The Dalai Lama and President Obama

The current news indicates that President Obama will not meet with His Holiness, the Dalai Lama. President Obama has been told by his advisers that to make such a move will cause a rift in the sensitive relations between China and the U.S.

I support His Holiness (as I address him) and an end to the plight in Tibet. Tibetans are arrested and tortured for their protests. As an activist in the support of the Tibetan people in their struggle, I stand firm in my belief that Tibet should be allowed to secede from China and that the oppression of the Tibetan people ends. Tibet is a peaceful small country where Chinese authorities arrest and torture monks and nuns. President Obama is taking the path to negotiate terms with China to strength relations with the U.S. Yet by doing this, he is avoiding human rights struggles in Tibet. This is very unfortunate in that an African American leader whose previous ancestors were slaves and were treated as cattle. As we know, discrimination and Jim Crow laws did not end until the Civil Rights Movement changed history.

Why would President Obama ignore the oppression of the Tibetan people and mentioned the human rights violations to the Chinese government? Would it jeopardize U.S.-China relations? Most likely it would. However, i at this point, it is now ironic that that two Nobel Peace Prize winners will not meet. President Obama was awarded the Nobel Prize for his nuclear disarmament policy in Europe and smoothing relations between Arab countries and the U.S. Why can he not stand up to China and expound on the harsh treatment of the Tibetan people in violation of human right that would make him more worthy of a Nobel Peace Prize. Indeed. Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. was also awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his endless work with the Civil Rights Movement.

Image via Wikipedia

Image via Wikipedia