Obama's Own Words: For Nonsupporters: Part III

For all those persons who had neither the time nor the
inclination to read over 480 pages of Barack Obama's first book,
here are some quotations taken from that book, "Dreams from My
Father:  A Story of Race and Inheritance", by Barack Obama,
published by Three Rivers Press, New York, New York, Copyright
1995, 2004, paperback edition, ISBN 978-1-4000-8277-3 (Original
edition ISBN 1-4000-8277-3).  For your information, in 1995,
Barack Obama was 34 years old. 

This "Part III" covers Chapters 15 to Epilogue of the book. 

[PRELIMINARY NOTE:  I have CAPITALIZED WORDS that I want to
emphasize.  These words were NOT capitalized by Obama]. 

Page 301: 
On his way to Kenya, Obama is thinking about his conversation
with a young British passenger seated beside him on the plane.
The British passenger is a student of geology who is on his way
to a mine in South Africa, and Obama states: 

"How much could I blame him for wanting to better his lot?  MAYBE
I WAS JUST ANGRY BECAUSE OF HIS EASY FAMILIARITY WITH ME, his
assumption that I, as an American, even a black American, might
naturally share in his dim view of Africa; an assumption that in
his world at least marked a progress of sorts, but that for me
only underscored MY OWN UNEASY STATUS:  A WESTERNER NOT ENTIRELY
AT HOME IN THE WEST, AN AFRICAN ON HIS WAY TO A LAND FULL OF
STRANGERS."

Bottom of page 301 to top of page 302: 
After travelled in Europe for more than a week, Obama states: 

"I began to suspect that my European stop was just one more means
of delay, one more attempt to avoid coming to terms with the Old
Man.  Stripped of language, stripped of work and routine--
stripped even of the RACIAL OBSESSIONS TO WHICH I'D BECOME SO
ACCUSTOMED AND WHICH I HAD TAKEN (PERVERSELY) AS A SIGN OF MY OWN
MATURATION--I HAD BEEN FORCED TO LOOK INSIDE MYSELF AND HAND
FOUND ONLY A GREAT EMPTINESS THERE.  WOULD THIS TRIP TO KENYA
FINALLY FILL THAT EMPTINESS?  The folks back in Chicago thought
so." 

Page 311: 
Obama, visiting Kenya for the first time, enjoying how he fit in
so comfortably in a black society, Obama states: 

"HERE THE WORLD WAS BLACK, AND SO YOU WERE JUST YOU; YOU COULD
DISCOVER ALL THOSE THINGS THAT WERE UNIQUE TO YOUR LIFE WITHOUT
LIVING A LIE OR COMMITTING BETRAYAL. 
How tempting, I thought, to fly away with this moment intact.  TO
HAVE THIS FEELING OF EASE WRAPPED UP AS NEATLY AS THE YOUNG MAN
WAS NOW WRAPPING AUMA'S NECKLACE, AND TAKE IT BACK WITH ME TO
AMERICA TO SLIP ON WHENEVER MY SPIRITS FLAGGED.  But of course,
that wasn't possible.  We finished our sodas.  Money changed
hands.  We left the marketplace.  The moment slipped away.  "

Page 312: 
In reflecting on his dislike of tourists in Kenya from Europe,
Asia, and America,  Obama states: 

"I took the opportunity to study the tourists as Auma and I sat
down for lunch in the outdoor cafe of the New Stanley Hotel.
THEY WERE EVERYWHERE--GERMANS, JAPANESE, BRITISH, AMERICANS--
TAKING PICTURES, HAILING TAXIS, FENDING OFF STREET PEDDLERS, MANY
OF THEM DRESSED IN SAFARI SUITS LIKE EXTRAS ON A MOVIE SET.  I
HAWAII, WHEN WE WERE STILL KIDS, MY FRIENDS AND I LAUGHED AT
TOURISTS LIKE THESE, WITH THEIR SUNBURNS AND THEIR PALE SKINNY
LEGS, BASKING IN THE GLOW OF OUR OBVIOUS SUPERIORITY.  HERE IN
AFRICA, THOUGH, THE TOURISTS DIDN'T SEEM SO FUNNY.  I FELT THEM
AS AN ENCROACHMENT, SOMEHOW; I FOUND THEIR INNOCENCE VAGUELY
INSULTING.  IT OCCURRED TO ME THAT IN THEIR UTTER LACK OF SELF-
CONSCIOUSNESS, THEY WERE EXPRESSING A FREEDOM THAT NEITHER AUMA
NOR I COULD EVER EXPERIENCE, A BEDROCK CONFIDENCE IN THEIR OWN
PARCHIALISM, A CONFIDENCE RESERVED FOR THOSE BORN INTO IMPERIAL
CULTURES." 

From the bottom of Page 316 to the top of Page 317: 
Discussing some aspects of his life back in America with his
relatives at dinner,  Obama states: 

"After the introductions were over, Jane pushed me toward a small
table set with bowls of goat curry, fried fish, collards, and
rice.  As we ate, people asked me about everyone back in Hawaii,
and I tried to describe my life in Chicago and my work as an
organizer.  They nodded politely but seemed a bit puzzled, SO I
MENTIONED THAT I'D BE STUDYING LAW AT HARVARD IN THE FALL."

Page 422: 
Obama recounts a narrative from his grandmother begun on page 406
about his father Barack senior and his grandfather, Barack
senior's father, named Onyango.  About his grandmother's
narrative, Obama states: 

"What happened in America, I cannot say.  I know that after less
than two years WE RECEIVED A LETTER FROM BARACK SAYING THAT HE
HAD MET THIS AMERICAN GIRL, ANN, AND THAT HE WOULD LIKE TO MARRY
HER.  Now, Barry, you have heard that your grandfather
disapproved of this marriage.  This is true, but it is not for
the reasons you say.  YOU SEE, ONYANGO DID NOT BELIEVE YOUR
FATHER WAS BEHAVING RESPONSIBLY.  HE WROTE BACK TO BARACK,
SAYING, "HOW CAN YOU MARRY THIS WHITE WOMAN WHEN YOU HAVE
RESPONSIBILITIES AT HOME?  WILL THIS WOMAN RETURN WITH YOU AND
LIVE AS A LUO WOMAN?  WILL SHE ACCEPT THAT YOU ALREADY HAVE A
WIFE AND CHILDREN?  I HAVE NOT HEARD OF WHITE PEOPLE
UNDERSTANDING SUCH THINGS." ."

Page 438: 
About his return to Chicago after his graduation from Harvard Law
School in about 1991, Obama states: 

"Upon my return to Chicago, I would find the signs of decay
accelerated throughout the South Side--the neighborhoods
shabbier, the children edgier and less restrained, more middle-
class families heading out to the suburbs, the jails bursting
with glowering youth, MY BROTHERS WITHOUT PROSPECTS.  All too
RARELY DO I HEAR PEOPLE ASKING just what it is that we've done to
make so many children's hearts so hard, or WHAT COLLECTIVELY WE
MIGHT DO TO RIGHT THEIR MORAL COMPASS--what values we must live
by.  INSTEAD I SEE US DOING WHAT WE'VE ALWAYS DONE--PRETENDING
THAT THESE CHILDREN ARE SOMEHOW NOT OUR OWN." 

Page 441: 
Describing his wedding to Michelle Robinson and one of the
guests, his half-brother Roy, Obama states: 

"THE PERSON WHO MADE ME PROUDEST OF ALL THOUGH, WAS ROY.
Actually, now we call him Abongo, his Luo name, for two years ago
HE DECIDED TO REASSERT HIS AFRICAN HERITAGE.  HE CONVERTED TO
ISLAM, and has sworn off pork and tobacco and alcohol.  He still
works at his accounting firm but TALKS ABOUT MOVING BACK TO KENYA
ONCE HE HAS ENOUGH MONEY."

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