The best of times
An award-winning writer Gary Younge delivered Edge Hill University's first annual Jesse Jackson lecture last night.
The event kicked off celebrations for the University's 125th anniversary year, as The Guardian journalist spoke to the 100-strong audience about the US president Barack Obama's first year in office.
The talk entitled Obama's America; Dickensian Time - the best of times and the worst of times, explored the effectiveness of the US president's policies since being elected in November 2008. Younge describing these as "significant but inadequate" - significant with Obama's closure of Guantanamo Bay and healthcare reform, but inadequate in that statistics such as 1 in 3 black males living in the US will go to jail and that life expectancy Israel's Gaza Strip is higher than in Washington DC are still very much a reality.
He also described the polarisation caused by President Obama's election. "Whether they love him or hate him many people sometimes struggle to find the words with which to discuss him rationally. So they cry, curse, smile inanely and sometimes scream".
Gary Younge, a prominent voice on equality and human rights, is a New York-based columnist who was awarded the prestigious James Cameron Award in October for his ‘combined moral vision and professional integrity' in his reporting of the 2008 US presidential election.
The annual Jesse Jackson lecture was announced following a visit by Reverend Jackson to the Ormskirk-based University a year ago. During his visit, the civil rights campaigner was presented with an Honorary Fellowship by the University and a scholarship has also been set up in his name. The aim of the lecture and scholarship is to maintain the University's commitment to a debate on human rights and economic equality, in honour of Reverend Jackson's visit and his continuing work in this field.
Published: Wed, 13 Jan 2010
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