Obama as Seen by a Youth Organizer

William “Upski” Wimasatt is the son of a philosophy professor who grew up in the streets of Chicago and painted graffiti (hence hisnick name, Upski, which derives from graffiti slang where “to get up” means to paint. His dance with graffiti got him a dance with the juvenile authorities, yet somehow he made it to college and came out the other side as a youth organizer. And a successful one at that (Google his name).

Last year he published a book, Please Don’t Bomb the Suburbs (Akashic Books 2010), which is part autobiography, part manifesto, part organizing manual, and all call to action. I’ll be saying a bit more about the book later on, but I wanted to blog some brief remarks about Obama.

On a trip back to Chicago Upski, who now lives in NYC, hooked up with some old friends who chatted about Obama (pp. 109-110):

Chris remembers in the 90s as Michelle’s somewhat ordinary husband who struggled to quit smoking and didn’t appear to be in any way her equal. My friend’s brother went to high school with him in Hawaii as a teenager. He said: “No one would have believed that Barry Obama would go on to become president of the United States.

This is someone who one night slept outside on the streets of New York City. This is someone who went door-to-door in the projects, who spent time collecting petitions at a community college.

So, yes, there’s that. Wimsatt goes on to say (112-113):

I try to keep all of this in mind when Obama does things I don’t agree with. Why is he giving away all these handouts to oil and coal, insurance companies, Wall Street and military contractors? The reality is that no president—no matter how good or powerful they might be—is allowed to simply do what they think is right. Their actions must reflect the landscape of organized interest groups with power. Those groups will have way, way, way more power than we do.

Wimsatt is writing this book to get young people revved up to do hard political work, to get the power that’ll give them leverage with Obama, or whoever comes after.

Me, I don’t know about Obama. I voted for him and I recognize that there is deep history in his being the first black President. And I worry that he’s willing to settle for that. Maybe that’s enough history for him, but not for the country.