Obama reflects on Becoming a Man program: 'I understood what it means to be' an outsider
CNN
Former President Barack Obama said his struggles early in life were "similar" to those of the young men he mentors in Chicago while reflecting on his path to the presidency in an exclusive interview with CNN's Anderson Cooper that aired Monday.
Obama's interview with Cooper comes after his latest memoir, "A Promised Land," was published in late 2020 and focuses, in part, on the former President joining what is called a BAM -- or Becoming a Man -- circle. The program, aimed at mentoring and supporting boys and young men, started in Chicago in 2001, but Obama first joined one of the circles in 2013 and has continued to be a part of the program since. The program was a key reference when Obama launched My Brother's Keeper in 2014, as he worked to reverse trends showing young men of color are more likely to drop out of school, get in trouble with the law or be unemployed. Obama wrote in his memoir that he was an "incessant, dedicated partyer" while he was growing up and that he and his friends "didn't discuss much beyond sports, girls, music and plans for getting loaded" while they were going to school. Obama has been up front about not being focused on his future at a young age, telling students at an event in 2014 that he often "made bad choices" growing up.
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