Who Is Barack Obama

Who Is Barack Obama

Barack Obama was born on August 4, 1961 in Honolulu Hawaii. He is a U.S Senator from Illinois and is currently running for the 2008 presidential election. Obama is one of most talked about Democratic candidates and is currently in the lead with the most votes. Many of Obama’s ideas are influenced by Martin Luther King J.R, Frederick Douglass and The Constitution of the United States, and many of his ideas are not. Martin Luther King J.R was an powerful Baptist minister and a leader of the civil-rights movement from the mid-1950’s until his assassination in 1968. King was well know for marches and speeches. One of his well know and famous speeches. Frederick Douglass was one of the most important leaders of the abolitionist movement. He also fought for the approval of the constitutional amendments. Douglass was also a brilliant speaker and writer. The Constitution was the first set of laws created in the United States to establish a new government unlike anyone has seen.

As stated in his publications Barack Obama states many issues regarding strengthening Civil Rights. Just as Martin Luther King J.R Obama also feels that many of the issues regarding race and inequality should be addressed. Obama explains that “Hate Crimes are on the rise” (1), He says “The Number of hate crimes has increased nearly 8 percent to 7,700 incidents in 2006” (1). He plans to “Strengthen Federal hate crimes legislation” (1). Obama also feels equality is very important and sometimes due to race or gender it is not always fair. Even though Martin Luther King J.R and Frederick Douglass fought for equality it is still seen in today’s society. For example Obama states “ Pay Inequality Continues: For every $1.00 earned by a man, the average women receives only 77 cents, while African American women only get 67 cents and Latinas receive only 57 cents“. (1) Obama plans to also address this issue by passing the “Fair Pay Act” (1) to make certain that women receive the same pay as men. He is...

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