Quotation by

Barack Obama

To avoid being mistaken for a sellout, I chose my friends carefully. The more politically active black students. The foreign students. The Chicanos. The Marxist professors and structural feminists and punk-rock performance poets.

Advertisement

Understanding this quote AI Analysis

Barack Obama deliberately surrounded himself with people who were politically engaged and from diverse, often marginalized groups to show he was committed to social causes and not betraying his community. By choosing friends like activists, foreign students, and radical thinkers, he aligned himself with those challenging the status quo.

More by this author

All quotes by Barack Obama →

More quotes about Friendship

See all →
I loved my 17 years with R.E.M., but I'm ready to reflect, assess and move on to a different phase of my life. The four of us will continue our close friendship, and I look forward to hearing their f…
In the name of the United States and President Bush, I want to thank the Mexican people, President Fox and his government for their friendship.

Advertisement

A passion for politics stems usually from an insatiable need, either for power, or for friendship and adulation, or a combination of both.
The friendship of Shostakovich cast a brilliant light over my whole life and whose spiritual qualities captured my soul once and for all time.
To cement a new friendship, especially between foreigners or persons of a different social world, a spark with which both were secretly charged must fly from person to person, and cut across the acci…