A TRIP TO KENYA AND HARVARD LAW SCHOOL LEAVING THE DEVELOPING COMMUNITIES PROJECT, ACTIVISM, AND THE SOUTH SIDE OF CHICAGO

Chapter 4 A TRIP TO KENYA AND HARVARD LAW SCHOOL LEAVING THE DEVELOPING COMMUNITIES PROJECT, ACTIVISM, AND THE SOUTH SIDE OF CHICAGO

Barack received his acceptance to Harvard Law School in February 1988. He announced to his coworkers, volunteers, and church ministers that he would be leaving in May and moving to Boston in the fall. Months before,

he had told Johnnie, the man he’d hired away from a downtown Chicago civic group, of his decision. Johnnie, Barack knew, would carry on the work of the organization. Hiring him had lightened Barack’s workload and had allowed him to believe that their hard work was making real dif- ferences for the people living on Chicago’s South Side. Johnnie’s response to Barack’s leaving was more than positive. He told Barack that he knew it was just a matter of time before he left the Developing Communities Project, and he knew Barack had many options. He said that the choice between Harvard and the South Side wasn’t any choice at all, adding that

he and the community leaders would be proud to see him succeed. 1 Barack appreciated Johnnie’s support and confidence, and it made the decision to leave easier. Barack realized he needed a break from the work of com- munity activism, and he wanted to visit Kenya. His half sister Auma had returned to Nairobi from Germany and was teaching at a university. Hav- ing Auma in Kenya and having time before moving to Boston, it was the right time for an extended visit to his father’s homeland.

The plan to attend law school came out of knowing how much he could learn. He wanted to gain knowledge of interest rates, corporate mergers,

42 BARACK OBAMA

legislation, and how and why real estate ventures succeeded or failed. He also wanted to learn about influence and knowledge, vowing that, upon his return to Chicago, he would use what he learned effectively and pow- erfully to effect real changes in the Chicago neighborhoods he had come to know so well. Along with this vow to bring more to his activism, other thoughts were also on his mind. By going to Harvard, he was following his father’s footsteps. Barack had dreams of effecting change in Chicago, and his father had dreams of using what he learned at Harvard to effect changes in Kenya.

From Johnnie and from the other leaders of the community organiza- tion where he had spent the last two-and-a-half years, Barack realized that no one begrudged his success, and they applauded him for what he wanted and felt he needed to do. He knew they didn’t expect self-sacrifice, and they didn’t judge; they knew that Barack’s black heritage was enough of a reason for membership in their community. From these friends, support- ers, and coworkers, he learned that his heritage was enough of a cross for him to bear. Barack had wanted to be part of a community, have a sense of belonging, and he had a desire for acceptance; this was, he realized, what drove him away from New York and to Chicago in the first place. Yet what he found in his work as a community activist was that, to be true to himself, he had to do what was right for others and have a commitment and faith. He also realized that to understand suffering required some- thing else, too, but he had to find out what that something was. Faith in oneself wasn’t enough.

After three years in Chicago, Barack made sure Johnnie and the other leaders of the organization knew what they needed to know and could carry on the necessary work he had started. Believing he was leaving the work in good hands, he left for Kenya.