The Obama Diary

Barack Obama in 1992 as director of Project Vote; which achieved its goal of registering 150,000 African American voters

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Don

Where the hell were these blackademics before 2008?

They damn sure didn’t help the black farmers get their money, they damn sure didn’t get black people health insurance, and they damn sure didn’t help our black gay brothers and sisters from getting kicked out of the military.

So where the hell were they?

I’ll tell you where they were, they were at each other’s schools sitting on some fucking panel theorizing about how to end racism or make it better for African Americans.

But do you know where President Obama was?

He was out in the streets registering people to vote, he was condemning an unjust war before it became fashionable to do so.

We got pictures of Barack Obama fresh out of college walking in poor black neighborhoods registering people to vote.

We got pictures of a young Barack Obama helping black folk.

We got pictures of a young Barack Obama sitting in a village in Kenya breaking bread with his grandmother.

And these same motherfuckers want to question his blackness

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Barack Obama in Chicago, 1995, photo by Marc PoKempner

Illinois State Senator Barack Obama at a community meeting in his district with his state representative (second from right) House Majority Leader Barbara Flynn Currie

Barack Obama in his first year at Harvard Law School after working at Developing Communities Project as a community organizer from 1985 - 1988 where he set up a tenants rights organization, job training program, and college preparatory program. He enrolled at Harvard Law School in the fall of 1988 so as to better help his community

This photo released by Obama for America shows Barack Obama teaching at the University of Chicago Law School. After Harvard Law School, Obama returned to Chicago, joined a small civil rights firm, ran a voter registration drive, and lectured on constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School

Barack Obama with his grandmother Sarah Hussein Obama in her home in the village of Nyagoma-Kogelo, western Kenya, 1987

Barack Obama at an antiwar rally in Chicago in September 2002

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IRONY: @MichaelEDyson speaking on the importance of "being present" in #Ferguson from MIAMI (& everywhere else BUT Ferguson). #nerdland

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  (@Only4RM) August 23, 2025

@Only4RM I. Am. Not. The. President. Get it?

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Michael Eric Dyson (@MichaelEDyson) August 23, 2025

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And POTUS. Is. Not. Your. Preacher. Or. Activist. Get THAT? As Chief Executive, he engaged THE EXEC BRANCH on all cylinders! @MichaelEDyson

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  (@Only4RM) August 23, 2025

@Only4RM He. Went. To. Sandy. Hook. And. Hurricane. Sandy. Stop. Making. Excuses. For. The. President. Not. To. Show. Up. For. Ferguson!

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Michael Eric Dyson (@MichaelEDyson) August 23, 2025

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Was. There. A. Pending. Federal. Investigation. Against. The. Storm. Or. The Dead. Mass. Killer.??? Facts & nuance, Prof. @MichaelEDyson.

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  (@Only4RM) August 23, 2025

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@SmartyPants

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After his graduation from Harvard Law School, working on a voter registration drive in Chicago