In Oakland, Obama, Curry talk race, role models, manhood.
Asked Tuesday afternoon how he overcame his childhood struggles, former President Barack Obama glanced toward Warriors guard Stephen Curry.
“Steph,” Obama said with a smirk, “why don’t you tell them about your ankles?”
That lighthearted jab at Curry’s well-chronicled history of ankle issues was one of many signs that Obama considers the face of Golden State’s franchise far more than an ambassador for the Obama Foundation’s My Brother’s Keeper Alliance. In the past half-decade, Obama and Curry have formed a close friendship over their shared passion for sports and civic engagement.
Such familiarity helped them set a comfortable, easygoing tone during their town hall discussion Tuesday on being a young minority man in America. In front of a capacity crowd at Oakland Scottish Rite Center, Obama and Curry spoke candidly for more than an hour about such wide-ranging topics as the importance of male role models, school discipline, policing black communities, selfconfidence, music and manhood.
Though Obama and Curry come from vastly different eras and backgrounds, they’re alike in how they use their celebrity as a platform to bring change.
In April 2016, eight months
after they first golfed together at Martha’s Vineyard, Obama and Curry starred in a humorous video called “The Mentorship” in which Obama helped Curry work on his resume, beat Curry at Connect Four and corrected Curry’s shooting form. Since then, more than 50,000 people have become mentors through My Brother’s Keeper Alliance — an organization that strives to close opportunity gaps facing young minority men.
Obama, who founded the alliance after the killing of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in Florida in 2012, credits Curry’s support for helping ensure the nonprofit’s success. In addition to doing another PSA in December 2017, he wore special Under Armour shoes in September to raise money for the organization.
“We had to be able to say to (minority boys), ‘You matter, we care about you, we believe in you and we are going to make sure that you have the opportunities and chances to move forward just like everybody else,’ ” said Obama, who left office in 2017.
Tuesday’s event, which honored the fifth anniversary of My Brother’s Keeper, opened with Grammy Award-winning singer John Legend leading a panel discussion with Sybrina Fulton (Martin’s mother), Rep. Lucy McBath (mother of shooting victim Jordan Davis) and the Rev. Wanda Johnson (mother of Oscar Grant). After Legend performed his version of Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On,” Obama introduced himself as “Michelle’s husband” and Curry as “Ayesha’s husband.”
The overarching message of their talk was clear: Minority boys can become change agents for their communities. Flanked by two rows of young men who had flown in from all over the country, Curry and Obama shared some of their own adolescent tribulations.
Curry acknowledged that, long before he became the first unanimous MVP in NBA history, he had a tough time believing in himself. Only thanks to his parents’ ceaseless reinforcement was Curry able to start maximizing his abilities.
“The confidence to kind of get over that hump was a process,” Curry said. “The swagger that you see on the court right now, it wasn’t always there. It was a constant struggle.”
Obama, who met his father only once, conceded that he “was all kinds of screwed up in high school” because he lacked a sense of purpose. What helped him through those trying times was the love and support of his mother and grandparents.
“I think I started to grow up when I stopped thinking about myself, and I started thinking about how I can be useful to other people,” Obama said. “The amazing thing is, when you help somebody and you see that positive impact on somebody, that gives you confidence.”
Seldom did more than a couple minutes pass without the crowd erupting into laughter. One of the more humorous moments came when, while detailing what it means to be a good man, Obama touched upon the importance of being true to one’s self.
“If you are really confident about your financial situation, you’re probably not going to be wearing an 8-pound chain around your neck,” Obama said. “If you’re very confident about your sexuality, you don’t have to have eight women around you twerking.”
Curry is well-versed on Obama’s wit. The two are golfing buddies, but they also spend time together away from the links.
Curry invited Obama to speak to the Warriors when the team was in Washington, D.C., last month to play the Wizards. On Monday, Stephen and Ayesha Curry joined Obama, John Legend and Chrissy Teigen at Ayesha’s restaurant, International Smoke in San Francisco, for Presidents Day dinner.
But years into their friendship, Curry still finds himself picking up new things from Obama. As Tuesday’s town hall discussion came to a close, Curry said, “I hope you all learned as much as I did today.”