Barack Obama, Community Organizer

Several commenters have been discussing Obama’s role as a community organizer. Some have already put up links in the comments. I’ll add all links to this post so we have a collection of information on this topic.

According to this article in The Nation, Obama moved to Chicago in 1985, a little more than a year after he graduated from Columbia University in NYC. He was 24 years old. He was hired by Jerry Kellman, a Chicago organizer, to lead the Developing Communities Project (DCP), which would target African American neighborhoods on Chicago’s South Side by working with African American churches in the area. During Obama’s time as a community organizer, Harold Washington was serving as Chicago’s first black mayor. This was a source of hope and inspiration for Obama and other blacks and progressives in the city. Read the rest of this entry »