Tavis Smiley needs to have a conversation with one of his primary sponsors, Wells Fargo. This week, it was announced that Wells Fargo is being sued by the city of Baltimore for egregiously racist predatory lending practices in the black community. The company has been accused by some former loan officers of targeting subprime, low quality loans to black neighborhoods, leading to a dramatic economic collapse for the black community of Baltimore.

The statistical evidence is daunting. Half of all the properties foreclosed by Wells Fargo are vacant and 71% of those properties are in black neighborhoods. Wells Fargo's African American borrowers with incomes greater than $68,000 per year were 8 times more likely to hold subprime loans than white borrowers with the same income.

Dr. Christopher Richardson, one of the world's leading experts on predatory banking, states that, "There are virtually no federal laws prohibiting predatory lending like those that prohibit explicit discriminatory pricing or redlining." Richardson, who is a former fair lending economist with the Justice Department, goes on to state that, "They essentially have two different banks - a prime bank (for lower-risk borrowers with low default rates) and a subprime bank (for higher-risk borrowers). They market the subprime bank in minority neighborhoods, and the prime bank in non-minority ones. The advertising might be misleading, too, so as to make the subprime customers think they're working with the prime bank ("Wells Fargo Financial" vs. "Wells Fargo Home Mortgage" sound pretty similar, for example). So, if everyone in the prime bank is treated equally regardless of race, and likewise for everyone in the subprime bank, then the bank as a whole will look like it's not breaking the law."

To read more of Dr. Richardson's comments in detail, please click here.

There is a deeper and more serious concern with the stunning accusations being thrust against Wells Fargo, and this involves Tavis Smiley.

Wells Fargo is one of the primary sponsors of the State of the Black Union conference held annually by Mr. Smiley. The State of the Black Union is a respected event, in which scholars and leaders in the black community get together to discuss policy for African Americans. There is an element of trust granted to the forum that the speakers will provide recommendations for consumer choices that are ultimately healthy for the black community.

"When Mr. Smiley first partnered with Wells Fargo in 2005, he was a TEACHER of economic empowerment and assembled seminars around the country as the keynote speaker for wealth building," said Genma Stringer-Holmes, a business owner in Nashville, TN. "All this knowledge was given at no charge to trusting black folks. Mr. Smiley stated that he was "thrilled" to help black folks achieve their dreams but now that many of them have found themselves in a nightmare, where is he?"

Ms. Stringer-Holmes goes on to say that Tavis Smiley's call for accountability seem to have a double standard when accountability must be thrust upon one of his corporate sponsors. In my forthcoming book, "Black American Money," I explain why one must be careful when accepting sponsorship funds from organizations that may be using money as a tool for manipulation.

One can remember a scene in the movie, "American Gangster", where the drug dealer Frank Lucas gave away turkeys and Christmas presents to justify the fact that he was simulteanously working to get the neighborhood addicted to heroine. Should the accusations against Wells Fargo have merit (which may be the case, since many organizations and governments around the nation are suing them for similar practices), then one must wonder if there is a secondary agenda in their decision to sponsor the State of the Black Union so heavily. Do they feel that a payoff to Tavis Smiley will help them persuade African Americans to come into their banks for predatory loans? Should Smiley take such funding without there being an appearance of impropriety? In order to maximize profits, you can see how Wells Fargo could stand to give a few thousand dollars to a leading black conference if that were to lead to millions in additional banking fees.

The bottom line is this: I don't necessarily fault Tavis for taking money from Wells Fargo. We all know that corporate sponsorship is difficult to obtain in a slow economy. What I do expect is that there be proper vetting to ensure that sponsor funds are not simply a payoff for deceptive publicity. The firm should be asked to accompany any sponsorship of the State of the Black Union with proven efforts to spend even greater resources to eradicate potentially damaging business practices being pursued within black communities across America. Tavis, nor any black preacher in America (many of whom were also sponsored by Wells Fargo), should be careful not to imitate the roles of third word dictators who take money from large corporations to give them a license to exploit the people. None of us should stand for that.

Wells Fargo's day in court has yet to arrive, so I am anxious to see how it turns out. Until then, I hope President Obama will continue to implement legislation to protect citizens from exploitative behavior. As individuals, we can also hold all of our public figures accountable in their relationships with corporations that serve to undermine black financial security. If we do not protect ourselves, no one else will. That is a fact of life.