For Immediate Release
September 30, 2008

Lecture: Can an African American be Elected President of the United States?

Ron Takaki, professor of Ethnic Studies at U.C. Berkeley, will place the 2008 election within a historical context at a special lecture hosted by Cañada College on Wednesday, Oct. 15.

Can an African American be elected president of the United States? Will many voters, whose economic interests might benefit from the Democratic Party, vote against Barack Obama because he is black?

Those questions and others surrounding the complex role of race in the 2008 presidential election will be discussed by Ron Takaki, one of the nation’s preeminent scholars on diversity in the United States, at a special lecture hosted by Cañada College. The lecture will be held at 12:45 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 15 in the Main Theater at the college, 4200 Farm Hill Blvd., in Redwood City. It is free and open to the public.

Takaki is a professor of Ethnic Studies at U.C. Berkeley. The Los Angeles Times has described Takaki as a “minority Everyman. He is a rare hybrid, a multicultural scholar.”

Takaki has lectured in Japan, Russia, Armenia, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Austria, and South Africa. In 1997, he helped President Bill Clinton write his major speech on race, “One America in the 21st Century.”

“Dr. Takaki is one of the foremost scholars on the issue of race and we felt his lecture on race and its role in this important presidential election will have interest in our community,” said Cañada College President Tom Mohr. President Mohr’s office is the primary sponsor of the lecture.

For more than 34 years, Takaki has taught 20,000 students, and has written 12 books, which have influenced thousands more. His book, A Different Mirror, won the American Book Award, and has sold over a half million copies. It is considered the primary text for anyone interested in the history -- and the future -- of multicultural America.

For more information, contact Robert Hood, Director of Marketing and Public Relations, at hoodr@smccd.edu or 306-3340