cosmopolitanism

As much as I believe in cosmopolitanism, I still admire some public intellectuals with a strong stand on minorities or communautarian perspectives and already published Renford Reese’s insight on Obama’s election so here’s a follow-up page on which I intend to publish those papers from Renford which I find particularly interesting from my multicultural and cosmopolitan perspective…in its wider meaning of course!

Listen to the radio programme in April 2012 about the Zimmerman Trial Update, The Colorful Flags program,  the 20th Anniversary of L.A. Riots, Prison Industrial Complex, and Cruz with the News.Read more: http://www.ktlkam1150.com/cc-common/podcast/single_page.html?podcast=DavidCruz&selected_podcast=Cruz042012_1334972973_20400.mp3#ixzz1uO6Cwiir

Here’s the latest piece published about this talented scholar: (click on the link)

Students get brave opportunity through ‘Prison Project’

archives

Here are two particularly telling article regarding Ted Kennedy and  Michael Jackson.

Inland Valley Daily Bulletin (Ontario, CA)
Opinion, A15
August 30, 2009
Guest Columnist:  Renford Reese
http://www.dailybulletin.com/opinions/ci_13232773

Ted Kennedy:  Civil Rights Icon Who Put People First
When I grew up in the 1970s in McDonough, GA (near Atlanta) I was immersed in the spirit of the Civil Rights Movement.   I heard countless stories of the giants of the movement:  Martin Luther King Jr., Ralph Abernathy, Andrew Young, etc.  Although I knew of Ted Kennedy I never heard his name mentioned in the same breath as those whose fundamentally changed the landscape of civil rights in the U.S.

Kennedy, fondly known as the Lion of the Senate, should be considered one of the lions of the movement to secure civil rights in the U.S.  Although less visible than his African American contemporaries, his legacy on this issue is on par with that of the most influential change agents of our times.

The most comprehensive and significant civil rights act in our history was passed in 1964.  On the heels of his brother John F. Kennedy’s assassination, Ted urged his colleagues in the Senate and in the House to pass this monumental act.  He solemnly stated that it was the most pressing moral issue of the day.

Blacks in the south always had a deep respect and affection for the Kennedys.   As I was growing up and visiting family members in Georgia, Mississippi, or Alabama, it was not strange to see portraits of Jesus, Martin Luther King Jr., and John F. Kennedy (occasionally Bobby) on living room walls.   The Kennedys represented the most prominent and boisterous white voices that advocated for social justice since that of the courageous whites who spoke out after the Civil War during the period known as Radical Reconstruction.  The Kennedy’s legacy and connection with blacks has been fortified with various watershed events.

Out of all of the battles that Ted Kennedy fought on behalf of the underprivileged in the U.S. his most significant contribution to blacks and to social justice might be his enthusiastic endorsement of Barack Obama for president.  The noble senator’s
endorsement should not be trivialized.   It was the single most important endorsement in U.S. presidential politics.  Kennedy’s endorsement gave Obama the legitimacy that he needed to defeat Hillary Clinton in the 2008 presidential primary and become the nation’s first black president.  Kennedy’s endorsement also showed us a conspicuous bond and family-like relationship that he shared with Obama.  Indeed Obama, in more ways than one, seems to be a Kennedy.

Our collective question now is how do we honor the spirit of the great dealmaker—the person who fought tirelessly for universal health care in this nation.  Kennedy leaves us in a time when we are fiercely debating the “great cause of his public life.”

In the wake of Kennedy’s passing, President Obama stated, “Everyday that I was with him he restored my sense of idealism of what this country could do.” Senator Kennedy displayed the courage to consistently stand up for his principles but yet reached across the political aisle when he thought it was right for the American people.  Kennedy leaves us in a time when our nation is ideologically bifurcated and hostile–lacking the can-do idealism that he embraced all of his public life.

We have lost a magnificent public servant and political icon.  Politicians should use this moment in history to dedicate themselves to the spirit of Kennedy by pledging to embrace a new spirit of bipartisanship, compromise, dealmaking, and reconciliation. They should pledge to have the Ted Kennedy-like courage to fight for social justice and for the least advantage of us.  And finally, politicians from Sacramento to Washington D.C. should always govern by Kennedy’s Golden Rule of politics:  Always put the people first.

Inland Valley Daily Bulletin (Ontario, CA)
San Bernardino Sun (San Bernardino, CA)
July 2, 2009
Page A7, Opinion
Guest Columnist: Renford Reese, Ph.D.

Michael Jackson, Obama, and Political Calculation
I learned of Michael Jackson’s tragic death while in Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic.  I was shocked and deeply saddened like many of the Dominicans and people around the world.  I felt compelled to call family members and close friends for grieving sessions–for comfort.  It was the void and emptiness I felt that caused me to toss and turn and lose sleep the night of his death.  Like many, I have been thoroughly engaged in the coverage of this tragedy.

On CNN, I saw President Obama’s written statement offering his condolences to the Jackson Family. The president was, as always, gracious in his warmth in his statement to the family.  Nevertheless, I felt that his written statement was an insufficient way of expressing sorrow for this American icon.  I stated to my host in the Dominican (a college classmate) that President Obama should have made a brief televised statement about the death of Jackson.  My friend’s response was: 1)Obama probably had more important things to do like deal with the Iranian or North Korean crises 2)Obama probably made a political calculation that because of allegations of child abuse it would not be wise of him to make a deliberate televised statement about the death of Michael Jackson.

Inherently, I knew that president was trying to be “presidential” by not publicly lionizing Jackson.  I think this was the wrong calculation.  What person has embraced more of a humanitarian spirit in the world than Michael Jackson?  What person has brought more joy to the world through their music and entertainment than Michael Jackson? What person reflects the president’s humanistic agenda more than Michael Jackson? President Obama should have risen above political calculation to acknowledge Jackson’s overwhelmingly positive impact on this nation and the world.

The president used various aspects of popular culture to ascend to the White House.  Indeed, his success relied on his unique appeal to the pop culture generation.  In this sense, the president should have appealed to this generation by purposefully acknowledging this tragedy using the same pop culture mediums that got him elected.  Moreover, he should have acknowledged how Jackson invariably inspired him.  He should have acknowledged how Jackson was his predecessor in many ways. Four decades before there was Obama-mania there was Michael Jackson-mania.  As an African American, Obama should have discussed how Jackson enabled him to walk a little taller.

The recent BET Awards captured how almost 100 percent of African Americans feel about the “King of Pop.”  Although we have joked about Jackson’s transformed physical appearance and eccentric ways over the years, he has brought immeasurable joy and pride to us.  He has enabled us to speak, act, and perform more creatively and boldly. More importantly, he showed us how to be a powerful voice of peace and unity.  In many ways, his life and legacy is on par with Martin Luther King Jr.

The convergence of all of the scrutiny, ridicule, and callousness took an incalculable toll on him.  Ridicule of Jackson was almost always without empathy.  We criticized Mike for his eccentricities but nobody knows what it is like to be the most popular entertainer/person in the world for 80 percent of their life.

Many Americans’ negative perceptions of Jackson revolved around the unsubstantiated reports of child abuse regarding two children.  These allegations were not made by the alleged victims but made by two manipulative parents with ulterior motives.  In these cases, Jackson’s life embodied the most tragic of ironies.  A person who was the most kind-hearted and sensitive towards children was accused of abusing them.  In true American fashion, many people focused on the negative and overlooked the tens of thousands of children that he assisted financially, the thousands of children he visited in hospitals and orphanages throughout the world, the thousands of children he brought joy to when he invited them to his amusement park at the Neverland Ranch, and the hundreds of millions of children that he inspired just by being Michael Jackson.

Americans let the media shame them into not embracing the pure goodness of Jackson.  The media compelled many Americans to be embarrassed about being Michael Jackson fans.  I think even the president was affected by this phenomenon.

Nevertheless, whether we admit it or not, if we believe in optimizing our potential by commitment, discipline, and hard work, if we believe in the potential of every man, woman, and child in every corner of the world, if we believe in giving what we have been given, if we believe that “We are the world,” if we believe that the world should be made a better place, then we are all Michael Jackson fans.

–Renford Reese, Ph.D., is a professor in the political science department and director of the Colorful Flags program at Cal Poly Pomona.  He is the author of American Bravado (2008), Prison Race (2006), and the widely discussed American Paradox: Young Black Men (2004). He is also the author of the Starbucks “The Way I See It” cup quote #294. See his work at: http://www.RenfordReese.com and especially his op-ed links at http://www.csupomona.edu/~rrreese/nonfla/articles.html