Photos of Obama Then and Now in Kenya
Obama says Kenya won’t succeed if it doesn’t stop treating women & children like “second class citizens”. “I am unequivocal on this”, Obama said, openly disagreeing with Kenyatta. “There were all sorts of rationalizations that were provided by the power structure for decades in the United States for segregation and Jim Crow and slavery, and they were wrong”.
On Saturday at the State Dinner hosted by Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, Obama also reflected on his heritage. He made it clear that the Kenyan people and government saw gay rights as a “non-issue” and that they did not intend to change their policies.
“Some of my critics back home might be suggesting I’m here to look for my birth certificate, ” he said.
People were being “consistently sapped by corruption at a high level and at a low level” and there was a need for “visible prosecutions”, Mr Obama said, to show Kenyans that action was being taken. “It was really inspiring, especially for us young people”.
To that end, Obama during his speech focused on supporting Kenya’s people in efforts to strengthen their own economy and government.
Shortly afterward, Obama visited a memorial built to those killed in a 1998 terrorist attack on the U.S. embassy in Nairobi, where he laid a wreath in their memory.
Compounding the “homecoming” atmosphere of the visit, Obama recalled details of pre-presidential trips to Kenya replete with the stuff of everyday life: broken down cars, traditional foods, lost luggage and reconnecting with his family. Bloomberg’s White House correspondent Margaret Talev noted that Obama on that occasion traveled to the village of Kogelo, the birthplace of Barack Obama Sr, for lunch with his grandmother and a visit to his father’s grave.
Anti-gay laws often have broad public approval in African nations where many hold conservative religious views and see homosexuality as immoral. Today, Obama said, young Kenyans are no longer constrained by the limited options of his grandfather, a cook for the country’s former British rulers, or his father, who left to seek an education in America.
The Lipala Dance is a traditional set of moves, updated for 2015 by popular Nairobi afro-pop band Sauti Sol – who played for the President during his visit.
Now, she said, “we’re happy to share him with the world because he’s not just ours”.
“But what is true is, is that obviously there are emotions to a visit like this”, he told the crowd.
Mr Obama also pressed for more tolerance and respect of women and girls, calling for an end to violence against women, forced marriages for girls who should otherwise be attending school, sexual assault and the tradition known as “genital mutilation”.
Throughout his two-day trip, Mr Obama tried to bridge two constituencies: Americans re-examining their stereotypes of Africa, and Africans hoping for a better future. “Some of the attendees here at the stadium were shouting “Obama for president, 2017″ – that is, Kenyan president”.