS
not comment on the case
Tuesday.
In the video, another
deputy appears to restrain
Harris by holding his head
to the ground with his knee.
When Harris complains
that he has been shot and is
struggling to breathe, a
deputy replies in a profani
ty-laden outburst that he
was shot because he ran
and that he should stop
talking.
A Harris family state
ment released Tuesday said
while there are "many good
deputies" at the sheriff's
office "who perform their
jobs in the right way,"
Harris' treatment "clearly
shows that there is a deep
seated problem within" the
Tulsa County Sheriff's
Office.
"Sheriff (Stanley)
Glanz's recent public state
ments also make it ,clear
that he does not even see
the problem and has no
plans to change the prac
tices within the TCSO," the
w
statement said. "While
Sheriff Glanz acknowl
edges that an 'error' was
made when Eric was killed,
he has yet to even apolo
gize to our family."
A spokesman for the
sheriff's office declined to
comment on the statement
Tuesday.
Andre Harris, the vic
tim's brother, has said he
does not believe the shoot
ing was racially motivated.
Bates is white and Harris is
black.
Tulsa Police Sgt. Jim
Clark, who investigated the
shooting as an independent
consultant at the request of
the sheriff's office, con
cluded that Bates had been
so engrossed in the stress of
the moment that he did not
think clearly about what he
had in his hand when he
fired his handgun rather
than a stun gun.
Reed reported from
Little Rock, Arkansas.
SC shooting
from page Al~
video that was taken by
a witness. Scott was shot
after fleeing a traffic stop
by then-officer Michael
Slager. The officer initially
said Scott was shot after a
tussle over his Taser, but
the witness video that later
surfaced showed Scott
being shot at eight times as
he ran away. Slager was
fired and has been charged
with murder.
Scott's death was criti
cized as yet another fatal
shooting involving an
unarmed black man by a
white officer under ques
tionable circumstances.
Some North Charleston
community members said
they suspect abuse of
power and the abuse of
public trust played more of
a role than race in the
shooting.
"t's not about the color
of your skin, it's about
social justice. When we all
practice social justice,
we're all free,"' said
Mattese Lecque, a North
Charleston resident who
heard Sharpton preach.
"Sometimes it takes disas
ter to bring about change,
and that's what's happening
now."
The chants, hymns and
calls for more police
accountability during small
rallies in North Charleston
have echoed those in
Ferguson, Missouri.
However, many in the
North Charleston area have
said they don't want to see
the burned-out buildings,
broken windows and social
tension that characterized
Ferguson after Brown's
shooting ? and the
announcement that a grand
jury wouldn't indict the
officer who shot him.
Residents say they're
more focused on pursuing
justice for Scott's family,
not violent demonstrations.
"We're not gonna tear it
up, we're not gonna have
that," said Dwayne
German, 56, of Charleston.
"If you want to vent anger,
take it out when it's time to
vote."
"It's not about the color
of your skin, it's about
social justice. When we
all practice social justice,
we're all free,"
-Mattese Lecque
North Charleston resident
f
336-750-3220