While 9 of 10 of our print readers live in Metro Washington, we are proud to have print and electronic readers at home and abroad.  We asked a couple of our readers living outside of the United States what they think about Barack Obama.  This is what your fellow Snippet readers had to say:

Raul Sarmiento
Havana, Cuba
From the candidates you have, the only one that speaks about change is Barak Obama.  Changes that have to do with the internal politics of protection of the humblest layers in their own towns, changes that would diminish the breach that separates the richest from the poorest, of prevention of illnesses,  prevention of crime (the United States has the biggest penal population per cápita in the world), protection to the worker, and protection and prevention against natural catastrophes (remember  Katrina and New Orleans).

If United States has the most solid agricultural and industrial economy in the world, with bigger efficiency and productivity, it should have the best social services.  These (social services) would be very beneficial for the whole population of United States.  But, do you believe that these changes are possible?


Paul Boakye
London, The United Kingdom
Barack Obama is the best hope America has of nominating a president that the rest of the world can believe in. I read with great interest his book Dreams from My Father and wept with recognition at the ‘skinny kid with the funny name’ in me. I may not be able to vote in your elections, or even donate to his immaculate campaign (believe me, I've tried), but I've never been more interested in the political process than now. Yes We Can!

Paul Boakye is a writer and former political commissioner for POWER (a detailed report on democracy in Britain).

Besenty Gomez
Kitty Village, The Gambia
I am very happy that Barack Obama is progressing well in his campaign to become a Democratic Party presidential candidate nominee and eventually America's first Black President. Barack has charisma. He has even won the hearts of many who even don't like him for any reason.  His intelligence and personality are something that endears me to him. Our troubled world needs someone who has seen the worst and best of life and this is found in Obama. He knows what to be poor and helpless is as he was brought up by a single parent who lived with him in Indonesia.

If Obama emerges as the President of America, most of America's sworn enemies would become her greatest allies as it's the policy of America toward those nations that make those nations to build up resistance against her. Obama, if not elected President of America,  would be a President that America never had. He is an embodiment of WORLD PEACE. The whole world is crying for Obama's Presidency and America should listen to their cries as people always listen when America speaks whether rightly or wrongly.
    
Henry Kiilu
Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania
I think Barack Obama might make a great American president if you give him the chance. He seems to have a better vision for America and for the world as well.

Eugene Eastman
Monrovia, Liberia
Liberians are excited about Obama’s run for the presidency. They see him as someone who “who will not want his people to die” as George Bush has done.  Liberians get their news from CNN. A 15 year old water carrier told me that Obama is an African who migrated to America; they believe he is likely Nigerian.  They don’t expect that the White people will allow him to win.

Next Snippets:  Obama and The “Hardworking” White Working Class.

About a hundred young newly arrived African-American professionals jammed the Liberian Embassy, 5201 16th Street, NW, in Washington, D.C.  Wednesday, May 21 for an African Wine and Dine. The event was part of the week long Passport to Africa celebration.  During the three hour networking session, participants enjoyed a jollof rice cooking demonstration by Nylah’s Catering followed by a tasting of South African desserts by Dessert Haven.

Photo:  Networkers gather to see the cooking demonstration.

What allows straight opponents of same-sex marriage, who are members of a privileged group, to place a higher value on opposite-sex marriages?  In our May - July 2007 print issue, Looking at Power:  Male Privilege/Heterosexual Privilege, Dr. Eddie Moore says we sometimes are aware of our privileges and use them to our advantage.  For an example, “I sometimes use my maleness (which has privilege status), and become very domineering and intimidating to female service workers when I am complaining or seeking more from the service industry,” he sadly admits in the May-July 2007 print issue.

What gives Hillary Clinton, who as a female is a member of an oppressed group, the right to place a higher value on White working class voters over that of Black working class voters? Both of our diversity experts whom we interviewed in Looking at Power, Elena Featherston and Moore, agree that the oppressed can oppress others.  “We are often unaware of our own oppressive behavior because we are usually taught about what privileges we do not have versus the privileges we have,” says Featherston.

In the current print issue, Nicky Grist, Executive Director of The Alternatives to Marriage Project, goes beyond the recent legalization of same-sex marriages in California and writes about the laws that financially discriminate against unmarried people including single people who have never married, are no longer married, or are not able to marry legally.  “Marital status discrimination affects our access to society’s benefits and our bank accounts,” she explains.  (In a recent survey, 7 percent of registered voters say someone in their household decided to get married mainly to have access to health care benefits.)

Port of Harlem is proud to work with the Phillips Collection to award six lucky Snippets winners a pair of tickets to witness the unforgettable The Migration Series.  The work portrays the 20th-century exodus of more than a million African Americans from the rural South to the industrial North.  Rarely seen in its entirety, the 60-panel cycle has been reunited for a limited time exclusively at The Phillips Collection through Monday, Oct. 26, 2008.

To win, they simply had to answer:  What is the name of the environmentalist on the cover of the current print issue of Port of Harlem?

The answer: Lavell Merritt, Jr.

Tanya Champion
Hyattsville, MD

Barry Lester
Upper Marlboro, MD

Glen Marcus
Washington, D.C.

Norman West
Washington, D.C.

Paul Williams
Washington, D.C.

Kathleen H. Wills
Washington, D.C.