Well, you did it.  This isn’t the way you wanted it to happen, but it happened anyway. Just like I knew it would.

I got a call from Tavis on yesterday. And he told me he was quitting the show. He told me the reason was that he was tired and has a lot of things going on, and he feels that now is a good time to leave the show.
 
We all know that isn’t the real reason he’s leaving the show. The real reason is that he can’t take the hate he’s been getting regarding the Barack issue — hate from the black people that he loves so much.  He needed to feel the love.  We all do, whether it’s from our radio audience or from people we know personally.  He wasn’t feeling any love, so he quit.

A while back, he told us that I don’t speak for him.  But this morning, since he isn’t here to speak for himself, I think it’s my job as a colleague and a friend.  And maybe this time, you’ll really listen to me.

Tavis truly loves black people. I tried to tell you that. The hate he’s been getting hurts.  He’ll never admit that, but it’s true.

And here’s something you may not want to admit:  Black people need Tavis.  You may not agree with what he has said, but he said it because he has love for black people.  I’ll admit that sometimes listening to him was like trying to figure out the DaVinci Codes.  I’ll also admit that I wanted Tavis to show a little more love to Barack Obama, and I was frustrated over his failure to do so. But what Tavis was saying made us think. It had us talking, it had us listening to a different point of view, and it was damn good radio. Tavis on the radio not saying everything that we want him to say is a lot better than not having Tavis on the radio at all.  “The Tom Joyner Morning Show” without Tavis gives our listeners one less reason to tune in, and in case you don’t know, all of us in radio -- and in black radio especially -- are in a battle for our lives.  We need good, controversial, compelling radio, and Tavis brought that.

When Tavis put the first “Covenant” book together, he was on a mission to hold whoever led this nation accountable to black people and to things that were critical to us.  At the time, he had no idea that Barack Obama was going to run for president.  His goal was for EVERY presidential candidate to answer to every covenant in the book during this campaign. He has said all along that he is holding Barack and all candidates accountable.  Dr. King would have done the same thing.

When asked what Dr. King would want him to do on this campaign, Barack has said Dr. King would want him to address the issues.  That’s all Tavis was asking of him, and I think Dr. King would have been proud of Tavis.

But because Tavis has not come out and said, “I am for Barack Obama,” everybody has started hating on him and threatening him and clowning him, and he can’t take it.  Those of us who know him well know that.  If you read his autobiography, “What I Know for Sure,” you know that no matter how deep his love is,  if he feels that he’s right or that you’re wrong, he doesn’t back down.  When his mom made him step down from being class president because his grades were slipping, he didn’t speak to her for two years.  His own mama, a single parent of eight!   He lived in her house, ate her food while he sat at her table and didn’t say a word to her for two years. All because he didn’t feel the love that his mom was trying to give him. 

Tavis said the things he said about Barack because he wants the black people that he loves so much to think -- but to most of you, it sounded like hate, and it sounded like that to me too. Love or hate, real or perceived, none of it matters now. What matters is that Tavis wants to quit the TJMS -- and that’s real.

I want you to call him, e-mail him, text him, hug him, kiss him, get him in a corner and wrestle him and tell him how much you love him and appreciate his love for black people. Everyone needs that sometimes. And Tavis needs it right now.