Lynn Sweet re: Obama's Community Oraganizing Past and Book

[illinoisprogressive]

S ANGELES -- Worried about a pending potentially negative Los Angeles Times story, Barack Obama's presidential campaign assigned its top researcher the job of tracking down people Obama worked with when he was a community organizer in Altgeld Gardens -- some the basis of composite characters in his memoir, Dreams From My Father.

Obama changed names of real people, created composite characters and re-created conversations in his best-selling memoir.

That article ended up on Page 1 of Monday's Los Angeles Times, hitting as Obama started a two-day fund-raising blitz in California, topped off this evening with a fund-raiser in Beverly Hills hosted by Hollywood's David Geffen, Jeffrey Katzenberg and Steven Spielberg.

Times staff writer Peter Wallsten raised the question in his story of whether Obama took too much credit in helping residents of Altgeld Gardens fight the Chicago Housing Authority over asbestos removal in the South Side complex in the 1980s. The paper headlined the piece ''Fellow activists say Obama's memoir has too many I's.''

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Obama, 45, is hoping to dilute questions about his experience by arguing that the totality of his career -- from community organizer to state senator to the U.S. Senate -- should count, and not just his last two years in Washington.

An apparently anxious Obama campaign sent out a detailed memo at 5:05 a.m. Monday, rebutting the thesis of the L.A. Times article and the "implication" Obama "partially fictionalized events" in Altgeld. The campaign memo contained testimonials of several people familiar with Obama's Altgeld role and said he downplayed his role in the asbestos controversy.

Also noteworthy: The real names of several Chicago people who were the basis for characters in Obama's memoir surfaced in this memo. The internal sleuthing that dug up the people behind some of the composites was done by Obama campaign research director Devorah Adler.

"When calling folks who he worked with in his community activist days, she asked, 'were you represented in the book?' " said Obama spokesman Bill Burton. Adler had to dig up the real identities by herself even though it would have seemed simpler for her to ask Obama.

Obama disclosed in his introduction that he used literary devices to buttress his recollections. He also kept a journal. In August 2004 I wrote a column about Obama's use of literary license in Dreams and concluded: ''Except for public figures and his family, it is impossible to know who is real and who is not. . . .

"Colorful characters populate the Chicago chapters: Smitty the barber, LaTisha, the part-time manicurist, Angela, Ruby, Mrs. Turner and one Rafiq al Shabazz. Who they really are, or if they are composites, you would not know from reading the book."

I questioned Obama about his memoir in a phone interview just before the Democratic convention.

''I don't remember what Smitty's real name was. I think it was Wally,'' Obama said.

The Times article quotes Altgeld resident and community activist Hazel Johnson. My colleague, Sun-Times political writer Scott Fornek, interviewed her in 2004 and again on Monday.

Fornek reports that Johnson, 72, objects to Obama taking credit for helping force the CHA to remove asbestos at Altgeld Gardens. Johnson has not read Obama's book. She said he played no role in the asbestos-removal fight. She said he did help get "angel hair," another type of dangerous insulation, removed from attics in the complex's row houses -- and worked on public transportation issues and helped get a library built. ''He was not with us on the asbestos,'' she said.

But Johnson told Fornek a different version of the events in 2004 during an interview for a profile on Obama during that year's U.S. Senate race. She said Obama worked on the asbestos removal after the angel hair project. "We worked together." Another colleague, Sun-Times reporter Tim Novak, talked to Cheryl Jackson, her daughter. She said her mother was exploited by Obama when he failed to include her efforts in his book.

"My mother worked too hard and too long of a time. That hurts when someone who has been a sole soldier for so long and continues to be a soldier for environmental issues . . . for someone to exploit the work that she has done is not fair."



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[lancdem]

1. I'd like to see how he handles this

Every campaign needs to deal with stories such as this. Everything he has ever written will be scrutinized, and sometimes exaggerated, as he well knows.

[Ethelk2044]

2. This is how he Handled it Swift and to the Point

JUST BECAUSE SOMEONE WRITES IT DOES NOT MAKE IT TRUE
Press Release | February 19, 2007
Today, the Los Angeles Times published an article entitled
"Fellow Activists Say Obama's Memoir Has Too Many
I's" which implies that Obama partially fictionalized
events in Altgeld Gardens in the 1980s in order to enhance the
role he played in the community there. 

The implication is false, and the article is misleading. At no
point in the work does Obama take "singular" credit
for initiating and leading efforts on the Atlgeld asbestos
problem. In fact, those who worked with him confirm that he
preferred a background role in the matter, refusing to claim
credit or even be in pictures taken of the community group.
However, despite the fact that he shunned a public role,
Obama's work is clearly remembered by Altgeld residents, other
organizers, and the reporter that the LA Times and others
credit with bringing the problem of asbestos in Chicago's
public housing to light. 

The rebuttal from the Obama campaign:

Today, the Los Angeles Times published an article entitled
“Fellow Activists Say Obama’s Memoir Has Too Many I’s” which
implies that Obama partially fictionalized events in Altgeld
Gardens in the 1980s in order to enhance the role he played in
the community there. 


The implication is false, and the article is misleading. At no
point in the work does Obama take “singular” credit for
initiating and leading efforts on the Atlgeld asbestos
problem. In fact, those who worked with him confirm that he
preferred a background role in the matter, refusing to claim
credit or even be in pictures taken of the community group.
However, despite the fact that he shunned a public role,
Obama’s work is clearly remembered by Altgeld residents, other
organizers, and the reporter that the LA Times and others
credit with bringing the problem of asbestos in Chicago’s
public housing to light. 


LA TIMES: Obama Says He Initiated and Led Efforts That Thrust
Altgeld’s Asbestos Problem Into the Headlines


FACT: Obama Helped Residents In Altgeld Organize, But Stayed
in Background



Yvonne Lloyd Worked With Obama In Altgeld Gardens: “He Always
Stayed in the Background...Behind the Scenes.” Yvonne Lloyd, a
mother of 11 who was the basis for the character “Shirley” in
Dreams of My Father, worked with Obama during the effort to
remove asbestos from the Altgeld Garden apartments. She
remembers that Obama “trained us to be leaders…I would come to
him with an issue and he would help us figure it out [but] he
always stayed in the background. And we used to say to him,
‘Barack, come on and do this,’ and he would say no. Even when
we took pictures, he always stayed behind the scenes, because
it was our community.” Lloyd attended the meetings with the
Chicago Housing Authority described in Dreams of My Father and
remembers working with Obama on the issue, saying that he
“helped us make presentations, but he never scripted us.
Because that’s  not telling the truth. And if I’m telling the
truth, I can tell it anywhere.” [Conversation with Yvonne
Lloyd, 2/9/07] 


Linda Randle, A Community Organizer In The Ida B. Wells
Project, Worked With Obama: “He Didn’t Take Credit for
Anything.” Linda Randle worked in the Ida B. Wells housing
project, which also had problems with asbestos, as a community
organizer. She filed a complaint with the EPA and worked with
Martha Allen, a reporter for the Chicago Reporter, to bring
the public’s attention to the issue. Randle, who knew Obama
through his work in Altgeld, said “Barack and I would get
together and we would talk… When he was having problems [with
the work], we would talk about it – he would ask, ‘What do I
need to do to open up my head to hear what they’re saying to
me?’…But he didn’t take credit for anything.” [Chicago
Reporter, June 1986; Conversation with Linda Randle, 2/16/07]


LA TIMES: Others Say…That Credit for Pushing Officials To Deal
With Asbestos Goes to A Pre-Existing Group and A Local
Newspaper Called the Chicago Reporter


FACT: Reporter That Broke the Asbestos Story For the Chicago
Reporter Gives Obama, Others Credit for The Action Taken By
the Housing Authority


Martha Allen, Reporter With the Chicago Reporter: Proud of The
Work She Did on Asbestos, But Community Organizers including
Barack Obama Were Working On The Issue “Long Before” She
Raised It. Martha Allen, who did the original reporting on the
issue of asbestos in Chicago’s public housing projects in
1986, said that although she’s proud of the reporting she did
for the Chicago Reporter, she can’t take credit for the action
that was eventually taken by the Chicago Housing Authority.
“That [taking credit] implies that I opened the eyes of folks
in Altgeld [on this issue] and that’s not true. Obama [and
others like Linda Randle] were working on this long before I
got there.” [Conversation with Martha Allen, 2/16/07] 



Chicago Reporter Articles Credited With Raising Issue Do Not
Mention Hazel Johnson or Her Group, People for Community
Recovery. Martha Allen’s reports on the asbestos issue in
1986, which Rep. Bobby Rush credits with raising the profile
of the asbestos problem in Altgeld Gardens and Ida B. Wells,
do not mention Hazel Johnson or People for Community Recovery,
Johnson’s group. Linda Randle, who filed the initial complaint
with the EPA, is mentioned in the story Allen published in
June. [The Chicago Reporter, June 1986 and July, 1986] 


Linda Randle Remembers Working Closely With Obama on the
Asbestos Issue. Randle, who knew Obama through his work in
Altgeld, said “Barack was working with the women in Altgeld
[on asbestos] and he brought some of them to talk to me, and
then we put together a meeting for me to go talk to them in
Altgeld.” Although the residents of Ida B. Wells and Altgeld
Gardens failed to join forces on the issue, Randle and Obama
continued to work together. [Conversation with Linda Randle,
2/16/07] 


Chicago Reporter Article Credit Protests in Altgeld Gardens
With Helping Raise Public Awareness of the Asbestos Problem in
Public Housing. In addition, Allen writes in the July edition
of the Chicago Reporter that the Chicago Housing Authority’s
decision to remove asbestos from the Ida B. Wells Extension
Homes was triggered by her story in June and “by the protests
of residents at another South Side housing development,
Altgeld Gardens [at] 130th Street and Langley Avenue.” [The
Chicago Reporter, July 1986] 


LA TIMES: Hazel Johnson’s Role Was So Prominent That It Was
“Offensive” To Tell the Story of Altgeld Gardens Without
Including Her


FACT: Johnson Was An Activist, Not An Organizer; CHA Action
Came After Obama, Randle, and Others Organized Residents
Around the Issue



Johnson Raised the Issue With Public Health Experts in “Early
1980s”; No Action Was Taken Until 1986. Johnson raised the
asbestos issue with Regnal Jones, a “scientist that [she was
trying to get] to study possible links between the ailments
that residents reported to her and [asbestos]…Jones visited
Johnson in the early 1980s recalls sitting in her kitchen as
she laid out hundreds of index cards listing the illnesses
throughout Altgeld.” However, no action was taken to address
the asbestos in Ida B. Wells or Altgeld Gardens until 1986.
[Los Angeles Times, 2/19/07; Chicago Reporter, July 1986]


Jerry Kellman: Obama Pulled Together A Variety of People That
Others Could Not. Jerry Kellman, who was the basis for the
character “Marty” in Dreams of my Father, was Obama’s
supervisor at the Developing Communities Project. When asked
about the role that Johnson played in the asbestos work at
Altgeld, Kellman said, “Barack pulled together a variety of
people that someone like Hazel would not have been able to do
at that point. Barack’s book is very accurate.” [Conversation
with Jerry Kellman, 2/7/07] 


Loretta Augustine-Herron: Hazel Johnson Was An Activist, Not
An Organizer. Loretta Augustine-Herron, who was the basis for
the character “Angela” in Dreams of My Father, was present at
the initial meeting with the Chicago Housing Authority to
discuss the issue of asbestos in the Altgeld Garden
apartments. When asked about the role that Johnson played in
the asbestos work at Altgeld, Augustine-Herron said, “Hazel
was there [for the asbestos work]…[she] might have been an
activist. But she was not an organizer.” [Conversations with
Loretta Augustine-Herron, 2/9/07, 2/14/07] 


Augustine-Herron: Before Obama, “There Really Wasn’t Anything
Happening.” Augustine-Herron said that “There was work [on the
asbestos issue in Altgeld] going on before Barack got there,
but before him, there wasn’t really anything happening. He
really came in and started building a base and empowering
people [Conversation With Loretta Augustine-Herron, 2/14/07] 


Johnson And Obama Worked Together On Asbestos. “Altgeld
Gardens resident Hazel Johnson, 69, worked with Obama in the
Developing Communities Project on pushing the Chicago Housing
Authority to remove asbestos from public housing and other
issues. She remembers Obama renting a bus to take a group of
residents downtown to protest at CHA headquarters. ‘He even
got us coffee and doughnuts," she said. "And he
didn't have to do that.’” [Chicago Sun Times, 10/3/04]


LA TIMES: Obama Painted Altgeld Gardens Residents As
“Pathetic,” “Meek,” And “Confused”


FACT: Obama Wrote of Residents With Respect; Saw Parallels
Between His Personal Story and Theirs





Obama Wrote Admiringly of Women He Worked With in Altgeld,
Respected the Challenges They Faced. In Dreams of My Father,
Obama wrote, “They were spirited, good-humored women [the
women he worked with at Developing Communities], those three,
women who—without husbands to help—somehow managed to raise
sons and daughters, juggle an assortment of part-time jobs and
small business schemes, and organize Girl Scout troops,
fashion shows, and summer camps for the parade of children
that wandered through the church every day.” [Dreams of My
Father, p.167] 


Obama Saw Parallels Between His Personal Story and Altgeld
Resident. “Sometimes I would stop by Mary’s house just to say
hello, drawn perhaps by the loneliness I sensed there, and the
easy parallels between my own mother and Mary; and between
myself and Mary’s daughters, such sweet and pretty girls whose
lives were so much more difficult than mine had ever been,
with grandparents who shunned them, black classmates who
teased them, all the poison in the air.” [Dreams of My Father,
p.176] 


LA TIMES: Obama Exaggerated His Own Achievements, Wrote that
His Group Was Called “Obama’s Army” By Resident


FACT: “Obama’s Army” Was Sarcastic Reference To Small Turnout
For An Event



Obama’s Army Sarcastic Reference To Small Turnout For First
Visit to Housing Authority. Despite days of organizing, the
turnout for his visit to the Chicago Housing Authority was
smaller than Obama expected. He wrote, “…I counted only eight
heads in the yellow bus parked in front of the school.
Bernadette and I stood in the parking lot trying to recruit
other parents as they came to pick up their children...When
Angela, Mona, and Shirley arrived to see how things were
shaping up, I insisted they ride with us to lend moral
support. Everyone looked depressed, everyone except Tyrone and
Jewel, who were busy making faces at Mr. Lucas, the only
father in the group. Dr. Collier came up beside me. ‘I guess
this is it,’ I said. ‘Better than I expected…Obama’s Army,’
she said. [Dreams of My Father, p. 238]

[Adelante]

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