Many of the Convention speakers so far have touched on aspects of Barack's life story, the struggles he's faced and his lifelong commitment to change.
Earlier tonight, one of the videos played at the Convention was this one, in which Barack discusses the meaning of community organizing:
As unlikely as Barack's story is, when you look back with hindsight you can see the beginnings of it all in plain view. One example is an article clipped from a January 1993 issue of Chicago Magazine about a young lawyer and organizer who had just finished leading an unprecedented voter registration drive called Project Vote.
"I wanted to do community organizing, and I couldn't think of a better city than one as energized and hopeful as Chicago was then." – Barack Obama, January 1993
After graduating from Harvard Law School in 1991, Barack had returned to the city where he began his career as a community organizer. At the time, black voter registration and turnout in Chicago were at their lowest points ever. Sandy Newman, a lawyer and civil-rights activist, had founded Project Vote! the year before to promote registration among low-income and minority voters. Newman had decided to open a Project Vote! office in Chicago, but first he needed to find someone to lead it.
The name Barack Obama surfaced. "I was asking around among community activists in Chicago and around the country, and they kept mentioning him," Newman says. Obama by then was working with church and community leaders on the West Side, and he was writing a book that the publisher Simon & Schuster had contracted for while he was editor of the law review. He was 30 years old.When Newman called, Obama agreed to put his other work aside. "I'm still not quite sure why," Newman says. ''This was not glamorous, high-paying work. But I am certainly grateful. He did one hell of a job."Within a few months, Obama, a tall, affable workaholic, had recruited staff and volunteers from black churches, community groups, and politicians. He helped train 700 deputy registrars, out of a total of 11,000 citywide. ..."It was overwhelming," says Joseph Gardner, a commissioner of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District and the director of the steering committee for Project Vote! "The black community in this city had not been so energized and so single-minded since [Chicago Mayor Harold Washington] died."Burrell agrees. "We were registering hundreds a day, and we weren't having to search them out. They came looking for us. African Americans were just so eager to have a say again, to feel they counted."
The name Barack Obama surfaced. "I was asking around among community activists in Chicago and around the country, and they kept mentioning him," Newman says. Obama by then was working with church and community leaders on the West Side, and he was writing a book that the publisher Simon & Schuster had contracted for while he was editor of the law review. He was 30 years old.
When Newman called, Obama agreed to put his other work aside. "I'm still not quite sure why," Newman says. ''This was not glamorous, high-paying work. But I am certainly grateful. He did one hell of a job."
Within a few months, Obama, a tall, affable workaholic, had recruited staff and volunteers from black churches, community groups, and politicians. He helped train 700 deputy registrars, out of a total of 11,000 citywide.
..."It was overwhelming," says Joseph Gardner, a commissioner of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District and the director of the steering committee for Project Vote! "The black community in this city had not been so energized and so single-minded since [Chicago Mayor Harold Washington] died."
Burrell agrees. "We were registering hundreds a day, and we weren't having to search them out. They came looking for us. African Americans were just so eager to have a say again, to feel they counted."
Sixteen years later, you can still see the ideals and experiences of a lanky young community organizer embedded in the foundations of his campaign for the presidency. From the beginning, it's been clear that Barack's campaign is different from past campaigns. His experience as a community organizer on the South Side of Chicago has shaped the way that he looks at creating change.
That's why community organizing -- the work of volunteers and organizers at the grassroots of our communities -- continues to be such a big part of this campaign.
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Barack Obama is right!!! John McCain is Very Very Very wrong!!!
"Barack Obama will renew the American Dream"!!!
