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ACTIVIST IN CHICAGO NOW HEADS HARVARD LAW REVIEW
Chicago Tribune - February 7, 1990
Author: Michael J. Ybarra.
Just a few years ago, Barack Obama was helping residents of the Altgeld

Gardens housing development challenge the Chicago Housing Authority over

asbestos in their apartments.

On Monday, the 28-year-old Obama was named president of the Harvard Law

Review, the nation`s most prestigious student legal journal. Obama is the

first black elected to the post in its 104-year history.

The Review is considered one of the most authoritative of the law school

reviews and is a forum for judges and scholars. It is also a high-powered

springboard for aspiring lawyers. Its presidents usually go on serve as a

clerk for a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for a year and then as a clerk for an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.

It took 91 years to elect a woman, and it wasn`t until last year that an

Asian was elected by his fellow editors to the position.

For Obama , it`s another victory in the fight against ``powerlessness.``

``People don`t feel that they can have much impact,`` he said in a phone

interview from the Review`s offices. ``I want to get people involved in having a say in how their lives are run. More and more of that needs to be done.``

As executive director of the Developing Communities Project, he had

attempted to persuade the residents of Altgeld Gardens to become more involved in their community. Obama worked for the Developing Communities Project for

four years.

(snip)

``Unbelievable talent is not cultivated; a lot of time it`s crushed,``

Obama said. ``Over the long run, the way to improve the conditions in the

cities and schools-to fight crime and drugs-is to work on the local level.``

To do that effectively, Obama said he wanted to know how the system works as only a lawyer can. To that end, he said he`ll spend a couple of years

practicing law after graduation next year and then it`s most likely back to

community organizing, maybe politics.

Probably back where he started.

``I`ll definitely be coming back to Chicago,`` he said. ``Chicago`s a

great town . . . an ideal laboratory.``