[dotstudio id="587e67c699f8151e7e681c9c"]
[caption id="attachment_782717" align="aligncenter" width="1068"]<a href="http://madamenoire.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/steve-harvey.jpg"><img src="http://madamenoire.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/steve-harvey.jpg" alt="" width="1068" height="601" class="size-full wp-image-782717" /></a> Steve Harvey during an appearance on NBC's 'The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.' Steve Harvey hosts a special Tonight Show edition of Family Feud with Annette Bening, Greta Gerwig and Jimmy of the 20th Century Women family facing off against Questlove, Tariq and James of The Roots family.<br />Featuring: Steve Harvey<br />Where: United States<br />When: 06 Dec 2016<br />Credit: Supplied by WENN.com<br />**WENN does not claim any ownership including but not limited to Copyright, License in attached material. Fees charged by WENN are for WENN's services only, do not, nor are they intended to, convey to the user any ownership of Copyright, License in material. By publishing this material you expressly agree to indemnify, to hold WENN, its directors, shareholders, employees harmless from any loss, claims, damages, demands, expenses (including legal fees), any causes of action, allegation against WENN arising out of, connected in any way with publication of the material.**[/caption]
<em>By Jasmyne A. Cannick</em>
</div>
<div>
Steve Harvey is just another man in a long line of largely irrelevant Negros being used to represent Blacks in America to white folks. Yes, you read that right. Last week's announcement of Harvey working with Donald Trump caused a collective laughter in Black households from one end of the country to the other—and that’s not a good thing.
I’m not sure what kind of sway president-elect Donald Trump and Dr. Ben Carson were led to believe that comedian, game show host and radio personality Steve Harvey has with Black people but someone should have told him, it’s not much. And no, that’s not a slight to Harvey. Harvey knows--or at least should know—that his popularity lies mostly with women, mostly in the South, and mostly with my parent’s and grandparent’s generation. The reality is that Steve Harvey has about as much influence as Trump and Carson with the folks out in the streets engaging in the type of violence that saw Chicago’s homicide rate soar in 2016—none whatsoever.
Still, Trump’s decision to tap Harvey to help "bring about some positive change in the inner cities" is a bit of a conundrum. As someone who campaigned on not being or following the status quo, Trump’s selection of Harvey to assist him in this mission is, quite frankly, exactly that. It follows a time-honored tradition in this country that has deemed only African-American males, usually over 60, oftentimes a Reverend or some other member of Christian clergy, and presumed heterosexual can lead Black people. I guess in a way I expected more of the president-to-be.
The problem with Trump’s latest pick is that people don’t need to laugh at or about the violence facing inner city communities. Trump’s choice of Harvey is like dispatching Rev. Al Sharpton or Rev. Jesse Jackson—they’re irrelevant to the group of folks Trump wants to influence. The selection of Harvey shows African-Americans, again, just how out of touch our next president is when it comes to our community. Actually, it’s eerily reminiscent of the same strategy Democrats use when trying to engage Blacks–and lately that hasn’t been working too well for them either.
It’s no secret that the problem for Trump is that leaders from my generation and younger who would be influential with Trump’s targeted group of Blacks aren’t that easily controlled, impressed or used for political causes and tend to be more, let’s say “radical” for sake of conversation, than some of these folks deemed more respectable like a Steve Harvey, Rev. Al or Rev. Jackson. In a way, today’s non-traditional leaders mirror some of the same qualities that catapulted Trump into the presidency in that they move to the beat of their own drum. They’re not interested in singing Kumbaya and they don’t believe that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks are the only two Black people in American history worth celebrating or learning about. But that doesn’t mean that they aren’t just as concerned about or willing to work toward finding a solution to curb violence in their communities.
If Trump is serious about addressing the problems facing urban neighborhoods, he needs to identify real leaders who can do just that. They may not be the traditional aging heterosexual Black male pastor or comedian. They may be millennial rap artists, they may be lesbians—they may even be Democrats. Each generation has its own leaders. If the majority of the people out in the streets engaging in back and forth violence plaguing inner cities from coast to coast were Baby Boomers then I’d say Steve Harvey might be a good pick, but they aren’t and therefore he's not.
Our president-elect can do better. If it’s one thing Donald Trump can do, it’s think outside of the box. We’ve seen that with almost every single one of his Cabinet picks. I don’t think anyone will disagree that we have a problem with violence—in particular gun violence—in the inner cities. But the messenger matters just as much as the message. And when it comes to the topic of inner city violence, Trump should pick a new messenger.
</div>
<div>
<i><strong>Jasmyne A. Cannick</strong> is nationally known television and radio commentator on political, race, and LGBT issues who works in politics as a communications strategist. Follow her on Twitter <a href="http://www.twitter.com/jasmyne" target="_blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://www.twitter.com/jasmyne&source=gmail&ust=1484750099443000&usg=AFQjCNEd3XMk0h-xoNEcgFL6s0RAKwBLkA">@Jasmyne</a> and on Facebook <a href="http://www.facebook.com/jasmynecannick" target="_blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://www.facebook.com/jasmynecannick&source=gmail&ust=1484750099443000&usg=AFQjCNEiubm3AekeOovMA7aRgjbfdCL6mA">@JasmyneCannick</a>. Her website is <a href="http://www.jasmyneonline.com/" target="_blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://www.jasmyneonline.com/&source=gmail&ust=1484750099443000&usg=AFQjCNGcis20Yr4qcAgim0Kqg4P5wM6yjQ">www.jasmyneonline.com</a>.</i>
</div>
↧