Tavis Smiley schools Bill Maher on the profundity of MLK's message and the possibility that "They" killed him

9/11 Blogger
Apr. 03, 2008

On friday, Tavis Smiley schooled Bill Maher and guests on the depth and harder truth-telling nature of Martin Luther King Jr.'s messages. He reminded the panel that King spoke about God's judgment on America, American arrogance and also made the claim that his own government was the "greatest purveyor of violence in the world today." He finished up his train of thought by saying that "part of being a patriot means to stand as a truthteller and say what needs to be said." Amen Tavis!

Bill Maher, who apparently has never heard of William Pepper and the jury that, less than a decade ago, found elements of the US government guilty of a conspiracy to murder MLK, couldn't believe that Smiley was actually saying that "they" killed him.

Bill: "Just so you don't get into trouble, the "they" that disinvited him from the White House is a little different from the "they" who shot him dead?

Tavis: "I could debate you on that."

Bill: "No?"

Tavis: "I could debate you on that."

Bill: "You're a nut."

At least Bill didn't tell him to take his medication. Bill's "you're a nut" comments feel almost like knee-jerk responses, because he knows nothing else, and likely, can't handle anything besides his Bush-bashing, "middle America is stupid," cynical and empty, false liberalism.

I think we should reach out to Tavis Smiley and his producers and ask them to have on David Ray Griffin. A few weeks ago, I asked a panel of people in the world of books and media (i.e. LA Times book reviewer, NPR producer etc.) whether there was ever social or political pressure to not feature any books or topics that might be considered too incendiary, bringing up the example of David Ray Griffin and the truth of 9-11. And the only one of them who gave an actual response to the question was Carole Chouinard, currently one of Smiley's producers and formerly one of Maher's producers. This segment on Maher has me convinced that Tavis is open to the harder truths and, at times, a very articulate defender of them. Among Charlie Rose, Bill Moyers and Tavis Smiley, our best bet for getting 9-11 truth on PBS is Smiley.

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The Tavis Smiley Show (on PRI)

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Tavis Smiley (on PBS)

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