Barack Obama, a former US president, has surprised members of a book club after he joined their Zoom meeting to discuss about ‘A Promised Land’, his new memoir.
Members of the MahoganyBooks and Very Smart Brothas Book Club were amazed when Obama was brought in as their “special guest” during the virtual meeting last week.
In a Twitter post on Tuesday, the ex-president shared a clip from the Zoom session while stating that the move was part of his drive to support outstanding African-American bookstores.
“Black-owned independent bookstores play a critical role in communities across our country. I wanted to show my support, so I dropped in to surprise folks from @MahoganyBooks & the Very Smart Brothas Book Club,” he wrote.
Obama spoke of how he has managed to maintain his sense of optimism while managing crises facing his country.
Black-owned independent bookstores play a critical role in communities all across our country. I wanted to show my support, so I dropped in to surprise the folks from @MahoganyBooks & the Very Smart Brothas Book Club. Take a look. pic.twitter.com/sQdc8xY6xY
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) February 2, 2021
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“I tend to take the long view on things and not the short term. The trick is to be able to have that kind of that long-term perspective but still feel the urgency of now as Dr. King wrote about,” the former president noted.
“Still feel as if, yes, we made some progress, but man, what’s going on now is crazy and we have to do something about it. When you see a George Floyd or an Eric Garner [who were killed in police custody], that’s terrible.
“That should make you angry. You can’t just kind of say, ‘Well, it’ll take time’. You have to feel pressed now and angry now or sad now, right?
“Trying to keep those two things in mind at the same time I think is the biggest trick to not just being president but just being a functioning black person in America.”
Obama’s ‘A Promise Land’ memoir was published in November 2020 by Crown Publishing Group, a subsidiary of Penguin Random House, in the United States and Viking, a firm owned by Penguin Random House, in the UK.
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