Dr. Renford Reese on Empathy, Humility, & Forgiveness
Program Titles
- Insensitivity makes arrogance ugly; empathy is what makes humility beautiful
- Break down ethnic mistrust
- Dilemma of police chiefs in accommodating their rank & file while appeasing the public
- Why young black men have embraced the counter productive gangsta-thug persona
- Why policymakers have embraced counter productive criminal justice policies
- Increasing Cultural Competency
- Stimulating Cultural Curiosity
Renford Reese, Ph.D., is engaging, insightful, and inspirational. “Insensitivity makes arrogance ugly; empathy is what makes humility beautiful.”
Renford Reese, Ph.D., programs break down ethnic mistrust by teaching specific cultural facts in organizational communities. This program has served over 130,000 students, police departments, social service agencies, and various other organizations. The program proposes to make a genuine effort to build healthy ethnic relations in our organizations and communities.
Reese was awarded the prestigious Fulbright Scholars Award.
He was featured on ESPN’s “Realizing the Dream” Black History Month series and commented on the Biography Channel’s mini-bios on Jesse Owens and Jackie Robinson.
He works with Prison Education and the Reintegration Academy for parolees.
He received the George P. Hart “Faculty of the Year” award.
An African-American teenager named Latasha Harlins walked into a convenience store owned by a Korean-American merchant. Shortly after entering, she argued intensely with the Korean-American clerk over a bottle of orange juice. The clerk thought the teenager was attempting to shoplift. Words were exchanged as the two grabbed for the orange juice bottle. After the scuffle, Harlins tried to exit the store, but before she could leave, the clerk shot her fatally in the back.
This tragic incident weighed on Renford Reese’s mind. There had to be a way, Reese thought, to defuse such situations before they escalated into tragedies. He believed, as others in the community believe that Latasha Harlins’ death was the climax of growing ethnic tensions between Korean Americans and African Americans neighborhood.
His resolve was further strengthened the following summer when South Central erupted in violence following the acquittal of four police officers who beat African American motorist Rodney King.
Renford Reese, Ph. D., pledged to use his studies to find ways to defuse tensions among diverse groups.
Renford Reese loves languages as he speaks about 15 of them–not perfectly, mind you, but well enough to break the ice with someone who speaks no English.
About 40 of the PD’s South Bureau officers signed up for his program, which will train the rest of the department’s 1,400 officers. The officers will be taught the basics of Spanish, Korean, Japanese, Cantonese, Samoa, and Croatian/Serbian.
“It gives the officers who maybe don’t speak the languages of people in our community a key into some dialogue,” said the bureau commander. “It’s a positive little gold nugget when we need every little ounce of cultural interaction that we can muster in our city–especially between the community and our police Department.”
This program has boosted morale. “Their eyes light up, and they feel very proud that their peers are learning their language.”
Books by Renford Reese, Ph.D.
- American Bravado
- Prison Race
- Leadership in the LAPD: Walking the Tightrope
- American Paradox: Young Black Men
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