Former President Barack Obama reunited with the young boy, Jacob who touched his hair in the Oval Office back in 2009. Obama shared a video of how his virtual reunion with Jacob went.
What happened between Barack Obama and Jacob Philadelphia?
The five-year-old Jacob Philadelphia asked the former President “Is your hair like mine?”. To which Obama remarked, “Why don’t you touch it and see for yourself?”. Then the President bent down to let Jacob touch it.
The iconic moment was captured by the White House photographer Pete Souza and dubbed “Hair like mine”. The photo hung on a wall in the west wing throughout Obama’s Presidency.
Now 13 years later, on 27th May, Obama shared a video interaction between him and Jacob Philadelphia. In the video, we can see Obama reminiscing over the iconic moment along with Jacob.
Remarks
He said, “I think this picture embodied one of the hopes that I had when I first started running for office”.
“I remember telling Michelle and some of my staff, you know, I think that if I were to win, the day I was sworn into office, young people, particularly African-American people, people of color, outsiders, folks who maybe didn’t always feel like they belonged, they’d look at themselves differently. To see a person who looked like them in the Oval Office. It would speak to Black kids and Latino kids and gay kids and young girls — how they could see the world open up for them.” He added in his continued statement.
Jacob Philadelphia also added that meeting the President in the Oval Office was a pretty big highlight of his life. He also mentioned the impact that meeting with President Obama had on him.
Jacob also talked about how wonderful it is to see representation in the government adding “because if I get to see another Black man be at the top, be at that pinnacle, then I want to follow that lead”.
At the end of the 5-minute video, we witness Obama speak to Jacob about his field of study and college and congratulated him on his graduation.
