The Covenant with Black America - Ten Years Later

by Tavis Smiley

In 2006, Tavis Smiley teamed up with other leaders in the Black community to create a national plan of action to address the ten most crucial issues facing African Americans. The Covenant with Black America, which became a #1 New York Times bestseller, ran the gamut from health care to criminal justice, affordable housing to education, voting rights to racial divides. But a decade later, Black men still fall to police bullets and brutality, Black women still die from preventable diseases, Black children still struggle to get a high quality education, the digital divide and environmental inequality still persist, and American cities from Ferguson to Baltimore burn with frustration. In short, the last decade has seen the evaporation of Black wealth, with Black fellow citizens having lost ground in nearly every leading economic category. So Smiley calls for a renewal of The Covenant, presenting in this new edition the original action plan—with a new foreword and conclusion—alongside fresh data from the Indiana University School of Public & Environmental Affairs (SPEA) to underscore missed opportunities and the work that remains to be done. While life for far too many African Americans remains a struggle, the great freedom fighter Frederick Douglass was "If there is no struggle, there is no progress." With Smiley leading the charge, the time has come to finally convert the trials and tribulations of Black America into the progress that all of America yearns for.

Genres: Nonfiction, Politics, Race, History, Social Justice, Social Issues, African American

296 pages, Paperback

First published January 5, 2016

About the author

Tavis Smiley is 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 Talk (later renamed BET Tonight with Tavis Smiley) on Black Entertainment Television (BET). After Smiley sold an exclusive interview of Sara Jane Olson to ABC News in 2001, BET declined to renew his contract that year. Smiley then began hosting The Tavis Smiley Show on National Public Radio (NPR) (2002–04) and hosted Tavis Smiley on the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) on weekdays and The Tavis Smiley Show on Public Radio International (PRI) from 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.

Reviews

[Vivian · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't think there's a rational person out there who can watch the news or look around them and say, "Everything is okay."

The fact of the matter is if there were a simple solution it would have been done before. That said, what we have presently is unacceptable. There are significant socioeconomic problems in our society that need to be addressed. The focus of this book is about improving Black American lives as a whole, what's wrong, what steps need to be taken, what has been done since the first edition, and where we as a country still need to go.

HEALTHCARE: The issue of health and well being of Black Americans and minorities and disadvantaged persons brings the issue of access to healthcare, disease rates, and nutrition and lack of access to healthy food to the forefront. While there have been inroads with the American Care Act that saw dramatic improvements and the full effects have yet to be seen as more citizens get the medical care and preventative care they need. Especially noteworthy is that First Lady Michelle Obama addressed two of the keys points brought up in this chapter with her "Let's Move" program and focus on home gardens to raise fresh produce.

EDUCATION: Dr. Gordon's introduction puts forth an ambitious goal. The notable gender gap between females and males is not limited to Black communities, it is prevalent in White communities as well. Early education is key, but as the text points out there is no simple answer and all four of the original bullet list items require complicated efforts. Areas of great need are access to early education, Pre-K and revision of discipline policies in schools. Socioeconomic inequity causes widespread problems that are not quickly solved. And as always, family and community involvement in young members lives is key to success.

JUSTICE: Addressing inequity, I entered this chapter fearing it. I'm not a legal scholar but the three strikes rule was wrong to begin with and the statistics surrounding incarceration skews horribly along socioeconomic lines. Plus side: 2010 Fair Sentencing Act. I was surprised the Supreme Court's ruling on Johnson v. United States was not commented on since it was brought up in the original guidelines. Overall, the ground still needed to be covered in regards to juvenile offenders is enormous, though changes to zero tolerance policies and restricting prosecutorial leeway in determining whether children between the ages of 14-17 should be tried as adults seem an excellent starting point.

POLICING: Issues of bias, racial profiling, and the media. The skewed ratio of stopped or incarcerated Black Americans in proportion to the population is problematic. The media's preference of rating grabbing over journalism perpetuates false "truths". But, fundamentally, a police force needs to be compromised of community members to eliminate that us versus them mentality so recruiting and retention is critical.

AFFORDABLE NEIGHBORHOODS: This a major sociological issue that needs addressing. The ever shifting expansion and contraction of people from urban to suburban neighborhoods is complicated. Compounded by discriminatory practices in lending, sales, and rental, Black Americans struggle to find homes in areas with jobs. There is no easy solution, but holding elected officials accountable for dispersing funds effectively is important for all of us.

CLAIMING OUR DEMOCRACY: Underrepresentation of Black Americans in Congress leads to lack of voice and unmet needs. Challenges include voter harassment, loss of voting rights due to felony convictions, gerrymandering, and new laws limiting voter participation. Additionally, no representation for the District of Columbia and through not addressed herein, other territorial possessions of the U.S.

STRENGTHENING OUR RURAL ROOTS: Rural poverty is a major challenge, especially for those in the Deep South and Appalachia. The ensuing lack of healthcare, education, and food is a major hurdle. These areas have been left out of the economic cycle of goods and services, and the residents suffer. The concept of incorporating 1/2 million individual Black farms to create a block that would be able to access more money and develop their existing assets as a unit instead of evanescing as so many small farms across the U.S. are doing was a bold proposal ten years ago. Stressing better information and access to available funds and services is critical.

ACCESSING GOOD JOBS, WEALTH, AND ECONOMIC PROSPERITY: There are some sobering facts regarding the 2006 Recession and its effects. It points out the importance of home ownership as an investment mechanism and illustrates the barriers to it from predatory lending to the lack of down payments. It offers new mechanisms to tackle the barrier from housing to entrepreneurialism, tax free accounts. The issue of healthcare that is a major issue for Americans and a big expense was pointed out, but the update did not address the Affordable Care Act which I found disappointing. Overall, the divergence in wealth and the diminishing middle class is having a profound effect on our society, and it is critical to address poverty.

ASSURING ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE FOR ALL: the inequity of protection against environmental transgressions is acute and vulnerable populations, minority and poor, are targeted by businesses and not given the same compensation. The main topics addressed are lead paint poisoning and toxic waste dumps, both which disparately affect low income people.

CLOSING THE RACIAL DIGITAL DIVIDE: access, training, and affordability are key issues. To be competitive in the modern job market requires it. Telecommunication companies versus the Community Broadband Act is an interesting and evolving struggle.

I've plucked out some key points in the chapters, but obviously all the supporting data and arguments I didn't mention make this an interesting and comprehensive read. The chapters break down into an introduction, the original edition text, status update, and real life tips and programs that are successfully bridging the topic areas. In summary, this isn't meant to be academic, but a tool to understand issues and use to improve lives--NOW .

There is a very conscious and intentional logic and tone to the the book from the topic, to the format, and even the grammatical structure. I whole-heartedly agree with structuring the sentences so that minorities were the subject of active verb sentences; making them the agents of action and not objects passively waiting. This was incredibly successful in advocating power and self-primacy. On the other hand, while I understand the subtextual importance and psychological impact of capitalizing Black and Hispanic and not white within the text, refocusing attention and the highlighting the subject matter, at some point it lost that edge and looked more like a grammatical or proofing error.

The fact is that in many instances the fabric of Black communities have been shredded and until they can be rewoven, until people belong to a cohesive, multigenerational group the struggle is going to continue. This book provides suggestions and key points to focus on for success.

We can do better and we will do better. Life is moving forward. Things change, break, or just need to be switched as we and our society evolves. As Americans, we want people to have the right to LIFE, LIBERTY, AND THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS.

We ALL deserve it. It's our unalienable right.

This book successfully tackles the issues by providing real action items.

~Copy provided by NetGalley~

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ARC request: APPROVED!!!



First, Tavis Smiley is one of the few talk shows I'll watch. I don't like TV, but if I'm flipping channels and he's on--BAM! Hooked immediately.

I am so excited to read this. Honestly.

Coming from the Caribbean, I still find so much of what is happening here, stateside, to be absolutely befuddling.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

Academic and dry with lots of statistics and end notes. Best part was the "What Works Now" section of each chapter providing success stories. Also, I liked the ten years later updates to each chapter. Good book to read in a group of people who want to make change and who are thinking about where best to put their efforts. We read this as a congregation.

[Gordon Kwok · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall, I think this was a good book that discusses the changes made since the original Covenant was written. The message is that while we have made progress, a great deal of work remains. I enjoyed both of Mr. Smiley's books.

[reneeNaDaCherry · Rating 5 out of 5]

God grant me the strength...

[Joe Hall · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great sourcebook on the black struggle

[CTEP]

For the month of October I read the book The Covenant with Black America. The book discusses the many ways that minorities in America are subject to unfair laws and policies, disparities, and racism. Many different subjects are covered in the book including healthcare, education, environmental health, the justice system, and the digital divide, among others. Each chapter is dedicated to a different topic and discusses problems within the system, racial disparities, ways for community members and political leaders to get involved, and provides examples of programs that have been successfully implemented as solutions to the problems. The book is a great resource because it provides detailed statistics on every topic discussed in the book and offers suggestions for how to get involved. By reading the book, the reader enters into a covenant with Black America because the first step to finding solutions to many of these problems is to become aware of these problems.

This book relates to my AmeriCorps experience because it describes the challenges of the populations I work with. The majority of the people I work with at Wilder are members of minority populations, especially the black population. Many of my participants suffer from the disparities described in this book. The book was very eye-opening to me because I was not aware of the extent of these problems in America. Now I know more about my participants because I have a better understanding of why they are in their situations and what needs to be done to help them out of these situations.

I think other CTEP members should read this book because it is eye-opening but also because it offers good suggestions on how to improve community and government involvement. The book also provided real life examples of programs that work, like the state of Maine began a program to give every 7th and 8th grader a computer to use in school to help bridge the digital divide gap. A CTEP member could be inspired by an idea or program in this book and it could have a huge impact on the digital divide initiative in Minnesota. The only way to find out is to read the book.

[Marilyn Diamond · Rating 4 out of 5]

We tore this book apart in a community class an frankly I expected more. I love the state of Black America symposiums more.

[Nathan Booth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting collection of essays from Black leaders, thinkers and academics. Full of interesting solutions and ideas for a range of issues Black Americans face.

[Ella · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ten years after writing a clear 10-point plan for improving the conditions of Black America and much of America in general, actually, Tavis Smiley checks back in on his plan and what conditions look like. It's not a pretty picture. Going down the line, each point has not only not improved, most cases have gotten worse.

The original plan and therefore this one include the following topics: Securing the right to health care and well-being; Establishing a system of public education; Correcting the system of unequal justice; Fostering accountable community-centered policing; Ensuring access to affordable communities that connect to opportunity; Claiming our democracy; Strengthening our rural roots; Accessing good jobs, wealth, and economic prosperity; Assuring environment justice for all; and closing the racial digital divide.

The high marks here come from the 10-points. It's fairly comprehensive, and with a knowledge of where we were at any point in history, one can pull out this book and continue to compare. The book is well-organized and easy to find things in. There are graphs, charts, and bullet-points, and an expert in every one of the points writes an essay introducing us to the issue at hand. Included too are examples of communities who have tried to address the topic being discussed.

Taken all together, this book is overwhelming in the scope and breadth of trying to address the concerns of a vital part of the American family. It feels almost an impossible list, which is why breaking the parts down is probably a great idea.

One star off because I'd love to see some really inspired plans for dealing with the most troubling of these issues and there are clearly points that bear on each other. None of these problems lives in a vacuum. I also noticed that some issues, like the pure obstructionism on some points were simply glossed over or ignored. It's a non-partisan book and Tavis Smiley may be a realist, but he's also an eternal optimist, because of that, some things are just glaringly omitted.

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

This read like a textbook and was crammed with information, statistics, and facts. I found myself slogging through it, knowing that I wouldn't remember much of that information. My book group will be discussing this, which I how I came to read it. Although I don't remember the details of the information, the overarching impression I came away with is that not much has changed in the ten years since The Covenant was written. The picture was bleak enough when the book came out ten years ago. It is discouraging to read how little has improved since then. In some cases things are worse than ten years ago. The book was organized carefully, each section having the same headings. In that way it was easy to follow along. Many experts contributed. Were it not for my book group, I would never have come across this book. It left me discouraged, indignant, even angry, and wondering how I, a white middle class senior citizen, can work to improve the lot of Black America.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ten years ago Tavis Smiley brought a number of leaders of America's Black community together to assess the welfare of Blacks and recommend ways to improve their welfare. The result was a covenant documented in a book. This book examines the covenant and subsequent actions ten years later.

The book is not something to simply read. It contains cogent descriptions of 10 issues each supported by data. Actions are recommended. An assessment after 10 years is made. There are measurable actions individuals, communities and governments can take.

The sad reality is that, 10 years on even with some rays of hope, Blacks face even more daunting challenges. There is clearly an institutional bias against Blacks. Readers should consider the many recommendations and take action.

This is a book worth referring to from time to time, especially around elections.

[Ricardo Warner · Rating 4 out of 5]

An informative and eye opener for me. I was totally unaware of the history of African American since I grew up in Jamaica and our experiences are more different....we took a different path after the abolition of slavery. This book opened up my eyes and I am somewhat cognizant of what they are going through. I shall continue to expand my knowledge by going through some of the references nd reading other authors tasker on the matter.

I strongly recommend my fellow countrymen, Jamaicans and people of the Caribbean read this book. This book has opened my eyes, I can see more clearly and aware.

[Baal Of · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was not a fun book to read, written in a dry academic style, but it is valuable and important. It is distressing how little has changed, and how much worse things are going get with the orange kaiju in office, doing everything he can to undermine progress and enrich the wealthy and privileged.

[Jason · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book.

I was disappointed at how short the book was (242 pages). The remaining 50 pages were just endnotes detailing the source material. Still a fantastic read though.

[Emily Gallagher]

Great guy!

[Stan Boogie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good read. Eye opening & provides insight into the state of Black America.

[Jozef Syndicate · Rating 4 out of 5]

After having read the first edition of The Covenant with Black America, the expectation for this project--ten years later--was undoubtedly high. Written by notable journalist Davis Smiley in 2016, it is a poignant reflection on Black life and the nonverbal covenant these citizens have with America and among them selves. The book is a conversation driver, one for great pontification and self-reflection, however it is not solution-driven. After reflecting, the reader is challenge to take the facts and realities of Black American life to move conversation and action forward. As it is stated, "the time has come to finally convert the trials and tribulations of Black America into the progress." Well-written, Mr. Smiley. We look forward to more.