President Obama said he’s of his Kenyan heritage during his trip to that country, pointedly described himself as “the first Kenyan-American to be president” of the United States during a speech.
During an interview with Kenyan radio, the host asked Obama if he was worried about the reaction to his statement after he was “forced” to release his birth certificate.
“I wasn’t actually forced,” Obama interrupted. “I just wanted to end silly conversations – there weren’t any serious speculation, this was just sort of a side circus that sometimes happens in the United States.”
Obama released his birth certificate in April 2011, weeks after Donald Trump captivated the media by questioning the veracity of Obama’s birth in Hawaii.
Obama reminded the Kenyan audience in his interview was that the American people still believed that they were a “nation of immigrants.”
“We have Native Americans who were there from many years ago, but most people arrived from someplace else, and that continues to occur,” Obama said, calling his own heritage “a reflection of what makes America great.”