Dear Editor,
Here are some excerpts from a biographical sketch of Barack Obama. I will also post the link to the information for any who care to learn more about the man other than from those who advance arguments that can be impeached by simply googling the name Barack Obama.
Excerpts: “Four years later when Barack (commonly known throughout his early years as ‘Barry’) was ten, he returned to Hawaii to live with his maternal grandparents, Madelyn and Stanley Dunham, and later his mother (who died of ovarian cancer in 1995).”
Excerpt: “He was enrolled in the fifth grade at the esteemed Punahou Academy, graduating with honours in 1979. He was only one of three black students at the school. This is where Obama first became conscious of racism and what it meant to be an African-American.” Excerpt: “Obama entered Harvard Law School in 1988. In February 1990, he was elected the first African-American editor of the Harvard Law Review.
Obama graduated magna cum laude in 1991.”
Excerpt: “After the convention, Obama returned to his U.S. Senate bid in Illinois. His opponent in the general election was supposed to be Republican primary winner Jack Ryan, a wealthy former investment banker. However, Ryan withdrew from the race in June 2004, following public disclosure of unsubstantiated sexual allegations by Ryan’s ex-wife, actress Jeri Ryan.
“In August 2004, diplomat and former presidential candidate Alan Keyes, who was also an African-American, accepted the Republican nomination to replace Ryan. In three televised debates, Obama and Keyes expressed opposing views on stem cell research, abortion, gun control, school vouchers and tax cuts.”
”In the November 2004 general election, Obama received 70% of the vote to Keyes’s 27%, the largest electoral victory in Illinois history. Obama became only the third African-American elected to the U.S.
Senate since Reconstruction.”
And here is the link: http://www.biography.com/search/article.do?id=12782369&page=6
It is almost comical to peruse the contents of some letters in which some Guyanese are criticizing others for referring to Barack Obama as an African American, when the subject clearly accepts and identifies with such description. What clause in the will of Barack Obama’s ancestry gives these people the right to decide who and what he is? I mean how ridiculous can one be to assume the right to decide what race or ethnicity another should be identified with. Barack Obama did not refuse the position as the first African American editor of the Harvard Law Review. So either he was crazy when he accepted that position, or those ostentatiously attempting to sever him from the skin he feels comfortable in are.
Look, if anyone has a problem voting for Barack Obama because of the skin he happens to be comfortable in, then by all means vote for the other guy. But puhleeese, stop this insane and excruciating charade of trying to separate someone from a heritage they are proud to claim. Be content in being able to choose for yourselves what you wish to be identified as, and leave others to make the same determination for themselves.
Yours faithfully,
Robin Williams
