Academic Rants

Michael Jackson: Beyond Genius By Leslie Wilson The June 25th death of Michael Jackson, evoked a range of emotions. Grieving for Jackson consisted of two parts, one commercial and another personal. Commercialized mourning of the “King of Pop” focused on his life, death, and legacy. The media gave it a full court press with Jackson dominating the news for weeks. Questions focused on the cause of death, an alleged homicide; the paternity and fate of his children; division of his estate; and his final resting place. While the media televised tributes, reissued his musical catalogue, and the replayed his videos, merchants hawked Jackson paraphernalia. Fans in contrast, offered less sophisticated responses with makeshift memorials, dedicated web tributes and impromptu crowds gathering to listen to his music. At the same time, individually and collectively, they reflected on the things that connected them to Jackson. As a fan and historian, I came to several conclusions. First, th...

The “E” Word Commenting on the announcement of Justice Souter’s retirement from the US Supreme Court, President Obama stated the one of the qualities he wanted in a nominee for the Supreme Court was empathy. This statement has caused much concern and shock among the news media and the Washington political and policy establishment. These entities collectively are struggling with concept that a President would use empathy as criteria for a Supreme Court Justice. Various commentators criticized the President for this criterion. Why empathy is such an important criteria? How did the President come up with such a crazy idea? The people who are struggling with this concept are looking and listening in the wrong places. They are forgetting or ignoring a key fact. The President and his wife are African-American lawyers. In the African-American and minority legal and political circles, subject of judicial empathy has been discussed continuously for at least nineteen years. African-Ame...