They never said it in those words either, of course, because they didn’t know who Barack Obama was.
Along with Trayvon Martin, Barack Obama is another main thread that runs throughout the book. In the introduction Mychal says we hoped our martyrs would grow up to be tokens, and President Obama is the biggest token of all. In response to the murder of Trayvon Martin, President Obama creates the My Brothers Keeper initiative focused on mentoring and education for black boys, as if a mentor and straight A's will keep black boys safe from state sanctioned violence. If black boys are taught to do the right thing, then whiteness will have no reason to kill them.
