FROM BARRY to BARACK

Obama’s decision to give up the nickname "Barry" and instead use his given name is a reflection of his efforts to “remake” himself and tells a good deal about his evolution from a lost child into adulthood.  The choice is part of his almost lifelong quest for identity and belonging, an attempt to figure out who he is, and how he fits into the larger American tapestry.

Obama, who is part black, part white, was raised in Hawaii and Indonesia , with family of different religious and spiritual backgrounds. Seen by others in ways he didn’t see himself, the young Barry was looking for solid ground.

The change from Barry to Barack came in 1980 when Obama came home from college at Christmas and told his mother and grandparents that henceforth he wanted be known by his given name, Barack.

Obama’s African father was also named Barack, but he chose to be called Barry when he left Kenya to study in the U.S. in 1959.

And the younger Barack was known as Barry by one and all when he moved from Hawaii to Indonesia at age 6 to live with his Indonesian stepfather. 

Obama’s mother tutored him with three-hour English lessons before he set off for public school in the Indonesian capital Jakarta, where the young student, although a Christian, received Islamic instruction perhaps once a week.

The young Obama was eventually sent to live with his mother’s parents in Hawaii , where he became more aware of his blackness.

At age 10, Obama received the one and only visit from his father from Kenya . 

He didn’t want to be seen as different from the other kids, but with no choice, he couldn’t resist fibbing that his father was a prince, his grandfather a chief, and that his family name meant ‘burning spear.’

When asked by a high school teacher how he wanted to be addressed, he said, “Just call me Barry.”

Obama befriended Eric Moore, an African-American from Colorado , when the two attended Occidental College in Los Angeles , and their friendship was strengthened after Moore visited Kenya in the summer of 1980. He told Obama the trip to Africa was a “powerful event” that helped him “find my own identity.”

On one occasion after that, Obama and Moore were chatting when Moore asked him, “What kind of name is Barry Obama for a brother?” Obama told him: “Actually, my name’s Barack Obama,” and explained that “Barry” was just a way of helping him “smooth the way into society.”

It would later be revealed by Obama’s roommate at Occidental that he never heard Obama called Barack at any time.

By the time Obama transferred to Columbia University , however, he had already told his relatives that he wanted to be called Barack.

“Going to New York was really a significant break. I think part of the attraction of transferring was, it’s hard to remake yourself around people who have known you for a long time.”

In New York he began asking other people to call him Barack as well.

“It was not some assertion of my African roots,” he said. “It was much more of an assertion that I was coming of age, an assertion of being comfortable with the fact that I was different and I didn’t need to try to fit in in a certain way.”

Obama’s “identity quest,” which began before he became Barack and continued after, put him on a trajectory into a black America he had never really known as a child in Hawaii and abroad.

OBAMA'S BIRTH CONSPIRACY - WAS HE EVEN BORN IN THE UNITED STATES?

Okay, Okay... Guess the site isn't complete if we don't touch on this at least briefly... I mean after all, maybe there is something to it.  There is a group alleging that Obama was not born in the U.S. and is therefore not qualified to be President of the United States.  The U.S. Supreme court has decided to ignore the lawsuits alleging this.  Some folks feel that Obama has had his Hawiian birth certificate forged in an attempt to hide his alleged African birth.  Here is a copy of the actual birth certificate... YOU DECIDE WHAT TO BELIEVE. If more noteworthy tidbits of this emerge... Of course you'll know here first!

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