Obama classmates saw a smile, but no racial turmoil: No idea of inner conflict

[DeepModem Mom]

LAT: Obama classmates saw a smile, but no racial turmoil
His Hawaii peers had no idea of the inner conflict his memoir describes. They recall a happy kid who fit in.
By Richard A. Serrano, Times Staff Writer
March 11, 2007


"There may have been a belief that Hawaii was a racial paradise," says a professor whose daughter went to Punahou. "But Hawaii in the '70s was more like the '60s on the mainland."

HONOLULU — As a second-stringer for the Punahou high school basketball squad, Barack Obama would fire up his teammates with renditions from the R&B group Earth, Wind & Fire. In yearbooks, he signed his name with a flourishing O, for Obama, which he topped with an Afro. In a world of 1970s rock 'n' roll, he was known for a love of jazz.

To his classmates, the skinny kid with a modest Afro had comfortably taken his place in the ethnic rainbow of Punahou, an elite prep school.

Today, Obama is a campaign sensation, in part because he is seen as the first black presidential candidate who might be able to reach beyond race, building support among Americans of all backgrounds.

That capacity does not surprise the students who knew Obama at Punahou School, which carefully nurtured a respect for diversity....

***

As a candidate, Obama is...trying to show that he understands the indignities of racism and the economic troubles that many believe continue to flow from the legacy of slavery.

Punahou was where Obama first awakened to these issues, and to the complexities of being black in America. In his bestselling memoir, "Dreams From My Father," he writes that during his time at the school — from fifth grade through his high school graduation in 1979 — he felt the first stirrings of anger toward whites. He says he also delved into black nationalism....

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-obama11mar11,0,4141731.story?coll=la-home-headlines

[Solo_in_MD]

1. Pardon me while I puke

I'm a Punahou grad of that timeframe and knew Barry (as he called himself) back then. The article is so full of holes, its hard to know where to begin.
- There was no school uniform, but a dress code which was pretty loose for its day.
- Punahou is a very liberal school, has been for decades.
- It was easy to tell who were scholarship students (I was one too), but it was never a source of discrimination
- Many of us only intereacted at school and did not go to our friends homes. People attended Punahou from all over the island.
- Violence was not tolerated at Punahou. If Barry bloodied another students nose on campus and it was reported he would have been up for serious displinary action.
- Low levels of drug use are common everywhere, Hawaii is no different, nor is Punahou. Like most schools the band had the best parties (take that Don Morosic).
- I too was the subject of occasional racial discrimination in Hawaii, and I am percieved as white, though I am mixed race. Welcome to the real world where people of all colors discrinate against others.

The article is a crock...

[DeepModem Mom]

2. Thanks for posting your inside view! nt

[Rydz777]

4. Good post

Thanks for your interesting insights. One of the great things about the Internet (and DU for that matter) is that sloppy journalism is held to account. The picture accompanying the article clearly demonstrates your point that there was no school uniform.

[pnwmom]

5. I'm not sure what your real argument is with the article,

other than the uniform thing.

The article didn't say Punahou was a conservative school.
It didn't say Obama felt discriminated against as a scholarship student, just that none of those interviewed had actually seen his home.
Obama's the one who says he bloodied someone's nose. Probably the other student didn't report it.
The article didn't say there was an unusual amount of drug use at Punahou.

[applegrove]

3. Why would they assume he would turn to them. Adolescense is hard

but especially hard if you are perceived as some kind of outsider in society. You don't always share with people who don't know what you are talking about and cannot relate.

[beaconess]

6. Some white folk are surprised when black people think or feel or do something that

they haven't made them privy to.