Ishmael Reed's "The President of the Cool" Is Really the Precedent of the Fool... Or Perhaps an Audition to be the Empire's Resident Tool

by Sunsara Taylor | December 24, 2013 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

It is foolish to mistake style for substance. When this is done not merely by mistake, but on purpose, and further, when this is done in the service of the most vicious and murderous empire in all the history of the world, this is an act in the service of that empire. In other words, to do so is to act as the empire's tool.

Unfortunately, if perhaps unsurprisingly, this is exactly what Ishmael Reed has done in his December 18, 2013 New York Times op-ed entitled "The President of the Cool."

In this piece, written after Reed saw Obama make an appearance at the San Francisco Jazz Center last month, Reed bends over backwards to bestow upon Obama some of the outward style of Cool Jazz in order to defend Obama against growing criticisms for his many crimes against the people. Reed writes, "Like the president, cool musicians carried themselves with a regal bearing. Some members of the generation before them had to engage in minstrel-like antics to make a living. Cool musicians demanded respect, and when attacked didn't blow up, but, like the president, responded stoically." Reed musters his credentials as the poet laureate of the new San Francisco Jazz Center and his association with "the Cool" to bolster his seeming authority in making this comparison.

But whatever superficial similarities Reed may be able to string together between Obama and jazz, regardless of Obama's own professions of appreciation for jazz, and despite the shameful number of jazz musicians who have cheered the election of the first Black president and performed for Obama, there is nothing "cool" about Obama.

Jazz grew out of the tortured experience of Black people and their centuries of bitter oppression in AmeriKKKa. Cool jazz included musicians like Billie Holiday, whose haunting renditions of "Strange Fruit" scathingly indicted an era of lynchings of Black people and, together with other jazz musicians of her time, powerfully presaged the Civil Rights movement.

Obama, on the other hand, is the eager commander-in-chief of AmeriKKKa and all of its vicious crimes—including those against Black people. The murderous facts and crimes against humanity speak for themselves. Obama has:

  • Kept the torture island of Guantánamo open and blocked the release of approved prisoners

Is that "cool"?

  • Escalated lethal drone attacks way beyond what George W. Bush ever attempted

Is that "cool"?

  • Engaged in massive, invasive, and illegal spying

Is that "cool"?

  • Viciously persecuted whistleblowers

Is that "cool"?

  • Assassinated U.S. citizens

Is that "cool"?

  • Deported a record number of undocumented immigrants

Is that "cool"?

  • Green-lighted some of the most environmentally destructive projects

Is that "cool"?

  • Sought common ground with Christian fascists through what has been the most relentless assault on women's fundamental rights to abortion and birth control since 1973

Is that "cool"?

And for those who have been squinting hard enough to willfully blind themselves to all of this in order to focus merely on the fact that he is the first Black president, Obama has presided over the most massive—both numerically and percentage-wise—and punitive program of incarceration in the world; a program of incarceration that amounts to a slow genocide against Black and Latino people.

What the fuck is "cool" about any of that?

But Reed doesn't stop at lauding the War-Criminal-In-Chief. He continues to act the fool by ridiculing those who are actually standing up with courage and conviction against Obama's crimes. After equating being "hot" with being "corny" and "square," Reed derides the protesters who had gathered when Obama appeared at the San Francisco Jazz Center. Reed writes, "Outside, though, it was hot. Demonstrators against everything from military drones to energy pipelines greeted the president's entourage when it arrived."

Excuse me, Mr. Reed? You wouldn't even be where you are if people hadn't stood up against AmeriKKKa's crimes in the face of great risk and ridicule! It is those protesters outside, not you on the inside, who are true to that legacy. Are you really so eager for a place at the Empire's Table, for an invite to attend an Event with the President, that you shamefully ridicule those who are righteously doing today what you lack the moral principle to do?

To all this I can only respond: Far from making the case that Obama is "The President of the Cool," you have demonstrated the Precedent of the Fool and acted like the Empire's Resident Tool.

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