^'ÏJortiaub (Obserucr Black History Month
February 14, 2007
PageA5
Obama’s Multi-ethnic Early Years
In Hawaii,
diversity
was norm
(AP) - He was known as Barry
Obam a, and with his dark com plex­
ion and m ini-A fro, he w as one o f
the few blacks at the privileged
H aw aiian school overlooking the
Pacific.
Yet that hardly made him stand
out.
D iversity w as the norm at the
Punahou School in H onolulu, one
o f the state's top private schools.
The 3,6(X) students cam e from a
U.S. Sen. Barack Obama
w ide variety o f backgrounds, with
a blend o f Polynesian, Asian, Euro­ at age 6, left Hawaii to live for four
pean and other cultures. Every body years in Indonesia with his m other
in Hawaii is a m inority.
and Indonesian stepfather, Lolo
At Punahou, Barack O bam a was Soetoro. In 1971, she sent Obama,
know n prim arily for his appealing then 10, back to Hawaii to be with
personality, his honesty and his his m aternal grandparents mostly
aggressive play on the basketball because she w anted him to receive
court.
his education at Punahou, which
"It was a good melting pot. There boasts a rigorous high school cur­
were people from all different races," riculum.
said Eric Sm ith, a friend and class­
O bam a's grandm other, Madelyn
m ate o f O bam a's in the 1970s. "Ev­ Dunham, a bank vice president, and
eryone seem ed to meld together." grandfather, Stanley D unham , a
As he pursues the presidency, salesm an, lived in a tw o-bedroom
the chapters o f O bam a's unfam iliar apartm en t in d o w n to w n H ono­
biography are draw ing greater scru­ lulu and helped raise th e ir g ran d ­
tiny. The D em ocratic senator from son along w ith his m o th er until
Illinois was bom in H onolulu 45 he g rad u a ted from high school.
years ago and lived in one the O bam a's m o th e rd ied in 1995. His
This 1976 yearbook
photo shows Barack
Obama (front row,
fourth from right) with
his 9th grade class
outside o f Punahou
School in Honolulu,
Hawaii. Punahou is a
prestigious private
school that attracts
the island's wealthi­
est and most accom­
plished students.
m atic, a so m ew h at q u iet lead er
an d o u ts p o k e n w ith c o a c h e s
w hen he d id n 't agree w ith them or
u n d erstan d th eir m ethods.
"He w asn't afraid to challenge
authority," Lum said. "Som etim es I
couldn't believe he w ould say it,
but I would be thinking the same
thing. I rem em berhim being honest
and courageous. I respected him
for that."
O ff the court, O bam a brought
books to read on road trips, served
on the school literary m agazine’s
editorial board and sang in choir as
a freshm an and sophomore.
O bam a also spent tim e with his
g ran d fath er, som etim es playing
checkers with the locals at Alii Park,
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— R o s a P a rk s
C reate great m e m o rie s b y sta rtin g a career
at C -TR A N . Please call ( 3 6 0 ) 9 0 6 - 7 4 9 1
o r visit us at w w w .c - t r a n .c o m .
Barack Obama poses with his 1979 state basketball championship team for Punahou School In
Hawaii. Identified as Barry Obama, he is in the back row, last player on the right.
country's m ost diverse m etropoli­
tan areas for the better part o f 18
years. He spent four childhood
years in Indonesia.
In his 1995 memoir, "Dreams From
M y Father," O bam a recalls experi­
encing some discrim ination grow ­
ing up in the islands, such as when
other kids laughed at his name. He
a lso w ro te a b o u t his in te rn a l
struggles as black friends would
accuse all w hite people o f m istreat­
ing others— harsh words as O bam a
w as being raised by his w hite
m other and grandparents.
"I tried to raise m yself to be a
black man in A m erica, and beyond
the given o f my appearance, noone
around me seem ed to know exactly
w hat that meant," he wrote.
But O bam a acknow ledges he
w asn't growing up in the Jim C row
South or the housing projects o f
H arlem — he was in Hawaii, w here
his peers m ostly treated him the
sam e as others.
"H e alw ays had a basketball in
his hands and was alw ays looking
for a pickup gam e," said team m ate
Larry T avares, 46, now an estate
planner at First Hawaiian Bank.
O bam a's parents, Ann Dunham
and Barack O bam a Sr., met and
m arried in Honolulu — a w hite
w om an from the m ainland and a
black man from Kenya.
Afterthat marriage failed. Obama,
fath er and g ran d fath e r also are
d e c e a se d .
As a teenager. O bam a went to
parties and som etim es sought out
gatherings on m ilitary bases or at
the U niversity o f Hawaii that were
m ostly attended by blacks. He
wrote in his book that he tried drugs
and let his grades slip in his final
years o f high school.
But friends and team m ates said
he didn't appear to be discontented
and alw ays seem ed to fit in.
"He never let that show , so
maybe it was more o f an internal
struggle," said teamm ate Alan Lum,
who now teaches at Punahou.
At school, O b am a w as su r­
rounded by the islan d 's richest
and m ost acco m p lish ed students.
A m erica O nline fo u n d er Steve
C ase, actress K elly P reston and
form er D allas C o w b o y s linem an
M ark T u in ei, w ho died in 1999,
atten d ed the school around that
tim e. Pro g o lf sensation M ichelle
W ie, 17, is a stu d en t there now .
A lanky, left-handed forward,
O bam a becam e known for his elu ­
sive m oves on the basketball court.
By his se n io r year, O b am a was
p art o f a talen ted team w ith at
least three co lleg e -b o u n d p la y ­
ers. As a b ackup fo rw ard , O bam a
help ed P u n ah o u w in th e state
ch a m p io n sh ip in 1979. T e a m ­
m ates describ ed him as charis-
spear fishing in K ailua Bay or lis­
tening to Stevie W onder and Billie
Holiday records.
Russell C unningham , a close
friend who often went body surfing
with Obama, remembered his friend
Barry for introducing him to new
music and for giving him sound
advice.
"H e in tro d u ced us to ja z z and
G eo rg e B enson w hen w e w ere all
listen in g to rock 'n' roll," said
C u n n in g h am , now an atto rn ey in
S acram en to , C alif. "He also told
me to stick to my stu d ies becau se
they'll take me w here I w ant to go.
A nd I did, and I got to w here I
w anted to be."
C -TR A N is an Equal O p p o rtu n ity E m ployer
c o m m itte d to a d ive rse w o rk fo rc e and g u id e d
b y an A ffirm a tiv e A c tio n Program .
T W E N T YPOW B Y E A R S
SEASONS
M A R K E T
Pharmacy j
AT A R B O R L O D G E /
/ Ate are a reyaCar pharmacy!
\Ne fill p r e s c r ip tio n s — in c lu d in g a n tib io tic s ,
h ig h b lo o d p r e s s u r e m e d ic a tio n s ,
a n ti- d e p r e s s a n ts , b irth c o n tr o l, a n d m o re .
Sen. Obama Launches
White House Bid
"Each andevery time, a new gen­
eration has risen up and done what's
war," he said. He noted that he was needed to be done," he said. "To­
against the invasion from the start. day we are cal led once m ore - and it
O bam a talked how previous gen­ is tim e for our generation to answ er
erations have brought change — that call.'
fighting off colonizers, slavery and
O bam a said it is because o f Lin­
the G reat D epression, w elcom ing coln that A m ericans o f every race
im m igrants, building railroads and face the challenges o f the 2 1 st cen ­
tury together.
landing a man on the moon.
continued
•• •
W e h a v e k n o w le d g e a b le , fr ie n d ly p h a r m a c is ts
w h o h a v e th e tim e to s h a r e in fo r m a tio n .
✓
from Front
O u r p r ic e s a re c o m p e titiv e . W e a c c e p t m o s t
in s u r a n c e p la n s a n d a re a d d in g o th e r s a s
r e q u e s te d .
| r W e s p e c ia liz e in c u s t o m c o m p o u n d in g
M e e t y o u r P h a r m a c is t.
M e lin d a B u tle r
Y O U R L O C A L L Y O W N E D , N E IG H B O R H O O D P H A R M A C Y A T A R B O R L O D G E
N IN T E R S T A T E A V E N U E & P O R T L A N D B L V D • 5 0 3 .4 6 7 4 8 4 8
w w w . n e w s e a s o n s m a r k e t . c o m • M O N - F R I 9 a m - 7 p m • S A T 9 a m - 6 p m • S U N 1 0 a m 4 p m