LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Many helped Obama's father

Posted

To the editor:

(re: “Reforming the ‘reformers,’” Feb. 6)

How wonderful to take a trip down memory lane, courtesy of The Riverdale Press, and to remember the late great Frank Montero.

But I wanted to make one clarification on a point that has been confusing on more than one occasion about President Obama’s father.

Tom Mboya, the Kenyan founder and driver of the African American Students Foundation — sponsor of the airlift that brought nearly 800 students from East Africa to the United States from 1959 to 1963 — persuaded Hawaii University to offer a scholarship for one of the students applying to come.

The airlift, which we — Frank Montero, Mary Hamanaka and myself ran — provided chartered planes to the students. Two white American teachers gave the young Obama fare on a commercial flight. Once settled at the university, we supported the young Obama for his books, clothing and maintenance. After he met Ann Durham, he didn’t need our support anymore.

The vast majority of the students went home to become nation builders of their newly independent countries.

For more about the airlift, see “Airlift to America: How Barack Obama Sr., John F. Kennedy, Tom Mboya and 800 East African Students Changed the World, and Ours” by Tom Schachtman.

Cora Weiss

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Cora Weiss,

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