Dreams From My Father: Part V (pages 307 to 383)

In this section of the book, Barack Obama learns a few more lessons in human nature when he returns to Kenya with his half-sister Auma to visit his family, most of whom he never knew existed. He learns that in Kenya, your education and status don't mean a thing to most people. Obama is attempting to locate some baggage that was lost on the way to Kenya, but he isn't making any progress talking to people. Then, a person who knew his father and recognizes Auma and also happens to be friends with the manager offers his help, and the baggage is located in the span of about five minutes. Auma tells him "It's the same whether you want a phone, or a visa, or a job. Who are your relatives? who do you know?" (322). Obama was a nobody, and the people weren't willing to help him because they didn't owe him anything. He also learns about the police brutality in kenya. He and his brother Roy are sitting outside a bar when they hear sounds of a struggle outside. They see "two men at the far side of the courtyard pushing another, smaller, man down onto the ground. With one hand, the man on the ground appeared to be covering a cut on his head; with his free arm he was trying to shield himself from the swings of a billy club" (365). Obama gets up to help the man, but his brother holds him back, saying "Mind your buisness, brother... They may be police. I tell you, Barack, you don't know what its like to spend a night in a Nairobi jail" (365). This act of violence is completely illegal, obciously, but if indeed the men were police a bystander trying to help the poor man would've been arrested. Obama writes about Kenya as an almost lawless place, where rules mean little and the only thing that is real is what one person owes to another. This helps us realize how lucky we are to live in a place like America, where we can count on out government to look out for us.