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Obama's new Presidential Center and his tricky relationship with the South Side
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Obama vs. the Organizers: The CBA Refusal
At 26:57 · chapter starts 25:40
Myra Kwadja explains what a community benefits agreement is — essentially a negotiated package of legal commitments around housing, jobs, or environmental protections — and then describes the moment the CBA campaign crystallized in public memory. At a 2017 community meeting, Obama was directly asked whether the Obama Foundation would commit to a housing-focused CBA. [1] — Myra Kwadja "In 2017, Obama was directly asked whether the Obama Foundation would sign a community benefits agreement to protect housing. He declined, s…" 25:40 His response, as Kwadja remembers it: no single community organization speaks for the whole community; you should trust us; we know what's best. He shut it down. Gene Demby names the obvious irony: Barack Obama built his entire political identity as a community organizer on the South Side of Chicago, the very person who would have been on the other side of this negotiating table in a different era. The audio clip of Obama speaking about being 'very confident in our ability to make sure that we have a very inclusive process' lands differently in that context. Kwadja says it was jarring, and that many people who felt broadly sympathetic to the Obama Center were nonetheless taken aback by his refusal to engage with the organizers.
In 2017, Obama was directly asked whether the Obama Foundation would sign a community benefits agreement to protect housing. He declined, saying no group speaks for the whole community and that people should trust him. The irony: he built his entire political identity as a community organizer.
When directly asked at a community meeting in 2017, Obama declined to commit the Obama Foundation to a community benefits agreement on housing, saying he knew what was best for the community.
Calling what's happening in Woodlawn 'gentrification' is technically imprecise: classic gentrification — wealthy white newcomers flooding a Black neighborhood — often doesn't happen that way in Black communities. But disinvestment followed by speculation is very real. Natalie Moore argues the framing on all sides has been overstated.
