A Tale of Two Brothers

In 2007, when Keith Kakugawa found himself on the streets of Downtown LA, fresh out of prison, he reached out to his high school friend, Senator Barack Obama. Unfortunately, he was portrayed as a saboteur by a member of the Presidential election campaign. Though Keith felt left out to dry at a time when he could have used a hand up, he has remained faithful to his friend. Keith was known simply as "Ray" in Obama's book "Dreams From My Father." In the absence of Barack's father, and without any strong Black role models in his life, Barack forged a tight bond with Ray. Having lived in LA before Honolulu, Ray was an authentic example of the Black experience. For Barack, it was a time of exploration and reflection, of discovery about what it meant to be Black. Keith was also a big brother role model to Barack, during his search for identity and quest to be a man. One brother used that time of sharing toward becoming the President of the US, while the other took turns to becoming a convicted felon.