Photo courtesy of the Obama Foundation
I was there covering the 2008 presidential campaign when these things happened.
Eighteen years later, when the Barack Obama Presidential Center opened on the South Side of Chicago – the former president’ s adopted hometown – I sent a team of reporters from this publication to Chicago to take their measure of this Black man for whom“ Yes, we can” had become his credo.
Osaretin Iyare, who with this issue of the Morgan Global Journalism Review assumes the role of deputy editor, went to Chicago shortly after the Obama Center’ s opening on June 19, 2026, to get an upclose look at this living memorial to the nation’ s 44th president. The other member of this team was Christopher Potts, a student fellow in the Center for New Media & Strategic Initiatives, which is home to the Morgan Global Journalism Review.
Wisely, they reported from inside the $ 850 million presidential center – and from the grounds and neighborhoods that surround the 19.3-acre campus. They went to
Chicago after being told they could not get inside the Obama Center for months – and with a“ Yes, we can” effort, they managed to overcome that reporting hurdle.
Potts writes this issue’ s cover story from inside the Obama Center. Iyare offers readers an equally compelling story about the Obama Center’ s impact on nearby neighborhoods and the people who live in the shadow of this great memorial.
I hope you enjoy this issue of the Morgan Global Journalism Review. n
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