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Jet, March 18, 2002

Famed TV and radio talk show host Tavis Smiley is congratulated on his recent third-annual symposium by his mother, Joyce Smiley, during the historic gathering at Sharon Baptist Church in Philadelphia. The purpose of the symposium, "Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community? Black America's Vision for Healing, Harmony and Higher Ground," was to present a public think tank to analyze the challenges facing Black Americans after the Sept.

11 terrorist attacks. Below, Smiley is joined by panel participants: front row (l-r), Congresswoman Barbara Lee, Derrick Blassingame, critic Stanley Crouch, the Rev. Gardner C. Taylor, Harvard University professor Dr. Cornel West, Kenneth Gamble, the Rev. Dr. Bernice King; second row (l-r), Mrs. Lynn Reed, the Rev. Keith W. Reed, Sr., attorney Johnnie L. Cochran, attorney Raymond Brown, Jr., poet Sonia Sanchez, Dr. Na'im Akbar, Nashid "Ibn" Ali, Elaine R. Jones, the Rev. Dr. Barbara L. King, Iyanla Vanzant and Tom Joyner, host of the "Tom Joyner Morning Show"; and third row (l-r), Lani Guinier, Kimberle Williams Crenshaw, the Rev. Dr. James A. Forbes, Jr., National Urban League President Hugh B. Price, William C. Thompson Jr., Dr. Michael Eric Dyson, Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and Charles Ogletree. The symposium aired live on C-SPAN. In addition to Smiley's annual symposiums, he continues to provide commentary on the "Tom Joyner Morning Show" and is a contributor to CNN and ABC's "Good Morning America" and "Primetime Thursday." He recently kicked off a national, daily one-hour show on National Public Radio, "The Tavis Smiley Show."