My professor showed this video of Cornel West, a professor at Princeton, in my International Development class the other day. President Obama was inaugurated on Monday and he swore the oath on the same bible that Abraham Lincoln did and on the personal bible of Martin Luther King Jr. To give you some background, in 2009 the government of Haiti passed a law that raised the wages of workers from 24 cents an hour to 61 cents an hour or 5 dollars a day. Because the companies that have factories in Haiti like Levi Strauss, Haynes, and Fruit of The Loom are American companies that are not willing to pay that amount to the workers of Haiti. So, the Obama administration pressured the President of Haiti not to increase the minimum wage, they eventually came up with 3 dollars a day, which is about a 7 cent increase per hour. This is the example my professor used to help explain to us how President Obama is clearly not trying to rid the world of extreme poverty. In this video Cornel West provides more examples of how President Obama has not supported the beliefs of Martin Luther King Jr. and therefore does not deserve to use his personal bible according to Cornel West. And I must say that I do agree with West that Obama has made a point to use Martin's bible, but he does not follow the morals and beliefs that Martin Luther King Jr. did. He is known widely for standing up against racism and dying for it, but he also stood up against war crimes and especially poverty and poverty in America. I do not do it justice in trying to explain it myself so you must listen to Cornel West because he explains it very well and is clearly a very good speaker.
Thursday 24 January 2013
Cornel West vs. Obama
My professor showed this video of Cornel West, a professor at Princeton, in my International Development class the other day. President Obama was inaugurated on Monday and he swore the oath on the same bible that Abraham Lincoln did and on the personal bible of Martin Luther King Jr. To give you some background, in 2009 the government of Haiti passed a law that raised the wages of workers from 24 cents an hour to 61 cents an hour or 5 dollars a day. Because the companies that have factories in Haiti like Levi Strauss, Haynes, and Fruit of The Loom are American companies that are not willing to pay that amount to the workers of Haiti. So, the Obama administration pressured the President of Haiti not to increase the minimum wage, they eventually came up with 3 dollars a day, which is about a 7 cent increase per hour. This is the example my professor used to help explain to us how President Obama is clearly not trying to rid the world of extreme poverty. In this video Cornel West provides more examples of how President Obama has not supported the beliefs of Martin Luther King Jr. and therefore does not deserve to use his personal bible according to Cornel West. And I must say that I do agree with West that Obama has made a point to use Martin's bible, but he does not follow the morals and beliefs that Martin Luther King Jr. did. He is known widely for standing up against racism and dying for it, but he also stood up against war crimes and especially poverty and poverty in America. I do not do it justice in trying to explain it myself so you must listen to Cornel West because he explains it very well and is clearly a very good speaker.
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