Obama: The Post-Civil Rights Paradigm

Paper Summary:

The paper highlights the generational gap between Civil Rights Movement leader, Martin Luther King and post-Civil Rights Movement leader, Senator Barack Obama as seen from Martin Luther King's "A Letter From Birmingham Jail" and Barack Obama's speech, "A More Perfect Union". The paper discusses the difference in tone, methods of communication and the type of inequality that they are trying to end. The paper shows how Obama's candidacy is well-connected with the cultural and political time period in which it is platformed. The paper emphasizes that had it not been for activists such as Martin Luther King and Jesse Jackson, it is likely that the country would never have allowed a black politician to run for the presidency.

From the Paper:

"The history of the United States is saturated with struggle, of which the civil rights movement is perhaps the most significant. What is interesting about the contemporary political paradigm of the country is however that apparent culmination of struggle into an understanding of equality as desirable at least on an intellectual level, if not quite yet in practice. This new paradigm is most evident in the discourse of politicians from minority groups, and most notably in that of Senator Barack Obama, one of the candidates for the presidency. The new paradigm becomes most evident when this new discourse is compared with that of historical leaders in the paradigm of the struggle, such as Martin Luther King. Such comparison brings to light a certain generational gap between the leaders in the civil rights movement and those of the post-civil rights ideal."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Gerring, John & Yesnowitz, Joshua. Obama: the Democrats in person. Le Monde Diplomatique, April 2008. http://people.bu.edu/jgerring/documents/obama.pdf
• King, Martin Luther Jr. Letter From Birmingham Jail.
• Obama, Barack. A More Perfect Union (Speech).
• Scott, Janny. A Biracial Candidate Walks His Own Fine Line. The New York Times, Dec. 29, 2007. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/29/us/politics/29obama.html
• Steele, Shelby. A Bound Man: Why we are excited about Obama and why he can't win New York: Free Press, 2008

More papers on Obama: The Post-Civil Rights Paradigm:

• Book Review # 124553 : "History of Civil Rights"
• Essay # 32859 : "Civil Rights and the Media"
• Analytical Essay # 8888 : "Civil Rights Movement"

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