Obama on Trayvon Martin: The first black president speaks out First as a black American

[Cha]

Trayvon Martin, the president said, could have been him 35 years ago. That would have been Barack Obama at age 17, then known as Barry and living in Honolulu. He had a bushy Afro. Hoodies were not in style then, or often needed in balmy Hawaii. His customary hangout outfit was flip-flops, called “slippers” on the island, shell bracelet, OP shorts and a tee.

Imagine if Barry Obama had been shot and killed, unarmed, during a confrontation with a self-deputized neighborhood watch enforcer, perhaps in some exclusive development on the far side of Diamond Head after leaving home to get shave ice. The news reports would have painted a complicated picture of the young victim, a variation on how Martin was portrayed decades later in Florida:

Lives with his grandparents; father not around, mother somewhere overseas. Pretty good student, sometimes distracted. Likes to play pickup hoops and smoke pot. Hangs out with buddies who call themselves the Choom Gang. Depending on who is providing the physical description, he could seem unprepossessing or intimidating, easygoing or brooding. And black

.
Early history at Punahou..

Obama was still a chubby adolescent, just returned from Indonesia and enrolled at the prestigious Punahou School, when he suffered the first such experience. He was one of the kids who played tennis after school, sometimes entering tournaments. One day he and some friends were looking at the draw sheets that had just been posted for a tournament when the tennis pro barked out that Barry shouldn’t touch the board, because his color might rub off.“He singled him out, and the implication was absolutely clear,” classmate Kristen Caldwell later recalled. “Barry’s hands weren’t grubby, the message was that his darker skin would somehow soil the draw. Those of us standing there were agape, horrified, disbelieving. Barry handled it beautifully, with just the right amount of cold burn without becoming disrespectful. ‘What do you mean by that?’ he asked firmly.”

Much more..
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obama-on-trayvon-martin-the-first-black-president-speaks-out-first-as-a-black-american/2013/07/20/41f7045c-f154-11e2-bed3-b9b6fe264871_story.html

Yes, PBO could have been Trayvon 35 years ago..

[font color=blue] THIS IS POSTED IN THE BARACK OBAMA GROUP~[/font]

BOGgers

[Cha]

1. Tweet from David Plouffe on this article..

David Plouffe @davidplouffe

Worth a read no matter your politics or view of President Obama. http://wapo.st/157DJm8 3:59 PM - 20 Jul 2013

Obama on Trayvon Martin: The first black president speaks out first...
With his words about the Trayvon Martin case, President Obama addressed the nation in a new voice.

Yes, I'm kicking my own thread..

[BumRushDaShow]

2. Should post in GD too

but it would probably drop like a rock among the hysterical anti-Obama filth.

Thanks for posting!!

[Cha]

6. Yes, I see you understand..

Pres Obama has done something good so the ugly venom must. be. spread. Can't have anyone liking him for anything he does.. doesn't fit into agenda. Rinse Repeat Rinse.. ad nauseum.

You're welcome, BumRushDaShow.. I thought it was interesting history in Hawai'i in relation to his talk on Trayvon Martin and the verdict.

[freshwest]

10. Fingers would shrivel and fall off by the keyboard before typing anything good about Obama!

Last edited Sun Jul 21, 2013, 08:29 PM - Edit history (1)

Bad case of brain grangrene going on there, someone better call Obamacare quick!

That pic comes from a catchy little tune by Sum 41. It's called The Hell Song. I don't why they called it that, since it's a very happy little song, that I'll be glad to post for you. With some PNW scenes...

The article of how he handled racism at young age shows an uncommon level of awareness and intelligence beyond his age or perhaps because of it, IDK.

Also, his innate coolness and extreme awesomeness! *

I remember the RWNJs claiming that since 'Obama had been bullied, he isn't capable of being the Commander in Chief.'

They said that meant he's gay...

That was right up there with their dreckt about how blacks and whites use different hemispheres of their brains. To which I said, well, if the white side of our leader's brains got us into this mess, I'm game for a change...

They also claimed that is the case for males and females, too. There are some truths with their mythology as explained here, a good read:

Why the Left-Brain Right-Brain Myth Will Probably Never Die
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/brain-myths/201206/why-the-left-brain-right-brain-myth-will-probably-never-die

That explains a lot of what is wrong with RWNJ brains, though:

...Some studies have indeed shown that the right hemisphere seems to be involved more when we have an Aha! flash of insight. For instance, one study found that activity was greater in the right hemisphere when participants solved a task via insight, rather than piecemeal. Another showed that brief exposure to a puzzle clue was more useful to the right hemisphere, than the left, as if the right hemisphere were nearer the answer.

But insight is just one type of creativity. Telling stories is another. One of the most fascinating insights from the split-brain studies was the way the left hemisphere made up stories to explain what the right hemisphere was up to – what Gazzaniga dubbed the “interpreter phenomenon”. For example, in one study, a patient completing a picture-matching task used their left hand (controlled by the right hemisphere) to match up a shovel with an image of a snow storm (shown only to the right hemisphere). The patient was then asked why he’d done this. But his left hemisphere (the source of speech) didn’t admit to not knowing. Instead, it confabulated, saying that he’d reached for the shovel to clear out the chicken coop (the picture shown to the left hemisphere was of a bird’s foot).

Of course, they always made their claims without citing any studies, you know, that 'fact free' universe they live in.

Sadly, their conclusions about Obama based upon their pseudo-science were likewise negative.

Their first thing was that blacks used one side of the brain and whites used the other. Thus he was 'unstable by nature and not fit to be President, because he's half white and half black, so his brain is at war with itself,' or something like that...

Additionally, they ascribed a form of femininity to the black side of the brain, thus making him highly emotional and not fit to lead the country, again. I don't who should be more insulted by that concept, blacks or women.

Or perhaps we should LOL...

And they said that meant he's doubly gay...

They sure have got a thing about 'teh gay,' 'the blahs,' and 'them wimmins...'



*It's the BOG. It's allowed here!

[Cha]

11. Yeah, they're jumping on PBO/Trayvon Martin

threads trying to distract from the important healing that those who are affected by it are experiencing and expressing. They can't have that.

It doesn't affect them.

Mahalo, for your post, fresh~

[sheshe2]

3. David Maraniss,

from the Washington Post beautifully depicts the story of Barack Obama. His struggle to bring together two cultures, one white and one black, to become the man he is today.

"He eventually reached the presidency on a theme meant to answer both extremes. His idealistic message was that people yearned to transcend the differences that kept them apart, race prime among them."

In a kinder and more tolerant future the struggle of growing up black can end. Judged not the color of their skin, but the person that they are, the one that they can become.

Just beautiful, Cha. Thank you for posting.

[Cha]

7. It is beautiful, she.. such insightfulness..

It just reminded me of something then Senator Obama said to interviewer, Steve Kroft, on 60 minutes back in the day. When Steve asked why he didn't talk about being black.. Obama said "I think they noticed".. and, there you have it.

That's why this talk that we heard from PBO on Trayvon Martin and the verdict is one of such a unique quality. He hasn't dwelled on the racial difference because he wants to be a President for everyone but he will step up and talk about it when something happens that it needs to be said.

"But Friday afternoon at the White House, Obama was speaking not so much as a president addressing the populace but as a black man addressing white society. It was a rare case where he was speaking only as what he inherently is rather than what he wanted to be."

"In a kinder and more tolerant future the struggle of growing up black can end. Judged not the color of their skin, but the person that they are, the one that they can become."

It's obviously such a slow process, she.. I appreciate we've come as far as we have with a lot of people who have changed their views. There's just such a long road ahead.

she

[sheshe2]

4. It matters~

http://theobamadiary.com/

Cha

KICK!

[Cha]

8. I love that pic and have

almost posted it several times but didn't quite make it.

Mahalo for putting it here, she

[treestar]

5. Reminds me of this:

He is not a suspect:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=3305143

Which would have applied to 17 year old Barry.

[Cha]

9. It was a great insightfull article, treestar!

Mahalo for replying.