"He was known as Barry Obama, and with his dark complexion and mini-Afro, he was one of the few blacks at the privileged Hawaiian school overlooking the Pacific." ^picture left: "Young Obama, fourth from right, in Hawaiian school." (no date; AP Photo)
(retrieved today at: http://larkspurcru.com/mambo/content/view/31/43/ )
"Yet that hardly made him stand out.
Diversity was the norm at the Punahou School, one of the state’s top private schools. The 3,600 students came from a wide variety of backgrounds, with a blend of Polynesian, Asian, European and other cultures. Everybody in Hawaii is a minority."
"At Punahou, Barack Obama was known primarily for his appealing personality, his honesty and his aggressive play on the basketball court.
"It was a good melting pot. There were people from all different races," said Eric Smith, a friend and classmate of Obama’s in the 1970s. "Everyone seemed to meld together."
"Obama still spends most Christmas holidays in Hawaii visiting old Punahou friends, his grandmother, 84, and his sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng, and her husband."
"In an essay for the Punahou Bulletin, published in 1999, two decades after his high school graduation, he wrote: 'The opportunity that Hawaii offered _ to experience a variety of cultures in a climate of mutual respect _ became an integral part of my world view, and a basis for the values that I hold most dear...'"
________________*^^*_______________note
"I ain't no fortunate son!!"
MooPig would like to expound here a moment. In context of segregation pointed out by the esteemed, and to-be-listened-to, Compostholestoy in the next blog entry above -- let MPW reiterate the democratization of your internet. "Blogs and comments" is our best soapbox to stand on, to represent what is left for routing our wants, needs and desires to those who would eventually spend our trillions of tax dollars. >mpw
________________*^^*_______________ BBC reported:
"Odinga says Obama is his cousin
"Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga has said he is a cousin of US presidential hopeful Barack Obama.
"Mr Odinga told the BBC's The World Today that Senator Obama's father was his maternal uncle.
"Mr Obama's father - a Kenyan also called Barack - met and married his American mother when they were students at the university of Hawaii.
"Mr Obama has previously been identified as a distant cousin of Vice-President Dick Cheney."Mr Obama's father came from the same Luo community as Mr Odinga.
"The Kenyan leader made the statement in an interview in which he discussed foreign interest in the political turmoil in his country.
"He said Mr Obama had on Monday taken time out of campaigning for the New Hampshire primary to call him twice, to express his concern, and to say that he would also be calling Mr Kibaki.
"Mr Obama's parents separated when he was two and later divorced.
"His mother subsequently married an Indonesian, and the young Barack lived in Jakarta for some years before returning to the United States.
"He saw almost nothing of his birth father, who moved back to Kenya and later died in a car crash. But he entitled his autobiography Dreams from my Father." (BBC NEWS; Updated Jan 8, 2008; retreived today at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7176683.stm )
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