Oh, hot mic, hot mic! Fox News aired a clip of Rev. Jesse Jackson crudely criticizing Sen. Barack Obama’s recent speeches in Black churches about morality in an unguarded moment during a television interview when he thought his microphone was off.

“He’s been talking down to Black people on this faith-based…” complained Jackson in a whispered aside to Reid Tuckson, an executive vice president at United Health Group. Then the former Democratic presidential candidate said he wanted to, um, emasculate the current Democratic presidential nominee.

Naturally, Fox News ran with the slipup, airing it on “The O’Reilly Factor” this evening. Getting a jump on the controversy, Jackson had already apologized by this evening. “For any harm or hurt that this hot mic private conversation may have caused, I apologize,” Jackson said in a written statement, according to the Associated Press. ”My support for Senator Obama’s campaign is wide, deep and unequivocal.”

Despite the media uproar over the comments, the Obama campaign was not about to fall for Fox News’ divide-and-conquer gambit. Campaign spokesman Bill Burton said, “As someone who grew up without a father in the home, Sen. Obama has spoken and written for many years about the issue of parental responsibility, including the importance of fathers participating in their children’s lives….He will continue to speak out about our responsibilities to ourselves and each other, and he of course accepts Reverend Jackson’s apology.”

Meanwhile, Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., who is a prominent Obama supporter, blasted his father’s remarks. “His divisive and demeaning comments about the presumptive Democratic nominee–and I believe the next president of the United States–contradict his inspiring and courageous career,” the younger Jackson said.

–Sheryl Huggins Salomon

Were Rev. Jesse Jackson’s comments about Barack Obama uttered out of jealousy, or is he correct in saying that Obama talks down to Black people? Share your thoughts below.

“If the only way I can earn a living now in African-American adult fiction is to sell my people the same poison that they’ve become addicted to, then I quit with my artistic integrity still intact, while moving on to a more progressive mission.”
–Bestselling fiction writer Omar Tyree, in a June 19 column published in The Daily Voice.

There’s an ever-growing pile of raunchy “urban lit” novels on my office desk, sent by publicists hoping to reach NiaOnline’s audience of Black women. Zane, Noire, Geneva Holliday, Teri Woods are among the authors of these potboilers, which are chocked full of explicit sex and dirty dealings. It’s a genre which seems to have overtaken the African-American books section of many bookstores. The Black literati have been complaining about the trend for years (while some join it under pseudonyms, such as Holliday), but judging from what I see sisters reading when I’m on the subway here in New York City, there’s an unabating demand for urban lit.

Now, one of the early entrants to the genre says he’s getting out. “After sixteen years and sixteen novels in the African-American adult urban fiction game, I feel like the man who created the monster Frankenstein. Things have gotten way out of hand,” said Omar Tyree (Flyy Girl, For The Love of Money, Diary of a Groupie) in a recent column that is, at times, self-aggrandizing (kudos to Eisa’s Blog for alerting us to the column). Going easy on the current crop of writers who he says were inspired by his earlier work, Tyree puts the much of the blame on the urban audience, which he says has “a preference for denigration.” He complains that when he tried to offer more uplifting stories with positive characters, such as A Do Right Man or Boss Lady, the audience didn’t reward him with praise or book sales. It’s a dynamic that he relates to “a similar destruction of hip hop, where the same ghettocentric stories began to take precedence over the creative perspectives and multifaceted voices and subjects of our urban music.”

With his publishing contracts winding down, Tyree says his final adult fiction novel, Pecking Order ( “which is all about the innovation and hustle of making legal money” ), will be released in September. While he does not specify what his “more progressive mission will be,” a year-old posting on his web site talks about his aspirations in the film industry.

Do you agree with Tyree’s complaints about the state of Black literature? Is it the fault of Black book readers, the writers, or the publishers? Share your thoughts below.

I rarely watch BET, truth be told. I think I got sucked into watching episodes of Hell Date for a hot minute, but no rubbernecker stays interested in watching the scene of a car wreck forever.

This past Tuesday night, June 24, our summer intern told me she took a look across the traffic divide to discover–to her pleasant surprise–that all lanes were running smoothly at the BET Awards show on cable TV.

But I’ll let her tell you about it. And if you missed it, it re-airs on June 27.– SHS

“BET, for the first time in a long time, I wasn’t shaking my head on Tuesday night.  The 2008 BET Awards were probably the most entertaining and tasteful award shows of the year (although comparing it to shows like the oversexed MTV Movie Awards and the tired Academy Awards, I suppose that really isn’t saying much).  Besides Usher’s opening performance let-down–he’s just not the dancer he used to be–and Keyshia Cole’s let’s-just-say-she-channeled-Lil’ Kim act in her duet with the Queen Bee, the award show was something for which Black people can be proud.  Lifetime Achievement Award recipient Al Green brought down the house with his throwback performance.  Everybody was on their feet when he took the stage.

“And hip hop felt very much alive that night.  Especially with the heat of rapper Lil’ Wayne’s The Carter III selling ‘a millie’ (one million) albums in the past week.  ‘And they said hip hop was dead!’ said Kanye West as he brought Lil’ Wayne on stage during his acceptance speech for the Viewers Choice award.  His words garnered applause throughout the entire Shrine Auditorium.  Granted, we all have some beef with the ‘fast life,’ driven, money-hungry, mindless dance music state of hip hop.  But we don’t want to see it die! 

“Although Lil Wayne’s content may have some flaws, his rap career is based on actual lyrical ability, not just a dance song that can sell millions of ringtones (No disrespect Soulja Boy!).  We hip-hop lovers listen to Lil’ Wayne’s music and expect to hear metaphoric wordplay, original beats, and just plain raw talent in his songs.  And that’s exactly what we get.  It was quite refreshing and even inspirational to see two young Black men on the stage–Kanye and Lil’ Wayne–whose lyrics prove they genuinely care about reviving the state of hip hop.  There is nothing wrong with some of those dance songs; of course there is a time and a place for everything. But at some point the senseless jibber-jabber gets old.  We’ve done enough head bopping and rump shaking to last us three lifetimes.  Let’s show the naysayers just how diverse we are within hip-hop culture. 

“Barack Obama proved the culture’s spirit is alive and breathing, too.  Even though he didn’t make an appearance, stars like Diddy (or whatever he calls himself nowadays) and comic Brandon T. Jackson made Obama’s  presence very much felt.  Jackson flaunted his Obama for President tee, and Diddy shouted ‘Obama or Die!’ before presenting an award.  His new message is a lot more direct than his ‘Vote or Die!’ message in 2004.  I’ve got a strange feeling Diddy is coming after you if you don’t vote this time around.

“Look, I’m tired of shaking my head every time I turn on the radio and hear Soulja Boy’s ‘She Got a Dunk’ top the day’s song countdown, or turn on the television to see Black college students act a fool and fight all the time on a reality show.  I don’t know what they take us for, but we’re better than that! Right?

“So BET, thanks for making me proud Tuesday night. We have to show America and the world we’re serious about improving our culture. With great power comes great responsibility.  Come on, ya’ll, we’ve heard it all before, and it’s still true. 

“Is this our year?  Let’s call it a comeback…”

–Sade Khadijah Muhammad will be entering Syracuse University in the fall of 2008.