A Life In Letters

To the Public,

The Democratic Senator, Barack Obama (45), has launched his presidential campaign. He is considered the first African-American candidate to have a chance of winning the Democratic nomination.

Obama was born in Honolulu, Hawaii on August 4, 1961. He obtained early education in Jakarta, Indonesia, and Hawaii; and continued his education at Occidental College, Los Angeles, Ca, and Columbia University, New York City. He studied law at Harvard University, where he became the first African-American president of the Harvard Law Review. Obama was elected as a Democrat to the U.S. Senate in 2004, his term beginning January 3, 2005.

Despite all of his accomplishments, many members of the African-American society do not support him because they view him as “not black enough”. Yes, many African-Americans believe that because Barack Obama did not grow up descended from slaves that he is not really black; that he is “an adopted brother, but not a real brother…”

His father, Barack Obama Sr., was born and raised in a small village in Kenya, and his mother, Ann Dunham, grew up in small-town Kansas. Barack’s father eventually returned to Kenya, and Barack grew up with his mother in Hawaii, and for a few years in Indonesia. Later, he moved to New York, where he graduated from Columbia University in 1983.

It is sad to come to terms with the idea Barack Obama might not be elected president in 2008, simply because ignorant Americans refuse to look past skin color and cultural backgrounds. Especially in this day and age. We shouldn’t be looking at a candidates skin color, we should be focusing on his political agenda, his beliefs and plans for the future of our country.

Plans that include strengthening America overseas, ending the Iraq war, cleaning up Washington’s culture of corruption, and much more.

I can only hope that in the days to come, Americans will erase their ignorance and start looking at candidates for what the can offer our country.

• Support Barack Obama.

Sincerely,

NightWriter.