President Barack Obama has had his fair share of critics during his time at the White House. People have claimed that he is not a valid U.S. citizen and that he does not show enough patriotism. In response to the claim that he is not a valid U.S. citizen, Obama published his birth certificate to quiet those who doubt his status in the country. Now doubters have begun to question his father, who moved to the United States in 1959. He has been labeled as ‘anti-American and anti-white.’
The president’s father grew up in Kenya, which was under British rule, and went on to study in Hawaii. When he studied in Hawaii it created fear in colonial officers and officials from the United States because the officials felt that Kenyan students are ‘academically inferior’ and have a ‘bad reputation’ for becoming anti-American. The National Archives in West London released a memo today from a British diplomat in Washington to Whitehall that describes their concerns with Kenyans. The memo is dated September 1, 1959.
‘I have discussed with the State Department. They are as disturbed about these developments as we are. They point out that Kenya students have a bad reputation over here for falling into the wrong hands and for becoming both anti-American and anti-white.’
The president’s father enrolled at the age of 23 at the University of Hawaii in Honolulu. He went to the school to study economics. His classmates included 17-year-old Ann Dunham. The two were married for a short time, which led to the birth in 1961 of the future president. The president’s father was one of 100 Kenyan students brought to America by the African American Students Foundation. British and United States officials were skeptical of this group because even though it had a famous backers in singer Harry Belafonte and actor Sidney Poitier, they felt it was linked to a nationalist Kenyan leader.
“The motives behind this enterprise, therefore, seem more political than educational,” claimed a letter issued by the British Embassy in Washington. “The arrival here of these students, many of them of indifferent academic calibre and ill-prepared for the venture, is likely to give rise to difficult problems.”
The president’s father, who passed away back in 1982, was not named as a concern in any of the documents. When the president’s father left Hawaii he took a PhD from Harvard in economics and then went on to work as a senior economist with the Kenyan government.