Sound like someone wants to "educate" the whites and the blacks. I'm not voting for him but I can understand asking any relative to not talk to the media. Also living independently, and privately, in your own apartment is not locked in a closet.
It would have been an interesting article , without the agenda hits.
Presidential candidates in recent times have tried, with varying levels of success, to 'handle' their relatives. Jimmy Carter & Bill Clinton both suffered significant embarrasment at the hands of their immediate family members.
My guess is that the Obama campaign will engineer a 'coming-out party' for his family members. That way he will be able to spin the story a la Clinton's "Man from Hope" mythology.