Jack & Jill Politics

No difference between the Real Pimp and the “Civic” Leader. Check out the logos behind Tavis.

And what I mean by that is he has officially been “outed” as not being the Civic Leader he has marketed himself to be.

I’ve already said that, but it bears repeating: I don’t care if you’re getting your HUSTLE on, but do us all a favor and call it what it is: A HUSTLE.  Additionally, don’t call your hustle CIVIC LEADERSHIP when the only Civic Leader that appears to benefit is YOU.

For those of you who have commented about how Wells Fargo Bank is a big sponsor of those Annual Negro Super Bowls, aka, the “State of the Black Union”, some mucky mucks from that organization are the ones doing the “outing“:

As the housing market began booming in mid-2000, Wells Fargo & Co. teamed up with prominent African American commentator and PBS talk show host Tavis Smiley and financial author Kelvin Boston, the host of “Moneywise,” a multicultural financial affairs show, to host something called “Wealth Building” seminars in black neighborhoods.

Smiley was the keynote speaker, and the big draw, according to Boston and Keith Corbett, executive vice president of the Center for Responsible Lending, who attended two of the seminars. Smiley would charge up the audience — and rattle the Wells Fargo executives in attendance — by launching into a story about how he hated banks, and how they used to refuse to lend him money for his real estate projects in Compton, Calif., and elsewhere. After Hurricane Katrina, Smiley also emphasized the importance of building assets and wealth, saying those who had done so were able to leave New Orleans, while people with nothing had to stay behind, Boston said.

I don’t like being pimped.  I like it even less when it’s done under the auspices of “Civic Leadership”.

The seminars in some cities drew standing room only crowds, with numerous Wells Fargo representatives on hand, seated at carrels to meet one-on-one with potential borrowers who lined up after the speeches, which were usually held in hotels. The free, day-long events were heavily advertised in the black media, and launched in eight cities, including Baltimore, Chicago, Richmond, Va., and San Francisco.

But what appeared on the surface as a way to help black borrowers build wealth was actually just the opposite, according to a little-noticed explanation of the “Wealth Building” seminar strategy, contained in a lawsuit recently filed by Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan.

Wells’ plan for the seminars all along was to target black borrowers for higher-cost subprime mortgages, not for wealth-building, the suit charged. And the seminars were a part of the bank’s overall illegal and discriminatory practice of steering black and Hispanic borrowers into riskier and more expensive loans, the suit said.

If that’s not pimping the people Tavis professes to love, I don’t know what IS.  And I can use a lot less of the type of “Love” Tavis gives Black people for the sake of getting his hustle on.

So, Tavis Smiley has been officially “Outed” as the hustler he really is, and needs to drink his six pack of STHU about holding President Obama accountable when his ass is probably going to have to testify in that Wells Fargo discrimination lawsuit.  He has never said jack about predatory lending, and now, we have an idea WHY.

You cannot bite the hand that’s writing your checks, and if you don’t think those SOBUs weren’t financed by Wells Fargo, I have beachfront property in Kansas to sell you.