Stephen A. Does Not Speak For Me

Omega Psi Phi is grounded in four cardinal principles. Manhood. Scholarship. Perseverance. Uplift. Stephen A. Smith fails each one in attacking Black Women leaders in bad faith.

(Moody College of Communication/Wikimedia Commons)

Editor’s note: This piece was first published on Damario Solomon-Simmon’s Substack. You can subscribe here.

I am a Life Member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc., member number 13789. Initiated almost 27 years ago at Omega’s Pi Delta Chapter at the University of Oklahoma on April 23, 1999. Active ever since.

For more than two decades, I have dedicated my life to protecting and uplifting Black people against systems of oppression in courtrooms, legislatures, media spaces, and communities. One of the most powerful and least understood systems of oppression in America is the complicity of corporate media in manufacturing false narratives about Black people, monetizing internal conflict, and disproportionately targeting Black women.

As an Omega man and a Tulsa son, I have had the honor of representing Mother Fletcher and Mother Randle, the last two living survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, for many years. This experience makes one truth unavoidable: when powerful platforms distort Black leaders’ character, the harm is never abstract and its consequences compound across generations.

I do not say this lightly.

Stephen A. Smith is not confronting that system, nor is he resisting it. He is serving it.

The Immediate Context

In recent weeks, Stephen A. Smith has used his national platforms to single out prominent Black women, including Jasmine Crockett and Joy Reid. Smith is also a member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc., and he has spoken publicly about what the fraternity means to him. That makes his choice of targets, and the framing he uses—especially worth naming.

Rather than engage their arguments, Smith focused on tone, credibility, and legitimacy. He framed clarity as excess, assertiveness as liability, and their refusal to soften language as the real problem.

Missing entirely was any serious examination of the systems they confront. He did not interrogate white supremacy, corporate media incentives, or structural power. Instead, he personalized the conflict, shifting attention from systems to the Black women themselves.

That move is familiar. It converts accountability into spectacle and reassures audiences uncomfortable with Black women’s authority that the problem is not the system, but the women challenging it.

That is the role Stephen A. Smith has chosen to play here.

This Is Not a Mistake. It Is a Role.

There is a difference between telling hard truths and selling false narratives. Stephen A. Smith has chosen the latter.

He turned critique inward. Punched down. Chose the most disrespected demographic in America to challenge.

Black women.

Instead of interrogating white supremacy, corporate ownership, patriarchal power, or media incentives, he redirected the spotlight onto Black women who speak plainly and without permission.

Why His Actions Violate Everything Omega Stands For

Omega Psi Phi is grounded in four Cardinal Principles: Manhood. Scholarship. Perseverance. Uplift. Because Stephen A. Smith is an Omega man, it’s fair to measure his public conduct, especially toward Black women, against those principles.

• Manhood is responsibility aimed upward. A man confronts systems destroying his community, regardless of the risk. He does not redirect pressure onto Black women because they are the easy targets.

• Scholarship demands structural analysis. Stephen A. offers none. Only hot takes stripped of history, nuance, and context.

• Perseverance requires reinforcing those who endure injustice rather than disciplining them for how they endure it. Stephen A. does the opposite—he polices Black women’s tone instead of challenging the power they’re naming.

• Uplift means using your platform to strengthen our people, not to condition audiences to distrust Black women’s authority. Stephen A. does the latter.

This Is What Dr. Woodson Warned Us About

One of my heroes and fellow Omega man, Carter G. Woodson taught plainly, “If you control a man’s thinking, you do not have to worry about his actions.”

Anyone who cares about Black people should be concerned that Stephen A.’s words and actions mirror white supremacist narratives.

Given that he currently has perhaps the largest platform of any Black person in America, it is alarming to see him use it to condition his mostly white male audience to see Black women as the problem rather than fighters of oppression.

The Line That Must Be Drawn

Stephen A. Smith does not speak for me. He does not speak for the thousands of Omega men who understand their responsibility. He does not speak for the millions of Black men who may not agree with everything Congresswoman Crockett or Joy Reid says, but still respect what it means to fight in public on behalf of our people.

I stand for the protection of Black womanhood. I stand for accountability over access. I stand for confronting oppressive systems instead of castigating the people harmed by them.

If we remain silent while Black women are publicly undermined, we are no longer bystanders. We are participants.

Omega Psi Phi was not created to make Black men comfortable inside unjust systems. It was created to produce men disciplined enough to challenge them.