Dreams From My Father - A Story of Race and Inheritance by Barack Obama

A picture of America's first coloured President makesthat would enable him to serve better those in need.
for the cover of Dreams of My Father. Look closerHe followed his father's footsteps to Harvard Law
and there's a tag that says, "His remarkable story in hisSchool and went on to become the first black
own words". But this book is not about the Barackpresident of the Harvard Law Review.
Obama, we all know. It's about the other BarackBut before Harvard, Kenya beckoned him. Here begins
Obama, the President's father.the most interesting part of the book - Kenya. He
The author's 'story of race and inheritance' is antravels to his grandfather's house in Alego and traces
autobiographical narrative was first published in 1995the history of the Obama clan with the help of his
after Obama was elected the first African-Americanfather's other wife and his half-siblings. It was in Kenya,
president of the Harvard Law Review, but before hishe found the freedom he couldn't have in America.
political career began. It traces his days back to"For a span of weeks or months, you could
Honolulu where he was born to Barack Obama Sr ofexperience that comes from not feeling watched, the
Kenya, and Ann Dunham of Kansas. The book startsfreedom of believing that your hair grows as it's
with a telephone call that Barack Obama Jr receivedsupposed to grow... Here the world was black, and you
on his 21st birthday. The call from an unknown aunt inwere just you; you could discover all those things that
Kenya announced that the he'd just lost his father. "Atwere unique to your life without living a lie and
the time of his death, my father remained a myth tocommitting betrayal," he writes. It was in Kenya, he
me, both more and less than a man," the author writes.rediscovered his father.
It is from this point, Obama starts telling the storyObama says, "I saw that my life in America - the black
backwards. He talks of his early days in Hawaii, wherelife, the white life, the sense of abandonment I'd felt as
being 'mulatto' (of mixed race) didn't really matter. Hea boy, the frustration and hope I had witnessed in
talks about the stories his maternal grandparents toldChicago - all of it connected to a small plot of earth an
about his father - how he loved to dance and winocean away, connected more by the accident of a
people over. He follows it up with his memories ofname or the colour of my skin. The pain I felt was my
Indonesia - statues of Hanuman, boxing with hisfather's pain. My questions were my brothers'
mother's Indonesian husband, battling chicken pox, thequestions. Their struggle, my birthright."
beggars and kite-flying with children of farmers,Like his speeches, Obama's narrative too is lyrical. The
servants and low-level bureaucrats.book's not about racism or about the atrocities on
It was his return to the US for schooling in Hawaii andAfrican Americans. It exposes the dilemmas African
college in Los Angeles that changed his outlook. HAmericans face in their day-to-day lives. Nearly all are
realised he wasn't black and he certainly wasn't white.born Americans and haven't been to Africa. Still, they
Torn between two worlds, he sought refuge in alcoholfail to connect with the nation that has treated their
and smoke, reading books on black history. After aancestors worse than animals. There lives are
brief stint at Columbia, New York, he decided to workgoverned by both history and destiny.
as an organiser and moved to Chicago to workObama's account is refreshingly honest. What makes
among the black community there. Obama recountsthe book really interesting is Obama's description of life
the difficulty of the experience, as his programmein various places - Hawaii, Indonesia, Los Angeles, New
faced resistance from entrenched community leadersYork, Chicago and of course, Kenya. It's an amazing
and apathy on the part of the established bureaucracy.story, beautifully told.
After three years, he decided he needed an education