Watch the historic moment in the video below.
Video credit: ABC7
Los Angeles has officially renamed a road Obama Boulevard on Saturday after the US former president.
At the renaming ceremony, the 57-year-old described the honor as humbling but really “not about” him in a letter read on his behalf at the event.
“While Michelle, Malia, Sasha and I are so humbled by this day, we’re still mindful that this is not about us,” Obama wrote in the letter, the LA Times reported.
“This is about this neighborhood’s next generation and all we want for them.
“We hope they look at the new street signs and find inspiration in all that a group of committed citizens can achieve together.”
The ceremony of renaming the 3.5-mile road took place in the same park where Obama staged one of the earliest rallies of his 2008 presidential run, the CNN reported.
The LA City Council president, Herb Wesson, tweeted about the ceremony: “For every child who will drive down this street and see the name of the first Black President of our country, this boulevard will serve as a physical reminder that no goal is out of reach and that no dream is too big.”
Several politicians and public office holders, including Mayor Eric Garcetti, were present at the ceremony along with thousands of neighborhood residents and activists.
Officials from the former Obama administration also attended the event, according to the LA Times.
Speaking to the LA Times, one woman who was also present at Obama’s 2007 rally said: “This is history. This is our neighborhood — a predominately African American neighborhood.
“It’s incredibly significant that we get to name this street after our president in our neighborhood.”
Located in Los Angeles’ Baldwin Hills/Crenshaw neighborhood, Obama Boulevard was formerly known as Rodeo Road, until the renaming got approved last year.
Mayor Garcetti said at the renaming event: “As we drive through this city and we see past presidents on Adams, on Washington, on Jefferson and now we’ll have one that was in our lifetime, who was a president for everybody: Barack Hussein Obama.”
Activist Thandiwe Abdullah, the co-founder of the Black Lives Matter Youth Vanguard, also attended the event, the LA Times reported.
According to the Times, Abdullah famously organized bake sales and sold lemonade to raise money for Obama’s nascent campaign, back in 2007.
Speaking at the ceremony, she said: “A lot of people will say it’s just another street, but for me, being 15 years old, a black child looking up and seeing the name of the first black president in my own ’hood — that gives me hope.
“That gives me inspiration to step into my fullest purpose, and I know it does for so many others who look like me.
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